The UFC found itself in a legal mess after a class action antitrust lawsuit, filed in 2012, was finally certified in 2023. The group of over a thousand fighters won the case, and they reached an agreement with Dana White & Co. of a $375 million settlement. But it seems like those fighters have a fear that they might be rubbing the premiere MMA promotion the wrong way, according to former UFC fighter, Josh Thomson.

Josh Thomson appears to be one of those fighters who’ll be benefitting from the multi-million-dollar settlement, as his co-host John McCarthy revealed during the recent edition of their Weighing In podcast. But the problem lies among the aforementioned fighters, who have decided to turn down the $375 million so that they don’t get into Dana White and the UFC’s bad side.

“There are a lot of fighters out there that I’m hearing that they’re afraid to make the UFC upset and they’re saying that they’re going to decline the money,” Josh Thomson stated. John McCarthy could not understand why this sentiment had developed among the fighters concerned with the lawsuit and he and Thomson collectively reacted by claiming that it would be a very “dumb” move to decline the money.

In addition to that, John McCarthy also claimed that the UFC is least worried about who gets the money because they want to wipe this legal mess off their ledger and carry on with the things that give them a positive look. “UFC is paying out the money. It doesn’t matter how many people it goes to. It’s a specific sum of money and they’re paying it no matter what,” the veteran referee stated.

Josh Thomson, thereafter, mentioned that if it’s not the fighters, someone else would get it because the “money’s going to go out” because it’s a legal order. The only source of frustration for Dana White and his promotion is the legal fees. “They’re probably more upset that the f***ing lawyers got a $150 million of it. That’s more what they’re probably upset about… If you’re gonna turn the money down you’re really just hurting yourself,” Thomson added.

It seems like declining the money could be a very unwise move because the settlement has gained legal approval recently. Let’s take a look at that front.

The settlement fee for the antitrust lawsuit against the UFC has been approved

Just last Thursday, the antitrust lawsuit against the UFC, filed more than a decade ago, finally took one step closer to getting a legal resolve as Nevada’s Judge Richard Boulware gave the seal of approval to the $375 million settlement, ending an 11-year-long wait for the involved fighters. While the initial amount was $335 million, a $40 million bump was seen in September as per Judge Boulware’s assessment of the situation.

“I’m proud to have represented Cung (Le), Kyle (Kingsbury), Nate (Quarry), Javier (Vazquez), Jon (Fitch), Brandon (Vera) and all of the MMA fighters in the Le v Zuffa class. We achieved some measure of justice. And now we continue the battle in the Johnson case,” the attorney of the fighters involved in this lawsuit, Eric Cramer, revealed in a post on X.

Well, it’s close for the fighters to get their dues, but declining to take the offer could only leave them in misery after a decade-long wait to see their problems get resolved. What do you have to say about this situation? Drop your comments below.