Settlement reached in UFC antitrust lawsuit, promotion agrees to pay fighters $335 million

A settlement has been reached in the UFC antitrust lawsuit with the promotion agreeing to pay fighters $335 million.

TKO Group Holdings, the parent company to the UFC filed a disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a statement listed below:

“On March 13, 2024, TKO reached an agreement to settle all claims asserted in both class action lawsuits (Cung) Le and (Kajan) Johnson for an aggregate amount of $335 million payable by the Company and its subsidiaries in instalments over an agreed-upon period of time. The terms will be memorialized in a long form agreement and then submitted to the court for approval.”

“The Company anticipates that the settlement amount will be deductible for tax purposes.”

The UFC and a group representing approximately 1,200 former fighters have reached a settlement on a pair of antitrust lawsuits.

Had the two entities been unable to come to an agreement, a trial date had been set for April 15th of this year.

The plaintiffs took to ‘X‘ shortly after the news of a settlement saying:

“We are pleased with the settlement and will disclose more when we file with the Court in 45-60 days. We Love All of these guys!”

The plaintiffs claimed the UFC contract structure and business practices suppressed fighters’ abilities to negotiate and explore other promotional options. Former fighters Kyle Kingsbury, Cung Le, Jon Fitch, Kajan Johnson, Brandon Vera, and others headed the charge.

Five separate class-action lawsuits were filed between December 2014 and March 2015, eventually consolidated into one (Le vs. Zuffa), with a second separate lawsuit filed in 2021 (Johnson vs. Zuffa).

The lawsuits sought $894 million to $1.6 billion in damages, centering around alleged violations of the Sherman Act.

The UFC also released a statement (via journalist Kevin Iole):

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement to settle all claims asserted in both the Le and Johnson class-action lawsuits, bringing litigation to a close and benefitting all parties. The final terms of the settlement will be submitted to the court of approval.”

It should be noted that following the announcement, TKO Group Holdings Inc. stock raised over five dollars in less than an hour.

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