Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against the UFC as well as UFC President Dana White might be thrown out of court if the law firm that is representing the UFC gets their way as they’re arguing that Hunt’s allegations don’t hold up.
Campbell and Williams, which is located in Las Vegas, litigates on the behalf of the UFC. The law firm claims Hunt fails to establish a link “between the injury asserted and the purported injurious conduct” while attacking White with an “utter dearth of specific allegations.” The 26-page motion to dismiss the lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court Nevada.
This was expected from the UFC and White (to dismiss the lawsuit) because they seek to avoid damages that could pay triple if Hunt’s claims are proven to be true in court. With the motion being filed, Hunt’s representatives have acknowledged that they would drop the matter if the UFC is willing to agree to a monetary settlement. The lawsuit came about after Hunt’s fight with former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar due to it being announced that Lesnar failed two drug tests (one test before and one test) after their fight at UFC 200 last July. Lesnar beat Hunt at the event via decision, but due to the failed drug tests, it was overturned to a no contest. Hunt named Lesnar and White as co-conspirators in a criminal scheme to rob him of a fair fight.
“UFC and its agents have affirmatively circumvented and obstructed fair competition for their own benefit, including being complicit in doping proliferation under the guise of advancing ‘the best anti-doping program in all of professional sports,’” read Hunt’s claim.
The UFC fired back and to dismiss the lawsuit they stated that the suit is “not a model of clarity” and claims the fighter ignores “the inconvenient fact that the strict anti-doping drug-testing procedures implemented by Zuffa and administered by the independent USADA are the vehicle by which cheating fighters have been exposed and punished.”
The UFC’s argument is that Hunt can’t prove there was a criminal conspiracy because he doesn’t provide “competent allegations” of “concrete injury to a specific ‘business or property’” required by RICO statutes, and the fighter “never identifies a single provision” of a breach of contract between him and the UFC.”
Regarding the breach of a contract that Hunt claims, the UFC stated that Hunt never identifies a single provision of either contract that Zuffa purportedly failed to perform.” Also, they stated that he can’t claim the defendants failed to honor his contract. It also argues the promotion can’t be held directly responsible for Lesnar’s failure.
“While it is undisputedly Zuffa’s goal and desire that all its contracted athletes comply with the ADP and applicable laws governing prohibited substances, the contractual obligation Hunt seeks to impose – whether as an express or implied term – is obviously impossible for Zuffa to perform as it has no ability to control what any given fighter is going to put into his or her body except by way of establishing a set of rules that (i) prohibits the taking of banned substances, and (ii) imposes penalties for established violations thereof. Zuffa has done that.”
Despite the ongoing legal matter, Hunt is fighting again in the UFC, and it’s this weekend at UFC 209 as he will be competing against Alistair Overeem.
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