Bellator suing UFC to prevent access to documents in anti-trust suit

In 2015 a class-action, anti-trust lawsuit was filed against the UFC. It is ongoing, and argues that the league crippled the market, and created an environment where fighters were unable to fight anywhere else.

The suit accuses the UFC of running “an illegal scheme to eliminate competition from would-be rival MMA Promoters by systematically preventing them from gaining access to resources critical to successful MMA Promotions, including by imposing extreme restrictions on UFC Fighters’ ability to fight for would-be rivals during and after their tenure with the UFC.”

The UFC has subpoenaed its competitors for contract and financial information, presumably to demonstrate that other contracts, notably Bellator were similar in their exclusivity, or, as has been alleged many times, are more restrictive still.

Ron Clements has the story for Sporting News.

UFC’s main competitor, Bellator, then filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to quash those subpoenas. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Bellator said in an affidavit that it has already “produced in excess of two thousand pages of responsive documents” pertaining to the antitrust case.

UFC wants more information, including copies of Bellator’s contracts with MMA fighters and detailed financial records to help defend itself in the antitrust suit.

Bellator contends that information is confidential and “the subpoenas improperly seek trade secret and other sensitive information protected from disclosure; they are overbroad and unduly burdensome; and this information cannot be adequately protected by the litigants’ stipulated protective order.”

Bellator president Scott Coker, who founded Strikeforce before selling it to UFC in 2011, said in a court document that Bellator “is not a party” in the antitrust case. He stated Bellator should not have to “produce some of the confidential documents that the Parties have demanded, as doing so would lead to grave harm to Bellator.”

“Accordingly, disclosure of Bellator’s confidential information pursuant to the Nevada subpoena would give Bellator’s largest and most powerful competitor a significant and unilateral advantage that would negatively harm Bellator and, in my opinion stifle competition in the MMA industry,” Coker said to conclude an eight-page statement.

MMA Payout commented on Bellator’s move.

This was an obvious result from the discovery in this lawsuit. It was clear that the UFC or Plaintiffs would request information on contracts and finances from its biggest competitor. It was also clear that Bellator would not provide this information. It does appear that Bellator has complied to a certain extent. The UFC will likely say that some (maybe most) of the information provided by Bellator was irrelevant and a document dump and it has not provided the information provided in its subpoena requests. With Bellator intervening, the process for the Le plaintiffs to go to trial will take much longer due to the fight over documents.

Expect more in the coming days.