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The United States District Court of Nevada dismissed UFC fighter Mark Hunt's lawsuit against WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, The Ultimate Fighting Championship and UFC President Dana White on 2/14 by Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey. Hunt, who lost to Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 before it was revealed that Lesnar failed drug tests before the fight as well as the night of the fight, filed a $2.5 million lawsuit in January 2017.
In a 28-page ruling, Judge Dorsey agreed with motions to dismiss the lawsuit and ruled that all claims personally against Lesnar and White were dismissed with prejudice, which means that Hunt could not file legal action against them again. All of Hunt's claims, except for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, which he alleged against UFC itself, were also dismissed with prejudice, leaving Hunt with very little he could continue to pursue. Judge Dorsey has instructed Hunt and UFC to have a "mandatory settlement conference."
The lawsuit was the latest twist in a fascinating series of events regarding Brock Lesnar's return to MMA competition in late 2016, which saw the former UFC Heavyweight champion announced for UFC 200, making waves as Lesnar was (and is) under contract to World Wrestling Entertainment. At the time, WWE stated it would be a one-time appearance with Lesnar stating publicly that he approached WWE about the fight and even beat Vince McMahon in an arm-wrestling match in order to get McMahon to sign off. Lesnar was given an exemption from UFC's drug-testing program, allowing him to return and fight without undergoing four months of pre-fight drug testing, usually required for a fighter returning from retirement. Hunt's lawsuit had alleged that UFC chose to do so, despite their "knowledge or willful indifference to the fact that Lesnar was using banned substances."
The lawsuit also alleged that UFC knew about Lesnar's planned comeback well before it was announced in June 2016, so Lesnar should not have been given the exemption and should have been tested long before he actually was. The suit also alleges that UFC failed to expedite drug testing samples, although they were well aware they could do so.
Hunt has claimed that UFC was actually in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by working to allow certain fighters to be able to fight while doping, creating an unfair situation for clean fighters while unjustly enriching the company to benefit themselves to the greatest maximum financial gain, including the recent sale of the company.
The lawsuit noted, "The above-referenced CONDUCT constitutes an “ENTERPRISE” within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. section 1961. This ENTERPRISE, consisting of individuals, corporations and other legal entities, and groups of individuals associated in fact, is separate and distinct from each individual Defendant. The structure of the ENTERPRISE consists of fight promotions, including UFC, doping fighters, including but not limited to Lesnar and [Viktor] Belfort, UFC employees and agents specifically referenced below, which ENTERPRISE is disguised and appearing as legitimately engaged in efforts to combat doping in MMA, when actually, the ENTERPRISE advances and willfully facilitates the use of steroids, both affirmatively and by omission as described herein. Each participant knowingly participates in the scheme and has a common purpose to acquire and obtain money by fraud, false pretenses or false representation or promises, which
CONDUCT is facilitated by wire fraud including emails as described herein."
Interestingly, Hunt listed WWE as a member of the Enterprise allowing such conduct. WWE is not currently a defendant in the lawsuit and beyond that mention, there is no allegation in the lawsuit that currently implicates WWE, as a company, or any of its officers, by name, in any way. Beyond noting that WWE allowed Lesnar to compete and that Lesnar later appeared at Summerslam 2016, there are no other references to WWE in the lawsuit as it is currently filed. However, the lawsuit was also filed against John and Jane Does, leaving the door open to add additional defendants, but nothing ever came of that.
Others named in the alleged enterprise beyond Lesnar, White, WWE and UFC were Viktor Belfort, Frank Mir, Antonio Silva, UFC official Jeff Novitzky and former UFC VP and General Counsel Ike Epstein. The lawsuit specifically claimed that UFC, Lesnar and White "Defendants and each of them, in the course of the ENTERPRISE and their respective occupations, knowingly and with the intent to defraud, engaged in multiple acts, practices and schemes which operated as a fraud and deceit by false representations."
Lesnar fought Hunt at UFC 2000 and easily won, only to have it revealed that he failed a pre-fight test on 6/28/16 as well as a second test on 7/9/16, the night of the Hunt fight. Each failure was for the drug clomiphene, an anti-estrogen agent. Hunt has been loudly upset since the Lesnar drug tests were revealed and has pushed for UFC to punish those who fail drug-tests. It was not the first time Hunt has complained about drug failures as he's had several opponents who have been revealed to have failed drug tests coming out of his fights. Part of the reason Hunt was suing UFC was that based on UFC's drug testing policy, they have the right to pull a competitor's fight earnings and additional compensation in the event of a fighter violating the policy - but had failed to do so in the case of Lesnar.
Lesnar was punished by the Nevada State Athletic Commission as he was suspended him for one year and fined $250,000, which was 10% of his $2.5 million payday for the Hunt Fight. Hunt, in comparison, was paid $700,000 for his fight against Lesnar - and likely did not receive anywhere near the amount of bonuses that Lesnar would have been entitled to based on how the UFC 200 PPV buyrate performed. Lesnar has yet to pay the fine and until he does, could not fight in Nevada in UFC. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) had suspended Lesnar for one year, retroactive to July 2016, as well.
When the lawsuit was filed in 2017, Hunt was interviewed by ESPN and said, "I want the UFC to understand it's not OK to keep doing what they're doing. They're allowing guys to do this. They had a chance to take all the money from this guy, because he's a cheater, and they didn't. What message is that sending to the boys and girls who want to be a fighter someday? The message is, 'You just have to cheat like this and it's OK.' In society, if you commit a crime, you pay. Why is it different in MMA? It's hurt the business, so it's even worse. They need to be held accountable for this."
Judge Dorsey, in throwing out the case, however, noted that Hunt’s battery and aiding-and-abetting claims failed because he consented to fight Lesnar and in his lawsuit, failed to allege that Lesnar’s conduct exceeded “the range of the ordinary activity” during an MMA bout,writing,"....the fact that Lesnar was allegedly doping violated the bout rules established by UFC and the NAC but does not alone establish that his conduct exceeded the ordinary range of activity in an MMA fight. As Hunt’s own allegations demonstrate, doping is an unfortunately common issue in MMA and was a risk he perceived. And although he argues that doping empowered Lesnar to move faster and hit harder, Hunt doesn’t allege that Lesnar’s conduct during the bout was somehow atypical—such as throwing Hunt out of the octagon or using “packed gloves” or a weapon. Nor does Hunt claim that his injuries exceeded those typical of an MMA bout. Accordingly, I find that Hunt consented to his fight with Lesnar, which precludes civil-battery liability. I therefore dismiss with prejudice this claim against Lesnar under count eight and the aiding-and-abetting claim against UFC and White under count nine."
With those claims thrown out, Dorsey ruled that Hunt's allegations of a civil conspiracy could not stand, throwing that claim out as well. The judge also ruled that because Hunt’s claim is based on his contracts with UFC, his unjust-enrichment claim was not available, throwing that out.
Hunt's breach of contract claim was thrown out as the Judge ruled that since Hunt "received the compensation he was contractually entitled to and his remaining financial losses are consequential damages, which are precluded under his contract with UFC."
The Judge also ruled that Hunt had failed to follow up on his RICO allegation, writing Hunt had "failed to make any reference to 1513 or its content in his supplemental complaint, he has not sufficiently given defendants notice of his claim. This alone is grounds for dismissal."
Lesnar has continued to appear for WWE and will defend the WWE Universal title against Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 35.
Lesnar appeared inside a UFC Octagon last year to tease a fight against Daniel Cormier, but thus far, no official announcement of a MMA return has been announced.
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