UFC Antitrust Suit: Plaintiffs Seek to Swap in Gray Maynard

Plaintiffs in the UFC antitrust case in Nevada want to change who leads the lawsuit. A new motion asks to remove former lightweight Kajan Johnson as a main plaintiff and put fellow ex-UFC fighter Gray Maynard in his place.

Over 400 requests for one fighter

A filing by the plaintiffs says the defendants have buried Johnson under more than 400 discovery requests. A hundred of them were addressed to him alone.

The plaintiffs call the requests of "little or no relevance to the subject matter of the litigation." They also point to timing. A total of 201 requests arrived between October 28 and November 4, a stretch of just eight days.

What the motion asks the court to do

The motion was filed this week and rests on Rule 21. In U.S. law, a plaintiff can use that rule to ask the court to drop, add or replace a party.

Under the proposal, Maynard would be a key plaintiff next to Clarence (C.B.) Dollaway and Tristan Connelly. Johnson would still be represented as part of the class action group if the judge approves.

Approval would mean extra paperwork. The plaintiffs would have to file an amended complaint. The change could remove the discovery filings going to and from Johnson, and it lands while the case is still in discovery.

A suit filed in 2021

This case was filed in 2021. The plaintiffs seek damages and an injunction and accuse the UFC of trying to monopolize the MMA industry. Business practices from 2017 through today fall within its scope.

A bigger antitrust case ended earlier. The UFC settled it in 2024, and it covered fighters from December 2010 to June 2017. After a short delay in court, the sides settled on $375 million and a few tweaks to the UFC's business practices.

Source: POST Wrestling