Another two former UFC fighters, Mac Danzig and Gabe Ruediger, have filed a class action lawsuit against Zuffa, owners of the UFC
They join previous filings from Cung Le, Jon Fitch, Nathan Quarry, Brandon Vera, Pablo Garza, Dennis Hallman and Javier Vasquez over the course of the past few months.
While the aforementioned fighters haven’t all filed at the same time, their anti-trust lawsuits are essentially the same, accusing the UFC of running a monopoly in the sport of mixed martial arts that has restricted their earning power and stifled their ability to take on merchandising and marketing opportunities amongst other issues.
Danzig won The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 and in total competed 13 times for the UFC over a six year period. He never quite made his mark in the Octagon however, losing more fights than he won during a 5-8 UFC campaign before being released and subsequently retiring in December of 2013.
Ruediger first competed for the Zuffa owned WEC promotion but then had a single fight in the UFC in 2006 before an ill-fated run in The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 and finally returning for a further two fights in 2010-2011. During those two short stints in the Octagon he failed to pick of a victory.
After being released for a second time Reudiger fought a further two times on the regional circuit and then announced his retirement in 2013.
A hearing regarding the lawsuits is currently scheduled to take place in May, though Zuffa’s legal team has filed a motion to attempt to have it moved forward to March.
