UFC to pay $335 mln to settle fighters' wage-fixing claims

Endeavor group

20/03/2024 18:00

By Mike Scarcella
       March 20 (Reuters) - Ultimate Fighting Championship said
on Wednesday that it has agreed to pay $335 million to settle
class action lawsuits claiming it artificially suppressed wages
of martial arts fighters and owed them potentially more than $1
billion.
    UFC parent TKO Group Holdings  TKO.N  disclosed the
settlement in a Wednesday filing to the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. TKO is part of Endeavor Group  EDR.N . 
    UFC in a statement said the proposed settlement covers all
pending claims against the promoter, “bringing litigation to a
close and benefiting all parties.” The organization has denied
suppressing wages.
    The lawsuits, first filed in 2015, alleged UFC abused its
market power to acquire or block rival promoters and used
exclusive contracts to keep fighters within the UFC. The
fighters alleged the UFC suppressed their bout compensation.
    Lawyers for the plaintiffs were expected to ask U.S.
District Judge Richard Boulware in Las Vegas for preliminary
approval of the deal in the coming weeks. 
    The plaintiffs had no immediate comment on the proposed
settlement, which would avert a trial scheduled for April 15.
    Boulware in August approved a class of fighters who competed
in live professional UFC-promoted bouts in the U.S. between
December 2010 and June 2017. 
    A U.S. appeals court declined to review Boulware’s class
certification order in November. UFC had argued that the order
was based on erroneous claims that fighter compensation did not
rise as fast as UFC's revenue.

    The cases are Le v. Zuffa LLC, U.S. District Court for the
District of Nevada, No. 2:15-cv-1045-RFB-BNW and Johnson v.
Zuffa, same court, No. 2:21-cv-1189-RFB-BNW.

 (Reporting by Mike Scarcella
Editing by David Bario and Tomasz Janowski)
 ((Mike.Scarcella@thomsonreuters.com;))