Despite buying up much of the competition, and despite Dana White's mouth providing a good chunk of the evidence in this case, there are flaws. For starters, the suit alleges that
Through the scheme alleged herein, the UFC locked up: (i) all or virtually all Elite Professional MMA Fighters with substantial national or regional notoriety; (ii) the vast majority of major sponsors; and (iii) key physical and television venues.Without access to, or the ability to compete for access to, the Elite Professional MMA Fighters, would be UFC rivals cannot hope to attract enough viewers (either live or via Internet, television or Pay Per View broadcast) to make their promotions significantly profitable. Without access to key sponsors,venues, or major television distribution outlets, would be rivals cannot put together sufficiently attractive events either to attract Elite Professional MMA Fighters to work with them or to gain the kind of audience that could challenge the UFCs dominance.
The problem here is that Bellator ran one of the most highly rated MMA events on cable television in all of 2014, and had a highly successful Pay Per View as well. ONE FC is the dominant company in Asia, although this class action only covers North America and therefore ignores them entirely (although it does reference former Bellator and current ONE FC welterweight champion Ben Askren). Bellator also pays pretty well at times. The suit also brings up the issue of co-promotion, stating that the UFC has refused to co-promote fights in the past (this is definitely true, for example, in the case of all-time heavyweight great Fedor Emelianenko, whose management company, M-1, wanted to co-promote a fight with the UFC). However, the issue of co-promoting may not be one that can be forced on a promotion, as companies still need to be able to operate independently. However, some of the allegations do appear to have merit - the sponsorship tax, blocking other promotions from using venues, etc. - and hopefully, regardless of the outcome of the suit, it creates a better working environment for fighters in the future.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
