“Can’t keep ripping fighters off and run a monopoly on the market. Someone’s going to put [you] … down”- these were the exact words Mark Hunt used for UFC when he sued the promotion as well as Brock Lesnar for performance-enhancing drugs. When Hunt joined the promotion, Dana White as well as the fans had some very big expectations from him, however, his six-fight losing streak overturned everything and his clash against Brock Lesnar was the last straw for him.

Hun͏t’s case filing against the UFC started a cha͏in reaction, followed by h͏undre͏ds of ͏o͏ther MM͏͏A͏ fi͏g͏hters ͏who also filed lawsuits against the͏ pro͏͏mot͏i͏on. Th͏ese la͏wsuits conti͏nue ͏to haunt the UFC͏ to͏day.Regardless, were the contracts so bad that the fighters had to sue the promotion? According to Joe Rogan, it was not that bad.

Joe Rogan sheds reality upon UFC’s anti-trust lawsuit story

Mark Hunt accused Dana White and the promotion that they are manipulating the market to maintain the monopoly. Well, Hunt was not the only one who accused the promotion of cheating the fighters. A group of hundreds of fighters filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the promotion for either manipulating the market or buying the competition in unlawful ways. What’s their main concern? It was the lackluster UFC contract that deprived the fighters of basic things.

So how much truth is in their statement? Well, according to Joe Rogan, many fighters got better contacts. In his latest conversation with Rampage Jackson on ‘JRE MMA Show #159’, Rogan emphasized that during the Pride FC takeover by the UFC many fighters who jumped the ship got better contracts. “When the UFC bought Pride, they thought they were buying a whole organization, but they didn’t. They didn’t get anything but a library; they got a video library, that’s all they got,” said Joe Rogan.

He further added, “All the contracts were bulls**t, that’s why they never got Fedor. And that’s why, I think, well, it’s like they honored people’s contracts. Some people got great contracts; Mark Hunt apparently got a great contract. Alistair Overeem and a lot of these guys that came over had great contracts.

Rogan emphasized that the UFC honored the contracts of many fighters, however, the betrayal was kind of unexpected for most of them.  A total of 1200 fighters collectively sued the UFC for a massive $5 billion claim. So did the fighters win the deal? Let us find out.

The fate of the Anti-trust lawsuit

The lawsuit shocked Dana White, Joe Rogan, and the entire UFC core team. The claim amount was so huge that the promotion had to alert lawyers to do whatever was possible to make things right. The opposing side asserted that the fighters were deprived of $1.6  billion and the damages were tripled. Cung Le and several other fighters were the original plaintiffs in the case.

So did the UFC lose the lawsuit? Well, the answer to this question is a bit complicated as the parent company of UFC has agreed to settle the lawsuit with dollars but the amount is much less than what the fighters have sued the company for. The promotion has agreed to a settlement of $336 million instead of the massive $5 billion claim.

“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement to settle all claims,” said the UFC representative after the deal. Well, the UFC administration might be taking a sigh of relief. Regardless, what’s your take on Joe Rogan’s statement? State your thoughts in the comments below.