UFC Lawsuit Explained. Kevin Iole from keviniole.com breaks down the pros and cons. Plus Tszyu fight

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🎙️ Join George Zapata as he sits down with Kevin Iole for an exclusive interview discussing the groundbreaking $335 million UFC settlement! 💰💼 Get all the inside scoop on this historic agreement that is set to shake the world of MMA. Don’t miss this captivating conversation that will leave you on the edge of your seat! 🗣️🤩

But that’s not all! George Zapata also brings you an exciting preview of the upcoming Tszyu vs Fundora fight! 🥊🔥 Get ready for a clash of titans as these two fighters go head to head in an epic battle for supremacy. Who will come out on top? Tune in to find out!

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Hello guys welcome back to another episode of the Zapata bam brand boxing podcast brought to you by ringside ringside.com SLP podcast get your 40% off selected items ioli from Kevin ii.com joins us on the podcast Lots stuff happening in MMA and boxing but let’s go right to it

First with MMA UFC settles a $335 million lawsuit um antitrust kind of uh civil lawsuit I mean was more of a class action law yeah uh that and they settled it for $335 million in my opinion UFC came out kind of ahead on this uh if you can go to the

Details of what you know you’ve been speaking to lawyers for the last few days yeah lawyer an economist so it’s been it’s been interesting I I am not a lawyer nor am I an economist so uh I’m gonna do the best I can but um in 2014 a

Group of Fighters uh sued the UFC claiming uh violations of federal antitrust laws and basically as I understand it you know their ultimate goal was to create more competition and to therefore be able to get better contracts when they got into free agency right and so they won wanted to one of

Their aims was was to change UFC contracts what the terms and the contracts were well after nearly 10 years they filed in uh late 2014 so we’re in early 2024 not quite 10 years they finally settled and they got no changes so that was the biggest loss chorge no change in

The contract so the UFC is going to do business the way they had always done business um nothing nothing is going to change and I I think when I look at the amount of money the fighters were asking there were two separate lawsuits one that went from 2010 to about 2017 and

Then another one that started 2017 that covered the period of up to about 2021 right and uh those two lawsuits were both settled in this one settlement for $335 million and of course the one thing we know right off the top the lawyers are going to get you know a

Large part of that money I think probably my guess is going to be 30% of of that 335 million is going to go to the lawyers that represented uh the plaintiffs in this action so the fighters will separate the rest of that money um so you know it’s hard to see it

As anything but the cost of doing business for the UFC but a very big win for the UFC um the UFC’s uh stock price Rose significantly they’re going to be able to pay this over time it’s tax deductible think about that tax deductible so the Fighters uh you know

Did not come out the way they had hoped and you know it’s it’s sad I mean I am not an Anti-Trust lawyer and so I don’t know what constitutes an Anti-Trust violation and doesn’t um but obviously the fighters I think were looking at this and seeing this was

Going to go on at least another five years trial was scheduled to start um in April and in the best case scenario for the fighters they would have won at trial the UFC would have appealed and you were going to probably be looking at five years of appeals and then maybe to

The Supreme Court you know maybe as long as 10 years and I think the fighters decided to cut their losses George and and uh take what they could get at this point Here’s the the the caveat here um again I am a proponent for Fighters

Getting as much pay as I want but I’m also a capitalist so I do get both sides I do get both sides the thing with there’s gonna I don’t want to hear any more unions and and stuff like that from the fighters because if the fighters aren’t on the Forefront of a united

Front they have no leg to stand on I did a little bit of a you know Georgie Bagels math here if they were to pay this out because they’re going to take 33 and a third that’s what I think the the thing would be 33 and a third the

Lawyers take off the the top that leaves about 221 million dollar left distributed over about 1300 uh Fighters that were in about 13,00 Fighters if they pay that out over a fiveyear period just a fiveyear period not everyone’s going to get the same we’re just going to take the

Average it’s 36 Grand a fighter or every every year for five years that is a huge win and then the fact that they this is it this is over now that’s over you’re not coming back you had your one shot there is no there has to be a martyr for them

Unfortunately that’s the only way Major League Baseball got free agency that’s the only way the NFL got free agency so if you want to have a legitimate sporting League they do I think they do they run it like a business but it is a league they have a guy on top that does

You have to have a mar there’s no way this is coming back around I don’t want I don’t want to hear it I mean I know it’s seems like I’m being a little harsh on the fighters end but you need someone to do it and most of the fighters probably are broke well

Well here’s one of the problems that I think you know like I’ve always been for labor and all these professional sports you know the NFL you root for the players to win you know uh Major League Baseball Union is great right the um but the fighters are different because it’s

