Cung Le, et al v. Zuffa, LLC, d/b/a Ultimate Fighting Championship and UFC – Antitrust Litigation

Led by Eric L. Cramer, Michael Dell’Angelo, and Patrick F. Madden, Berger Montague serves as co-lead counsel on behalf of a certified class of UFC fighters who fought for the UFC between December 16, 2010 and June 30, 2017 in Le v. Zuffa, LLC, as well as a proposed class of UFC fighters who fought for the UFC between July 1, 2017 and the present in Johnson v. Zuffa, LLC.

The complaints in the Le Action and the Johnson Action allege that the plaintiffs and members of the classes are victims of the UFC’s illegal scheme to eliminate its competition in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and that the defendants have suppressed compensation for UFC Fighters. The cases are pending in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.

On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, before the April 15 trial in the Le Action was scheduled to begin, the UFC announced in an SEC filing that it has settled the Plaintiffs’ claims in the Le Action and the Johnson Action for $335 million. The full settlement terms will be made public when Plaintiffs file their motion for preliminary approval in the near future.

Berger Montague Chairman, Eric Cramer, had this to say about the settlement: “We are pleased with the result and look forward to presenting the settlement to the Court in the coming weeks.”

Berger Montague filed the Le Action first in December 2014. On October 19, 2016, Judge Richard F. Boulware II issued an opinion denying Zuffa’s motion to dismiss. Following several years of hard-fought litigation and a seven-witness evidentiary hearing on Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, the Court certified a class in the Le Action (consisting of UFC fighters who fought for the UFC between December 16, 2010 and June 30, 2017) on August 9, 2023.

On January 18, 2024, the Court denied the UFC’s motion for summary judgment in the Le action and set the matter for trial in April 2024.

Between Plaintiffs’ filing for class certification in February 2018 and the class certification Order in August 2023, Berger Montague filed the Johnson Action, seeking to represent a proposed class of UFC fighters who fought for the UFC between July 1, 2017, and the present. The Court denied the UFC’s motion to dismiss in the Johnson Action on September 30, 2022, and discovery had just begun when the settlement was reached.

About Berger Montague

Berger Montague is a national law firm focusing on complex civil litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States. For over half a century, Berger Montague has played lead roles in consequential, precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $60 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Wilmington, Delaware.