MMA legend Randy Couture explains why he’s concerned with the UFC anti-trust lawsuit settlement: “There’s no injunctive relief”

MMA legend Randy Couture is explaining why he’s concerned with the UFC anti-trust lawsuit settlement.

‘The Natural’ (19-11 MMA) was inducted into the Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Fame in 2006. During his tenure Couture was a 3-time UFC World Heavyweight Champion & 2-time UFC World Light Heavyweight Champion. Couture retired from competition at the age of 47 after having fought for the UFC from 1997 through to 2011.

It was during a press conference to promote the upcoming Professional Fighters League (PFL) 2024 season that the veteran shared his thoughts on the anti-trust lawsuit settlement.

Randy Couture, speaking via ‘FSMMA‘ shared his thoughts on the settlement:

“Obviously, three of the biggest class action law firms in the business spent the last 10 years pursuing this, so there has to be some merit there. We know that (UFC) had a tendency to buy out anybody that was a threat or anybody that was being successful in the sport — Strikeforce on down the line. That’s the monopsony that the class action points out, and the way they do business.”

Continuing, Couture said:

“650 athletes signed to a very exclusive restrictive contract. There’s no transparency in the sport. We figured out the math, we know their goal was to keep the fighters on any given card to under 20 percent of the take from that fight. Show me another professional sport where that’s the case.”

Just last week it was announced that TKO Group Holdings, the UFC’s parent company, filed a disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealing that the company had settled two separate class action lawsuits with a total payout of $335 million.

Advising he has concerns with the settlement, Randy Couture said:

“My concern is in the settlement, there’s no injunctive relief. We’re not forcing UFC to change the way they do business, which was what the class action set out to do. So yes, great that there’s fighters in that class and I’m in the class. We’ll see some remuneration for potential money that they lost in that period by not having a free and open transparent marketplace.”

Concluding the now 60-year-old said:

“But, at the end of the day, we’re not forcing the promoters to do business any differently and that’s an issue. So, it’ll be interesting to see when the courts finally stamp off because we’re all being a bit premature. It hasn’t been approved yet, the settlement.”

It could be a month to a month and a half before the final paperwork is completed and only then will it be made clear as to how much money fighters will receive as a result of the settlement.

What do you think of Randy Couture’s analogy concerning the settlement?

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