The plaintiffs in the UFC Antitrust Lawsuit may be headed towards a major victory in their case against the promotion.
On Sept. 17 Judge Richard Boulware indicated that he would likely be granting the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, paving the way for the litigation to continue through the judicial system. The information comes nearly three months after Boulware stated a decision would be “forthcoming,” following a set of rulings on various other motions in the case. As Boulware said during last year’s hearings, he “couldn’t see the case proceeding” if the motion to certify the class was not granted.
In this video, Patrick Auger and Matthew Wells discuss the current status of the UFC antitrust lawsuit and explains what this could potentially mean for the UFC.
The origins of the civil case date back to December 2014 when a group of former fighters including Jon Fitch, Cung Le, and Nate Quarry alleged that the UFC had unlawfully monopolized the market for promoting live mixed martial arts events through various anti-competitive practices.
Throughout the six years, the lawsuit has traveled through the U.S. court system, evidentiary hearings have released a deluge of information about the UFC’s business practices. This information has included financial data surrounding fighter pay relative to revenue, which is at the heart of the class certification debate.
As Auger explains, this issue is years away from being totally resolved and if class certification is actually granted, it could next be headed to the appeals court, where we’ll see further delays.
Despite this being an important part of the UFC antitrust lawsuit, we still have a long way to go to determine if class certification will be granted, let alone an actual trial that could have real implications for the UFC.