Midnight Mania! UFC Anti-Trust Lawsuit Says Fighters Are Owed 1.6 Billion Dollars- Tripled

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The anti-trust lawsuit the UFC faces is a big one. It alleges that the UFC acted as a monopsony (a monopoly on labor), depressing the wage…

Bringing you the weird world from the wilds of MMA every and each weeknight

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The anti-trust lawsuit the UFC faces is a big one. It alleges that the UFC acted as a monopsony (a monopoly on labor), depressing the wages fighters could receive by virtue of distorting the market. The damage assessed to the fighter’s incomes since 2010 is… well, it’s huge. The economist who assessed it put the figure at 1.6 billion dollars. That isn’t even the final sum that would be owed. That final figure would be tripled, as punishment, resulting in 4.8 billion dollars being paid out to all fighters from December 2010 to December 2014, and then as long as the “scheme” lasts; in other words, as long as the UFC is judged to have continued it’s anti-trust violations. When I spoke to Jon Fitch, one of the original plaintiffs, he explained that fighters since 2010 would be automatically included in the beneficiary class, unless they opted out.

This came to light from 200-plus pages of documents filed, via MMA journalist John Nash.

He found some other interesting details as well:

Scott Coker explains how the UFC used their market power to set prices on fighter wages:

Lorenzo Fertitta once made a comment that insinuated the UFC pays half their revenue to the fighters. Obviously, that wasn’t even close to true. Andrew Zimbalist is an economist who gave an expert report on the matter:

Of course, none of this means the lawsuit will be successful, or that Zuffa won’t bargain for a lesser figure. That all remains to be determined as the slow cogs of justice grind on. But the fact that the suit has made it this far gives the basic claim merit- that there is reason to believe the UFC has used it’s dominant market position to suppress fighter wages, which are notoriously low compared to top payouts in boxing, and even worse when compared to team sports with collective bargaining agreements in place like the NBA and NFL. This is also an interesting lawsuit because growing concentration in labor markets in general is considered a factor in our current state of rising inequality and flat wages across sectors.

Insomnia

Gotcha

#iluhyou is a great hashtag for Yoel Romero to post

Cuban #rocky #underdog #iluhyou

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Head movement

Australia, the real origin of MMA

Claudia Gadelha wanted to clear up why she couldn’t fight Carla Esparza twice before. This shouldn’t be the deal it is, but many MMA fans are quick to jump to conclusions when fighters don’t make it to fight night for any reason, no matter how sound.

I don’t usually talk shit but some people just need to hear little something. Yes we were supposed to fight 2 times before but the first time I broke my nose in 5 places 10 days before the fight and had to get surgery as you can see, the second time I got sick after weight ins, left the hotel in a ambulance and spent my 25 year old birthday in a hospital because I got food poisoning right before the fight. I don’t pull out of fights at least I’m in a really bad situation like happened this 2 times. After that I chased this girl for 4 years and she didn’t want nothing to do with me. Now we were going to fight in Brazil and she said she would fight me but not in Brazil, there’s always something but the fight is set up now and you can run but you can’t hide. I will see you in Chicago, dumbass. ??? Eu não sou de fazer “trash talk”, e só falo o que penso quando me perguntam, mas tem gente que pede pra ouvir, né? Sim, deveríamos ter lutado duas vezes antes, mas na primeira vez que eu quebrei meu nariz em 5 lugares 10 dias antes da luta e tive que fazer uma cirurgia, como você pode ver, a segunda vez que adoeci, depois da pesagem saí do hotel pro hospital de ambulância e foi no hospital que eu dormi no meu aniversário de 25 anos, internada por causa de uma infecção intestinal. Eu nunca pedi luta fácil, sempre pisei no octógono com as melhores da divisão e não saio de luta a não ser que aconteça algo dessa gravidade. Depois disso, persegui essa garota por 4 anos e ela não queria lutar. Agora nós iríamos lutar no Brasil e ela disse que no meu país não lutaria. Sempre com uma desculpa. Agora tá marcado e eu te vejo em Chicago. ??? #teamcg

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Alexander Gustafsson working his jab

That jab is the key to

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The real Jon Jones got to attend a Bellator event live tonight. Despite taking all Jonny Bones’ hate mail on Twitter, he avoided becoming an MMA fan for years, but we got him eventually.

Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

Evidently Sweet Chin Music is the professional wrestling name for a sidekick to the face. All I can think of is that all those Chuck Norris movies I watched… those were real. Kevin Wirth just proved it at LFA 33.

Overhand right counters the jab

What’s that phrase Joe Rogan likes? “A beautiful rear-naked choke!”

A predator stalking his prey

This is a tight choke from the top

Don Frye!

Podcasts and Video

AJ and I discuss Yoel’s kiss of death, and this weekend’s UFC fights in Austin Check us out on SoundCloud as well as iTunes and Stitcher on the official MMA Mania channel!

Yancy Medeiros has a lot of tools- Andrew Richardson breaks down his guillotine choke! Follow MMA Mania on Youtube

Random Land

Olympic athletes aren’t like ordinary people. This would be me.

Overhead view

Granular

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