9 Things You Need To Know About Mark Hunt's Lawsuit Against Brock Lesnar & UFC
A heavyweight battle may play out in the court room.
Brock Lesnar's big return at UFC 200 has gone from feelgood comeback story, to drug test scandal, to a potential war in the court room. That's because his opponent, Mark Hunt, has followed through on a threat to launch legal action over the July 2016 fight.
Following Lesnar's 3-round victory against Hunt that night, test results from both USADA and the NSAC showed that Lesnar had tested positive for two banned substances including clomiphene, an estrogen blocker used by those cycing off steroids. Though not a steroid or performance enhancing drug itself, substances like clomiphene are banned because of their close connection to them.
Following a hearing with the NSAC and settlement talks with USADA, Lesnar accepted a $250,000 fine and one-year suspension from MMA, retroactive to July. His victory over Hunt at UFC 200 was changed to a No Contest.
However, that wasn't enough for Hunt, who was demanding Lesnar's full purse of $2.5 million dollars be handed over to him. Now, he's launched a RICO lawsuit, naming Lesnar, UFC President Dana White, and the UFC itself as defendants. In it, he accuses the UFC of knowingly allowing Lesnar to compete while using banned substances. That's a pretty big claim - but is there evidence? What do you need to know about the case?
Lets take a look.
9. Why A RICO Lawsuit?
When Mark Hunt obtained legal counsel regarding his UFC 200 fight against Brock Lesnar, one of the first things his lawyer, Christina Denning, suggested is that she'd be looking into a RICO lawsuit. Why? Because "there is a pattern for the benefit of the UFC to gain monetary benefit off of engaging in this behavior." Now, that pattern will be something Hunt and Denning need to prove.
RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and can apply in both criminal and civil cases. It focuses mainly on the higher ups in corrupt organizations and racketeering cases, cracking down on those who order or facilitate crimes rather than just carry them out directly.
In an interview a few months prior to the launch of the lawsuit, Denning stated that the UFC was in essence saying;
'okay, well we've got an anti-doping policy.' And sure they turn it over to USADA, a third-party agency to regulate it, but they have no control over when these people get tested. There is a pattern of these fighters coming up positive and the UFC not doing what it should be doing about it after the fact to actually deter this from happening in the future.
She also claimed that USADA's rules allow for the UFC to apply a hefty fine to Lesnar, which could either be funneled back into the anti-doping program, or handed over to his opponent. However, Lesnar's fine sat at $250,000 - a large amount, but not anywhere near what he actually made at UFC 200.
In short, using RICO allows Hunt to go after the UFC itself - if it can be proved that they knew Lesnar was doping, or could have reasonably prevented it but instead turned a blind eye.