An individual sport right so in tennis and golf you might want to compare to them and you see what happened with Liv when competition in you know the the you know purses in golf uh you know went up the PGA Tour suddenly all of a sudden increased all these purses you know so

That they would keep and made it in events that the big stars would want to play in but you know I don’t think they’re comparable because the fighters aren’t aren’t going for prize money they are negotiating contracts for how much they get but the here’s the difference

Between the NBA let’s say the four the big four team sports the NBA the NHL the NFL and Major League Baseball when you compare him to Fighters whether it be MMA fighters or boxers no matter how good show shoh Otani is he cannot win the World Series

For the Dodgers by himself you’re not going to win the World Series with SH Otani only you’re not gonna win the superow with Patrick Mahomes only he’s so damn good you can get close but but you need but the problem is in the fighters that there’s desperate interest

Right so if you are Conor McGregor and you’re sitting there do you really care and do you want to go out and do you want to walk the picket line against the UFC and turn down 12 15 18 whatever how many million dollars he’s making in

These fights and say I don’t want to fight anymore until you help somebody who’s at the beginning who’s at the 12 and 12 who’s making 12 to show and 12 to win they don’t they don’t have that incentive but in baseball they do because they’re teammates and you need

Your teammates Patrick Mahomes needs his offensive line he needs his receivers you know all that type of thing in baseball you know sh Otani you know needs other players around him in order for them to be able to win otherwise they become the Pittsburgh Pirates right take a little shot of my Pirates

But I think that’s the difference and so you don’t have common interest among the fighters where you have common interest among the athletes in the team sports yeah show he Tani needs a new interpreter I think that’s what he’s got to deal he’s got something else he’s

Dealing with right now I mean someone’s taking $4 million out of your bank that’s another story but uh had it for him to steal it that’s I guess that’s it’s an incredible story I when I heard that I was like what are you writing checks out to a gambling casino an

Illegal one to boot you know so he’s got some issues there that’s a whole another topic there but again I think you’re right in a sense that individual sports is way different than than the team sport this was a huge blow to any individualized 1099 employee that is going to look to somehow

Modernize that boxing MMA thing the alak kind of was destroyed right here to go into MMA I think that’s kind of not gonna happen I I don’t think there’s a chance of that happening but no and a lot of people George let me just say this real

Quick a lot of people especially on the MMA side who don’t have experience in boxing they they hail the AL act as something that would change MMA look at how screwed up boxing is it’s doing very little for boxing right it’s not yeah it’s not serving the intended purpose

Right I mean the all the ACT is mainly notification so basically when you sign a contract you know and and um you know the promoter you know is getting Eddie Hearn is getting money from Doone or Oscar de la Hoy is getting money from donon or whatever the television entity

Is they have to show all their sources of income that’s what they do that there’s that notification on there um and I’ve covered a lot of cases on that the Ali Act would not fundamentally have changed MMA I think other Federal rules might you know be a new new legislation

But certainly not the Alli act does this kind of put the nail in the coffin to that where you know you’re not gonna you’re not going to move forward with it you’re gonna this is the system that you guys have have agreed to and that’s the

Way it kind of puts a nail on where Dana White now says okay this is the way it’s going to be let’s put this stuff to the side knock off the little pest now we’re going to work move forward is that kind of where you feel it’s G to go now I

Think I mean it’s hard for anybody now to come in as a new company and compete against the UFC right because um you know with this case you know going under there’s no contractual changes and so the UFC is going to have you know have the ability to uh control the market to

A large degree for U you know for as long as they want to do so even even if you’re a well-funded you know person and you come in and you have all these great plans it it’s going to be really hard to get to where the UFC

Because you know hey look and give the UFC credit for one thing I mean for for they have done good business right they have been smart I’m not talking about in terms of the salaries I’m talking about in the way they’ve built their own business right and they built you know

They’ve done better PR than other people they’ve done better in terms of marketing uh than other people they’ve done done better in terms of uh sponsorships and ticket sales and all these other things that have nothing to do with the salaries they’re paying the fighters right right and and they’ve

Really built up and you know we know the UFC doesn’t have all the best fighters they have I my take is that UFC at any given time has 65 to 75% of the world’s best fighters right but there’s a lot of good Fighters out there that are not in

The UFC but those Fighters aren’t marketed as well and they aren’t brought to the Public’s attention as well often as they are when you’re you know when they’re in the UFC and that’s the big difference let me ask you a question and I think you would know the answer to

This or you have more insight than than than I would okay so they are classified as 1099 employees independent contractors y independent contractors and I also compare that to now they’re were bought by TKO uh WWE they’re independent contractors okay why cannot a guy who’s signed to UFC as an independent

