Veteran mixed martial artist Phil Davis has filed another antitrust lawsuit against the UFC.
The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court of Nevada on Thursday, alleges the UFC has created an unfair marketplace for fighters by limiting other promotions’ ability to sign top-level talent.
The lawsuit was filed by Berger Montague, the same firm that recently secured a $375 million settlement in a class action suit against the UFC for fighters who competed from 2010 to 2017. That suit was filed in 2014, and the parties settled in February. The UFC is currently in litigation in multiple other antitrust cases involving fighters from different periods of time.
The newest suit, which lists Zuffa LLC, TKO Group Holdings and Endeavor Group Holdings as defendants, alleges that even fighters who are not under contract with the UFC suffer from an inability to secure fair wages because of the promotion’s unlawful efforts to eliminate competition.
“The suit alleges the UFC impairs the ability of would-be UFC competitors to attract a critical mass of top-level MMA fighters necessary to compete with the UFC at the top tier of the sport,” the plaintiff’s attorney Eric Cramer said in a statement. “We intend to prove that the UFC engaged in a predatory scheme to undermine would be competitors to the UFC, which the suit claims had the effect of maintaining and enhancing the UFC’s dominance, and thereby impairing the careers and pay not just of the UFC’s own fighters, but also of professional MMA fighters like Mr. Davis competing for MMA promotions across the MMA industry.”
Among other aims, the lawsuit seeks to enable a fighter to terminate a promotional contract without penalty after one year. Historically, standard contracts consist of a number of MMA bouts to take place over an unspecified amount of time.
“I am proud to stand up for professional MMA fighters to unlock the UFC’s stranglehold on the entire sport,” Davis said in a statement.
The UFC did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Davis, 40, fought exclusively in the UFC from 2010 to 2015. He signed with Bellator MMA in 2015 and competed under that banner until this year, when the Bellator roster was folded into the PFL. The PFL purchased Bellator in late 2023.
