UFC Antitrust Lawsuit: $375M Settlement and Active Nevada Cases

The UFC antitrust lawsuit is a group of class-action cases accusing Zuffa, LLC — the company that runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship — of using monopsony power to suppress fighter pay. The lead case, Le v. Zuffa, ended in a $375 million settlement that received final approval on February 6, 2025, with payouts reaching more than a thousand fighters.¹ Three related cases covering later time periods and different fighter groups are still moving through federal court in Nevada.

What the Fighters Alleged

The original suit was filed in December 2014 by Cung Le, Jon Fitch, Nate Quarry, Brandon Vera, Luis Javier Vasquez, and Kyle Kingsbury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. It accused the UFC of violating Section 2 of the Sherman Act.²

The core theory was monopsony — a buyer-side monopoly. Plaintiffs said the UFC had made itself the only realistic employer for elite MMA talent, controlling more than 80% of the revenue generated by U.S. MMA events while paying fighters a fraction of what athletes in comparable sports receive.³ One figure introduced during the litigation put fighter pay at roughly 20% of event revenues, versus more than 50% in other major professional sports leagues.⁴

Two mechanisms sat at the center of the case. First, long-term exclusive contracts that a federal judge later described as “effectively perpetual” through coercive renewal clauses, trapping fighters through the productive years of their careers.⁴ Second, the alleged acquisition or exclusion of rival promoters, cutting competitors off from venues, television, and pay-per-view distribution.⁵

How the $375 Million Settlement Came Together

The case took nearly a decade to reach class certification. On August 9, 2023, Judge Richard F. Boulware II certified the “Bout Class” — roughly 1,200 fighters who competed in UFC-promoted bouts in the United States between December 16, 2010, and June 30, 2017.⁶ In his order, Judge Boulware wrote that Zuffa “evinced a clear intent to acquire and maintain monopsony power” and that fighters were “trapped by Zuffa’s exclusionary contracts and their restrictive terms.”³ A separate “identity class” claim tied to fighter likeness rights was denied certification.

Plaintiffs had sought between $811 million and $1.6 billion in damages.⁴ With trial set for April 2024, the parties announced a $335 million settlement that March.⁷ Judge Boulware rejected it in July 2024, finding the amount too low and objecting to the way it bundled together two separate lawsuits.⁸

A revised $375 million settlement, this time applying only to Le v. Zuffa, arrived in September 2024. It came with testimony from more than 150 class members describing what the money would mean.⁹ Judge Boulware gave final approval on February 6, 2025.¹

How the Money Was Divided

After attorneys’ fees — a Nevada federal judge awarded more than $115 million in March 2025¹⁰ — the net fund available for distribution was roughly $251 million. Payments followed a two-part formula:

70% of the fund (about $175.8 million) was allocated based on each fighter’s total UFC compensation during the class period.
30% of the fund (about $75.3 million) was allocated based on the number of bouts each fighter had during the class period.

In practical terms, that worked out to about 32.7% of each fighter’s UFC earnings from the class period, plus roughly $14,179 per fight.¹¹

Individual payouts varied enormously. The projected average was around $231,000, but the median was closer to $86,000. The minimum was about $16,000, covering fighters with a single low-paying bout. The largest individual payout, roughly $10.3 million, went to former middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who had ten fights and seven title bouts in the covered period.¹¹ Thirty-five fighters were expected to receive more than $1 million each.¹

Where the Payments Stand

Of the 1,121 eligible class members who received claim forms, 1,088 — about 97% — submitted valid claims.¹² As of mid-2026, more than $237 million had been distributed to 984 claimants across 44 countries, representing over 90% of eligible athletes.¹³

Two categories of claims remain held up. Ten fighters have unresolved legal complications: competing claims from spouses or taxing authorities, deaths without a will, or child-support obligations. Another 17 live in countries under U.S. sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which blocks transfers to residents of those nations. Attorneys from Berger Montague said the OFAC-related claims will likely need court intervention to resolve.¹⁴

What the Settlement Did Not Cover

The Le class ended on June 30, 2017. Fighters who competed after that date are not covered by the $375 million payout and must look to the separate active cases described below.

The Cases Still Active in Nevada

Johnson v. Zuffa

Filed in June 2021 by lead plaintiffs Kajan Johnson and C.B. Dollaway, this case covers UFC fighters who competed from July 1, 2017 onward.³²⁵¹⁵

Cirkunovs v. Zuffa

Filed on May 23, 2025 by retired UFC fighter Misha Cirkunov, this case targets a gap in Johnson. Many post-2017 UFC contracts contain arbitration clauses and class-action waivers that could keep those fighters out of the Johnson class. The Cirkunovs complaint challenges those waivers under Nevada and federal law, arguing that fighters bound by them should still be able to sue as a class.¹⁶

Davis v. Zuffa

Filed on May 29, 2025 by former UFC fighter Phil Davis, who now competes in the Professional Fighters League, this case does not seek money. It asks the court for one specific change: a contract clause that would let fighters terminate their UFC agreements after one year.¹⁶ The proposed class is non-UFC professional MMA fighters who have competed in the United States since May 2021 and are not part of the Johnson or Cirkunovs classes.¹⁷ Because it seeks only injunctive relief, the case would be decided by Judge Boulware without a jury. In June 2025, the judge consolidated discovery across the three active cases to the extent it overlaps. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss in August 2025, and the case remains active.¹⁸

1
Cohen Milstein. $375 Million Antitrust Settlement Provides Life-Changing Money to UFC Fighters
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Courthouse News Service. Judge Grants Final Approval of $375 Million UFC Antitrust Settlement After Decadelong Battle
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ProMarket. Cung Le v. Zuffa Promised to Change the UFC
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Yahoo Sports. UFC Fighters Are Finally Getting Their Money: Antitrust Payouts Explained
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Sherdog. UFC Antitrust Settlement Update: Delays Encountered for Some Fighter Payments
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Yahoo Sports. UFC Antitrust Threat Returns: Explaining the 2 New Cases
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