We’ve had our hands full lately at The MMA Draw and you can thank two full days worth of UFC testimony in Judge Richard Boulware’s Federal court room for that.
What’s at stake? A lot. More than people really truly understand.
Why was Dana White and Hunter Campbell testifying in Judge Boulware’s court room? Because there are years worth of missing text messages, e-mails, social media messages, and vanishing (or locked-out) phones.
Under FRCP Rule 37(e), Judge Boulware has the power to inflict sanctions upon UFC. These sanctions could impact current on-going antitrust litigation in his court. If Judge Boulware can prove that there was intent to deprive then he can inflict significant sanctions, including adverse jury instructions or striking pleadings. Reaching this threshold is extraordinarily rare, even in the Ninth Circuit.
This is why Team UFC has been focused so heavily on trying to create reasonable doubt in Judge Boulware’s courtroom. It’s gross negligence, not intentional destruction. UFC is not denying that data is missing but instead is arguing intent. It’s why Dana White claims he doesn’t know his own phone number and why Hunter Campbell tried to take legal heat off himself despite being raised around Nevada legal royalty. John Nash has a funny Hollywood analogy for Dana White’s testimony.
This week’s MMA Draw podcast gives you an inside look about the various legal issues currently outstanding in UFC antitrust litigation and why Judge Boulware is taking his role so seriously. He truly is the last man standing in TKO’s way.
Does it matter to TKO? At this point, they are extremely confident that they can do pretty much anything they want. Including taking over the world of boxing. Mark Shapiro and Ari Emanuel practically advertised their ambitions during Super Bowl week in San Francisco.
TKO is in a position to take over boxing because the US legacy players are weakened. Top Rank still does not have a media rights deal. Golden Boy is fighting for survival, both with DAZN and top star Vergil Ortiz. PBC has a PPV in late March on Amazon Prime but is facing death by a thousand paper cuts with both Zuffa Boxing and Riyadh Season signing their talent.
Which makes Floyd Mayweather’s recent $340M lawsuit against Showtime and Stephen Espinoza a shining case of symbolism regarding the collapse of the major boxing institutions from the 2010s.
For our paid subscribers, we comb through Floyd Mayweather’s lawsuit which alleges a vast and sprawling civil conspiracy worth hundreds of millions of dollars alleging Al Haymon as the key mastermind and beneficiary. And yet, Mayweather’s lawsuit doesn’t name Al Haymon as a plaintiff. The complaint also claims that Al Haymon suffered a stroke in 2023 and is currently incapacitated.
If you are as bewildered about this lawsuit as we are, you’re not alone. We break down the legal context of this lawsuit and focus on a key name in Floyd’s life who is getting named in multiple lawsuits across multiple jurisdictions: Jona Rechnitz. Jona is a consistent figure in Floyd Mayweather’s business dealings. The same Jona Rechnitz who plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud — in 2016 — and nearly 10 years later has still not been formally sentenced.
The same attorney (Bobby Samini) who filed Mayweather’s $340M lawsuit in Los Angeles also filed a defamation lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against publication Business Insider for their various claims regarding Floyd Mayweather’s financial troubles.
As the old guard collapses in the American boxing scene, TKO is ready to swoop right in and monopolize the industry the same way UFC and WWE have become $20 billion dollar sports properties.
Ari’s recent video chat with Max Kellerman spells out how TKO is going to monopolize the boxing scene.
“It’s always been decentralized except when the mob had control in the ‘50s. Frankie Carbo, right? It’s always been decentralized and no one has been able to control at least the plurality if not the majority of good fighters on a world class level. Right?
And as a result and also, you know, I hate to say, but get labor costs under control. I’m pro-labor. I want fighters to make a lot of money, but as you said, there are a couple of guys getting really rich and everyone else has a day job or not fight, right? I believe that the reason it didn’t happen is because there was never a vision. You have to have the vision for it.”
History doesn’t repeat but it often rhymes.
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Nate Wilcox is Editor-in-Chief of The MMA Draw. He founded BloodyElbow.com in 2007 and sold it in 2024.
Zach Arnold is a lead opinion writer for The MMA Draw on Substack. His archives can be read at FightOpinion.com.
