UFC antitrust: A game of chicken or playing the percentages?

A bold move by plaintiffs' counsel has Team UFC intrigued. Buyer beware?

Federal Judge Richard Boulware.

Capitulation? Risk management? Or a clever game of bypass?

Those were the initial questions flowing in my hamster wheel of a mind when I read the latest filings in the Kajan Johnson vs. Zuffa antitrust case in Las Vegas Federal Court.

A short summary of the latest proceedings…

Endeavor (TKO) has been fighting tooth and nail against producing any discovery that the legal team for UFC fighters has requested. One of the strangest and most irritating defenses raised by Ari Emanuel’s high-powered attorneys at Latham & Watkins and Paul Weiss is the “who? us?” line of logic.

By their legal arguments, TKO is simply a subsidiary, and obviously, Endeavor (now WME Group) isn’t a direct party to this UFC antitrust matter.

They really must be confident that Judge Richard Boulware isn’t going to sanction them for this nonsense.

The other line of defense by Endeavor (TKO) in attacking UFC fighters is claiming that the named plaintiffs in the case aren’t all that representative of a potential fighter class.

Endeavor’s logic: If the named plaintiffs don’t have class action and arbitration waivers in their contracts, they don’t represent most UFC fighters under Endeavor’s ownership that do have those contractual provisions.

Therefore, Judge Boulware can’t certify any sort of Johnson class for antitrust action.

And that is where a dramatic turn of events occurred last week in Federal court.