Dana White has largely distanced himself from the ongoing antitrust lawsuits aimed at the UFC, but the latest change in the case forced him to respond.
This past week, Judge Richard Boulware denied a settlement agreement after UFC was set to pay the fighters $335 million to close out a pair of lawsuits covering athletes from 2010 to 2017 and then from 2017 to the present day.
While the full reasoning behind his judgment hasn’t been issued yet, Boulware previously stated in court that he objected to the settlement because the agreed upon payout seemed low, and the fighters represented in the second lawsuit — those from 2017 to the present — could object to arbitration and class-action waiver clauses in existing contracts.
As much as he’s attempted to stay out of the fray when it comes to these potentially business-altering lawsuits, the UFC CEO felt the need to address the situation after Boulware shut down the settlement, which had already been agreed upon by both parties involved.
“I’ve literally said this the entire time through this whole thing, it’s not something that I focus on or let the lawyers deal with that stuff,” White explained when speaking to Kevin Iole. “Let me say this, it’s probably the only thing I’ve said since this whole thing’s been going on — it’s getting to a point now where this feels personal.
“You know I went to high school with this guy? Me and Lorenzo [Fertitta] went to high school with him. I don’t know what the hell me or Lorenzo did to him in high school, but this seems very, very personal. Yeah, we went to high school with this guy.”
White didn’t say if he and former UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta were close to Boulware or if they had any prior relationship outside of just attending the same high school.
Still, White can’t help but wonder what could’ve driven Boulware to make the unilateral decision to deny the settlement despite the UFC and the fighters represented by the lawsuit signing off on the deal.
“I don’t think I did anything to this guy,” White said. “I don’t know what the hell happened but there’s no doubt in my mind that this feels absolutely personal. Whatever it is with this guy, we’ll let the lawyers deal with it, and it is what it is.”
The next step for the antitrust lawsuit is a status conference scheduled on Aug. 19, with the judge setting a tentative start date for the trial in October. Between now and then, the UFC and the fighters involved in the two separate lawsuits can still try to reach a new settlement agreement that would be more satisfactory for the judge’s approval.