Contractor jump over to Bellator or WWE jump over to a I don’t understand that because you’re signing a contract with them and saying I’m GNA fight you know for this many you know X number of fights right so that’s what your contract or this this you know usually

The contracts have two things you know we will offer you X number of fights over X number of months right so you know we’ll offer you four fights over a two-year period or eight fights over a threeyear period or whatever the case may be they they lock those fighter you

Know those fighters in and and the other you know the other thing that’s created out of out of this one of the things that you know is that the UFC is perceived to be the major league right so the UFC is the NFL or the UFC is the

NBA of of fighting right right so do you want to go to Bellator you know occasionally there might be a fighter that go leaves the UFC and goes to the pfl or goes to Bellator and actually makes more money Shane Bergos Pops to mind right the UFC

Didn’t sign him a few years ago he fought on Long Island he’s he’s from that area had a big crowd of people there cheering him on he ends up signing afterwards for a really large contract with the pfl now you know he left the UFC but uh

I I think he was doing it because he realized hey I’m never gonna be a champion in the UFC right he was a good solid you know middle of the top 10 you know like maybe number six to 15 type fighter right he was never going to get

In that top point where he’s going to make the really big money the the fighters who make the big money UFC’s undoubtedly are the champions and then secondly the ones that are getting close to the championship right those are the ones going to make the most money and so

I think Bergos looked at it and said well hey look you know I’m not going to get to that point I’m not going to win the UFC you know featherweight Championship I’m sitting here and I can take this big amount of money from the pfl and I might be able to win their

Million-dollar tournament and if I win the million-dollar tournament I get that you know I get that as well that gives me more money than I’m going to make in the UFC but now he’s not going to be able to get that really big money in the

UFC if he would happen to win the championship and then go on and become a star it was always just a great area to me only because I look at it as if they classify you as 1099 or a W2 if you’re 1099 I always thought and

If if I had hired a plumber here to do my work I couldn’t tell him hey you got to wear this you got to wear that you got to be here at this time to do this job they’re jumping job to job it is a little different I get it but the

Classification always got me it was always gray area to me but you’re I know again we’re getting into things that NE neither you or I are expert in but I I think it’s this right um you’re hiring a plumber you’re hiring a plumbing company even if it’s one plumber that plumber uh

Is has his own company that is does doing business right or if you hire a company that has 20 plumbers right you are hiring that company and they are sending that specific plumber to you whereas the the UFC is the plumbing company and they are hiring the plumbers

Does that make sense that makes sense more so yeah I just was always curious about it because I never I never knew why people didn’t jump all over and but I guess boxing’s totally different too that boxing fighters are independent contractors and they sign with a promoter promoter yes Canelo Canelo is a

Great example Canelo showing how and I wrote this a long time ago Canelo is using the system to his Advantage instead you know a lot of people want to get in there and maybe it’s smart when you’re not a superstar or you know you’re not going to be a superstar like

Canelo get that security and have an eight-fight contract and you know you know you’re going to make X number for all your fights but you know Canelo sits there and he signs short-term deals and he’s able to move from promoter to promoter to promoter because you know

What happens George like look at this we don’t know what in in two years we don’t know what promoter’s going to have the best you know feather weights we don’t know what promoter’s going to have the best midddle weights we don’t know what promoter’s going to have the best slight

Heavyweights so can signs a short-term deal he finishes now he looks and he says oh I think you know matchroom has the best you know fighters in my category or I think well it wouldn’t be go he wouldn’t go to Golden Boy but I you know I think top rank has the best

Or the PBC has the best and whoever that’s what he does and so he’s he’s using the system the way it should be used now uh you had an interview up for on kevin.com with an economist um what was his perception about economically what this is going to how it impacts uh

UFC you talked about the tax cuts or tax breaks that they get what is it going to do for them long term well I think you know this enables them to further solidify their position I think that’s what you know really is the the thing

Here they are now you know they are the market leader they’re the unquestioned market leader and they’re going to solidify their position as the market leader as as um a result of this if their contracts were forced to be changed in any substant ancial significant way there might have been an

Ability for somebody else for a competitor to come in and push them and challenge them but right now um they are going to be able to keep you know keep the contracts the way they are they’re going to be able to keep the fighters on a longer term basis you know years ago

And I don’t know if this is totally analogous but when Oscar De La Hoya was a fighter he sued top rank he know he signed with top rank out of the Olympics and he fought the top rank for roughly 8 10 years and then he Su them and

