{"id":369201,"date":"2025-12-24T16:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T16:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369201\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T16:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T16:52:08","slug":"dana-white-ordered-to-testify-in-new-ufc-antitrust-lawsuit-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369201\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White ordered to testify in new UFC antitrust lawsuit hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">UFC CEO Dana White has been ordered to testify in the latest antitrust lawsuit filed against the promotion, with former light heavyweight contender Misha Cirkunov leading the charge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Judge Richard Boulware issued the order during a status conference held on Dec. 18, with a spoliation hearing set for Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, and White set to testify first, followed by Tracy Long, the UFC\u2019s vice president of athlete compliance and regulatory affairs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">An additional hearing is scheduled for Jan. 6 to discuss \u201coutstanding discovery disputes, and the scope of this Court\u2019s spoliation proceedings.\u201d Spoilation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parzfirm.com\/blog\/what-is-spoliation-of-evidence\/#:~:text=The%20Parzivand%20Law%20Firm%2C%20PLLC%20Feb.,to%20ongoing%20or%20anticipated%20litigation.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">refers to <\/a>the \u201cdestruction, alteration, or loss of evidence that is relevant to a legal matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The judge also ordered that both the plaintiff and defendant \u201cfile a Joint Status Report, no more than 4 pages per side, listing outstanding discovery issues to be addressed at this hearing by December 30, 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The lawsuit led by Cirkunov addressed the fighters who signed contracts with the UFC that included a clause regarding rules on arbitration or a class action waiver.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There were originally two antitrust lawsuits filed against the UFC\u2014one led by fighters such as Cung Le that covered fighters from 2010 through 2017, and the second lawsuit filed by fighters such as Kajan Johnson that covered athletes from 2017 to the present. The first antitrust lawsuit that was initially filed all the way back in 2014 was settled with the UFC agreeing to a $375 million settlement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The second lawsuit is still winding its way through the courts, but the UFC recently filed a motion to deny class certification or strike class allegations \u201con the ground that some class members had signed contracts with Zuffa that contained arbitration clauses and\/or class-action waivers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The latest antitrust lawsuit led by Cirkunov and other fighters attempts to remedy that issue by specifically representing the athletes who signed contracts that contained the clause regarding arbitration or class action waivers and prevent further delays in the original lawsuit filed by Johnson and other athletes who competed in the UFC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cAlthough Plaintiff disagrees with Defendants\u2019 position, in order to (a) avoid unnecessary delay in Johnson, (b) ensure that the invalidity and unenforceability of UFC Fighters\u2019 arbitration agreements and class action waivers may be adjudicated, Misha Cirkunov brings this case on behalf of those UFC Fighters, like himself, who fought in a bout promoted by the UFC from July 1, 2017 until the illicit scheme alleged herein ceases, and who signed a contract with Zuffa LLC that contained a clause purporting to require disputes between the fighter and Zuffa (and\/or its parent companies or affiliates) to be submitted to individual arbitration (an \u201cArbitration Clause\u201d) and\/or a clause purporting to waive any right to participate in a class action\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Cirkunov lawsuit seeks damages as well as an order invalidating the arbitration or class action waiver clause in existing UFC contracts, as well as eliminating those clauses in future deals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC CEO Dana White has been ordered to testify in the latest antitrust lawsuit filed against the promotion,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-369201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}