With little fanfare a second class action lawsuit was apparently filed earlier today with the California‘s Northern District Court. Vazquez et al v. Zuffa, LLC. This was discovered while Bloody Elbow was searching the Court’s system for any updates to the complaint that was filed last Tuesday. This complaint appears to be identical with one obvious difference being that instead of Cung Le, Nate Quarry, and Jon Fitch as the plaintiffs the names on the complaint are Javier Vazquez and Dennis Hallman.
Javier Vazquez had only one fight in the UFC, a victory over Joe Stevenson on June 26, 2011 at UFC: Kongo vs Barry, after which he didn’t fight again, officially retiring in January, 2013. Before that he had five fights in the Zuffa owned WEC promotion.
Dennis Hallman has had several different stints with the promotion, going all the way back to UFC 29, the last event under SEG ownership. During his most recent stay in 2010 and 2011 he went 3-2 in the lightweight and welterweight divisions but was released after he failed to make weight for a fight against Thiago Taveres at UFC on FOX 5. This was the second straight match he failed to make weight, having previously defeated John Makdessi at UFC 140 in a 158.5 pound catchweight bout when Hallman couldn’t make the 156 pound lightweight limit.
The fighters named are asking to be representatives for their class in lawsuit that accuses the UFC of an
“overarching anticompetitive scheme to maintain and enhance its (a) monopoly power in the market for promotion of live Elite Professional mixed martial arts (“MMA”) bouts,1 and (b) monopsony power in the market for live Elite Professional MMA Fighter services”
They are also represented by the same legal counsel that are representing Le, Quarry, and Fitch.
Bloody Elbow has learned that the five fighters named as plaintiffs on the complaint are not the only fighters involved in the suit. We are aware of at least six other fighters that were considered to be included amongst the plaintiffs but for whatever reasons were left off.
The reason for today’s separate filing can only be guessed at by us at this time.
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