Basically what he said was the contract was onerous and it was too long and he sued them in California and the state of California agreed with him and he was able uh able to get out and that’s that ultimately led to the formation of Golden Boy in a roundabout way but that

Was first step in what led to Golden Boy promotions being formed and he was able to get out of that and start promoting you know promoting his own own fights um but now the UFC doesn’t have to worry about that because their contracts are not you know at a federal level they’ve

Been you know um exonerated I guess is the word to use right have um I know you uh released a statement that UFC had has Dana White had any word uh directly from him on I haven’t spoken to Dana White in a while so uh um not even text this week

So uh but they they weren’t making any of their Executives available to speak and I think you know obviously for obvious reason and and the other thing is I I think it’ll be interesting when uh Dana speaks after judge bullar judge Richard bullar has to ratify and approve

The settlement and so if he does not approve it then you know I’m I’m not sure exactly what happens I don’t know if they go back to talks again and fix what he doesn’t like but I mean it’s expected since the sides both sides agreed that the judge will ratify but he

He’s it’s not a rubber stamp he doesn’t have to ratify it but once he approves the settlement and then the pressure is off Dana White or any of the fighters right on both sides they can talk and they can say what they think and so I think

You’ll hear more come out later after the settlement is approved by the judge well let’s switch gears uh this coming weekend or next weekend actually we’re on Friday one week from tomorrow March 30th pv.com which you were in the chat there this week this this time you

Will not Jim Lampley and Lance pugmire will be there we have Tim Zoo coming in with a late replacement Sebastian fandura um in my opinion better fight I think it’s a better fight to be honest with you well what do you think about it you know I think from you know

Unfortunate for Keith Thurman that you know he suffered the biceps injury I I saw he posted uh a radiologist report and it showed that the bicep was pulled right off the tendon so he needs to undergo surgery that’s a pretty significant injury I had that I had that

Yeah so you know uh they have to attach that they have two screws that go too I had the same exact injury he had um and it’s a long time this at 30 something it’s and he’s 35 years old has fought since 2022 he’s fought one time in five

Years you know you gotta think that this might be the end unfortunately for Keith Thurman who is a good guy a really good fighter and I I feel for Keith Thurman but I think from a stylistic standpoint fandora might make a better match now I think Thurman was going to be more

Competitive with Tim zooo than I think fandora will be but my big issue here in this is why in the hell is this a title fight like I was gonna say Sebastian fandora got knocked cold by Brian Mendoza in his last fight took the count

Of 10 and now he’s not he he is fighting for a unified championship and and in my mind and I think in a lot of people’s mind unified Champions are a little bit higher they have High stature than other fighters in fondor who I have nothing against I like

Sebastian I like his sister Gabby they’re both good people and and they’re good Fighters and and and I and I I have rooted for Sebastian in his career because because of what a good kitty is but it’s just not right why are the WBO and the WBC sanction as as a

Championship fight it’s a it’s a good fight it doesn’t need to be a title fight well uh Sebastian was on the receiver end of The Knockout of the Year 2023 um only in boxing does this happen you get a knockout lost fight of the year a knockout of the year and then

Come back in your next fight and get a unification bout against a guy who would beat the guy that knocked you out it this is It’s I when I I what I think’s happening though and I think you’re going to see this more often similar to

What UFC does they put guys on on the undercard that they can kind of slip in just in case that’s really smart to do and you know I I have no like if they would have stopped and said hey this is the main event fandora versus Zoo 12 run non-title

Bite great job you know I love it you saved the show you Sav the card for the people who love boxing who we’re looking forward to seeing you know Ry Romero and ESO Cruz or you know some of the other fights I I I love it bodrick is now

Gonna fight Brian Mendoza so God bless him for doing that thank you Tom Brown promoter Tom Brown for saving it thank you Al Heyman for I sound like a fighter there for saving that so thank you Amazon Prime for going forward um I think it’s terrific right

But why is this a title fight and I shouldn’t care that much right but here’s the there’s two two things that I want to bring up George number one there’s another WBC super welterweight how ridiculous can we be we have the vacant WBC super Welterweight Title Fight being contested in the main

Event but an hour earlier or two hours earlier bachik and Mendoza are fighting for the interim WBC Title how and the reason I don’t like this is it confuses the public you and I are involved in boxing and we understand and and you have to this convoluted boxing logic you

Have to follow but it’s hard for the average public they want to know who is the champion who did you beat to win the championship and and then if I if they say George be Kevin okay he beat Kevin he’s the champion all of a sudden Kevin shouldn’t be champion after George beat

Kevin right that’s not how it works and and this is what these goofy sanctioning bodies are doing and you know I like I want to say this I like both Paco Vol carcel who was the president of uh the WBO I’ve played golf with Paco a number

