Knockout Victory: Inside the UFC Settlement Fighters Actually Deserve
The Settlement Scorecard – Issue #2
What makes a class-action settlement life-changing? For nearly 1,200 UFC fighters, it’s an average payout of $250,000 each. In a landscape where most settlements deliver pennies on the dollar, the Le v. Zuffa case stands apart.
Case: Le v. Zuffa, LLC (UFC antitrust wage-suppression)
Allegation: UFC leveraged dominant market power and restrictive contracts to suppress fighter pay, violating federal antitrust laws.
Damages Exposure: Approximately $811 million–$1.6 billion (excluding potential for trebling).
Settlement: $375 million cash fund.
Lead Counsel: Eric Cramer, Michael Dell’Angelo (Berger Montague); Benjamin Brown, Richard Koffman (Cohen Milstein); Joseph Saveri (Joseph Saveri Law Firm, LLP).
The Bigger Picture:
Class counsel brought a novel, challenging claim that went directly to the heart of the UFC's business model, guaranteeing a long, drawn-out battle. The result was a cash fund representing over 40% of the non-trebled, baseline damages.
For those outside the plaintiffs’ bar, that 40% figure may not sound like a home run, but it is a monumental achievement. A "damages exposure" of $1 billion is what your experts say you might get; it’s a long way from money in the bank. Getting a jury to agree is another battle entirely. Just ask the USFL—when it famously won its monopolization lawsuit against the NFL, the jury found the NFL was a monopoly but awarded the USFL a grand total of $1 in damages. A win on paper can be a catastrophic loss in reality. Securing hundreds of millions of dollars against that risk is an extraordinary outcome.
But what elevates this from a great settlement to a historic one: the direct impact on the class. Eric Cramer told me that the settlement is projected to have an over 97% participation rate. (Note: Lead counsel will be publicizing final numbers soon.) Individual payouts were truly life-changing, averaging around $250,000 per fighter, with some fighters topping out at over $1 million.
This case is an immediate front-runner for settlement of the year.
What Should We Grade Next?
Spot a settlement that deserves scrutiny—good, bad, or just plain weird? Send it our way and we’ll take a look.
That appears to be a truly unique settlement among class actions. Am I remembering correctly that the judge rejected the initial agreed settlement amount though? The UFC ended up increasing the settlement because the judge was threatening to make the plaintiffs try the case. Still probably one of the best payouts and participation rates for a class action to the individual plaintiffs. Interested to know how much the attorneys fees are given your other articles shedding light on that topic.