UFC CEO Dana White and fellow executive Tracy Long testified in the U.S. District Court of Nevada on Wednesday regarding missing evidence as it pertains to the latest antitrust cases.
Judge Richard Boulware presided over the testimonies, which were observed by members of the MMA media in person and those logging in electronically.
At issue were years of communications from White and Long that have not been turned over, and Boulware wanted to address the issue over the defendants’ inability to produce the required communications for discovery purposes for the cases filed on behalf of Kajan Johnson and Misha Cirkunov.
White testified that he never deleted text messages and claims his iPhone 11 was either lost or stolen, though significantly downplayed his own role in any type of negotiations with fighters.
The phone went missing over a year ago, and White explained that there was a “runner” working in the office, who was caught stealing items and was fired. White said it was possible this person stole his phone, but couldn’t determine that for sure. In a strange revelation, the person caught stealing and fired from the company was described as a family member of Ari Emanuel’s.
It is not a secret that White’s role in the day-to-day operations of the UFC has lessened over time, but White described a very detached role since the sale to Endeavor in July 2016. White described that Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell “basically handles the whole business side of the fight game” and that negotiating fighter contracts is not something White has been involved with for years and had “zero role” in negotiations after Campbell took that over.
White shared his role is promoting the fights and that, “They (his team) get it down to the one yard line”.
The Kajan Johnson antitrust suit represents all UFC fighters competing for the promotion from July 1, 2017, onward, and, unlike the Cung Le case, is seeking injunctive relief in addition to financial damages.
The Misha Cirkunov case is challenging a class action waiver clause in the UFC contracts, which would directly affect most of the fighters in the Johnson class.
A previous class action suit filed by a group of fighters, including Cung Le, was settled for $375 million, covering fighters who competed in the UFC between December 2010 and June 30, 2017.
The MMA Draw’s Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold have a detailed breakdown of Wednesday’s proceedings, and John Nash from Hey Not The Face attended the hearing and recorded a podcast covering it from his vantage point.
Testimonies will continue on Thursday, including Hunter Campbell being scheduled to testify.