Of times really good guy uh Mauricio sulaman is uh the president of the WBC also a good guy and I think has a good heart Mauricio sulan does a lot lot of good charitable work right I have a lot of really good things to say about Mauricio sulaman um but the way he

Handles these titles is the one thing I disagree with him on I I respect Mauricio sulaman a lot and I think Mauricio is the one that does more of the heat here than than Paco because Paco Kim zuo was his champion and he was you know and and he was putting that

That title up and the promoters made that fight but the WBC is putting two super Welterweight Title fights on the line on the same show come on now could this be for the sanctioning feas of course no that’s how that I mean so they wouldn’t want to be out of the

Pot just to be honest with you they’re not gonna want to be out of the pot but don’t you say George don’t you say if you’re them a rising tie lifts all boats and you know as much as we love boxing it’s down here right and if boxing just

Was up here if they just managed the [ __ ] better right if they manag way the rankings are and if they manage the way they don’t change too much fundamentally just do the rankings fairly do do the championship sanction the championship fights fairly and even-handedly the sport would

Be better off and there would be more money not less but it’s like it the pie gets smaller all the time because of these crazy decisions it’s hard to man it’s like you know hurting Stray Cats it’s it’s it’s hard to do like nailing jelly to a tree or something you you

Know it’s it’s hard to do with in boxing withk my favorite what’s that eating soup with a fork is my favorite perfect I mean it’s just it’s hard to do with the with boxing it’s very frustrating uh the co main event that I think is the

People’s Main Event in this one Cruz Roy Romero love I love the fight I loved it when it was when it was first signed um I’ve kind of gone away from the gloves off uh exclusives that they were having there I kind of got away from it because

Esau Cruz and Roland M were the two that I wanted to see anyway um what do you think of that one that looks like a firestorm coming I I like that fight you know um it it’s interesting and I think that this could very you could see a

Knockout coming either way in this fight I could see you know Cruz is gonna be putting that pressure on right um I I think Romero is a little bit overrated but he can’t punch right and I think that you know Cruz coming in and if he

Walks into something he’s got to be he’s got to be uh concerned about that but I think Cruz is a pretty smart fighter and I think he’s going to pressure intelligently I would kind of lean toward Cruz you know I H I haven’t done a lot of breakdown of it yet George uh

I’ll spend more time on that uh during fight week but you know my off the top of the head when the fight was announced I kind of thought Cruz uh pressure was GNA you know kind of Wilt uh Romero a little bit and I think you saw that in

The dvon Davis fight now dvon Davis hit so freaking hard that you know he didn’t have the chance to wilt him he just put him asleep right away but I think the fight was starting to turn in dant’s favor and then Bingo the you know the

Lights got put out but I like Cruz and I with his pressure in this fight and ESO is a good defensive fighter very technically I mean when you watch that dvon Davis fight some of the punches that dvon Davis normally would hit people with his fakes to the body then

Right up with the uppercut he was catching uh Esau Cruz was catching him he was pretty sharp was pretty sharp the only thing I didn’t like I thought isau Cruz looked really heavy really heavy in between these two fights yeah he just real chunky that’s the only thing I

Didn’t like still great defensive fighter uh great technical fighter and capap punch I I definitely lean towards Esa Cruz in this one I think roller m is just a little too wide open a little too wild but as always Kevin you joined us here on the show at Kevin

Kevin.com where can they get a hold of you on your social media and on your website I am on Twitter at Kevin ey and I am on everything else on Instagram Facebook uh at Kevin ioli and uh my uh of course my uh website and we got you

Know what I should I make the announcement here we got a new merch up right I got um I got polo shirts now available for people and about 15 colors so if you want to get a polo shirt with my logo on it you can get that and I

Also you know and you talk about inventions are made out of necessity well like in my case merchandise goes out of necessity I’ve been selling coffee cups with my logo on it and it was a 15 oz cup and I went what the hell

Is this I want more coffee so I got a bigger coffee cup and I put the logo on both sides and we got new coffee cups too you’re BEC a marketer you’re becoming a marketer I knew I’d get it out of you at some point I knew I’d turn you into a

Marketer unbelievable but Kevin at George’s bagel store and dunk it in your coffee there you go this is a great collaboration here this is great George and Kevin ioli Kevin ii.com go there get your merch right now new merch on sale follow him on Instagram Facebook Twitter

He’s all over the place as always Kevin you got the you got the best stories of break breaking news I appreciate you coming on you got it brother thank you thanks for watching the sapata brand podcast please subscribe to the podcast and listen where all podcasts are available