Last week word came down that the UFC was filing a lawsuit against Ken Pavia and Bellator Fighting Championships for theft of trade secrets. The suit alleged that Pavia passed Zuffa documents along to Bellator which the promotion then used to write up contracts for fighters, etc.
Bellator Fires Return Shot At Zuffa/UFC; Sues For Tortious Interference
When speaking with Yahoo! Sports Bellator attorney Patrick English said:
There were documents sent by Mr. Pavia to Bellator, but they are not of a competitive nature and they would give no advantage or disadvantage to the viewer. The bulk of them in no way, shape or form would be considered confidential and are not what I consider to be documents that Zuffa should be concerned about.
Now, in a rather surprising counterpunch Bellator has filed a suit against the UFC for tortious interference with a contract. From MMA Junkie:
Bellator Sport Worldwide, LLC today filed suit against Zuffa in a New Jersey court and alleges that “The Ultimate Fighter 12” cast member Jonathan Brookins (11-3 MMA, 1-0 BFC) joined the Spike TV reality series while still under an exclusive contract for Bellator.
Brookins and his manager Mickey Dubberley were also named as defendants in the suit.
A WEC veteran, Brookins is perhaps best known for a November 2008 loss to Jose Aldo, the current WEC featherweight champion. According to the suit, Brookins signed an “exclusive promotional contract” with Bellator in March 2009.
Dubberley has responded that the contract was verbally terminated prior to the UFC signing which is going to be extremely difficult for him to prove.
The shocking thing here is that it seemed that Bellator was off the Zuffa radar as they were not a “direct” competitor but were more in the business of building up young fighters who were likely to go on to long careers in promotions such as the UFC. However, the original suit proved that no one is beyond Zuffa’s wrath and the return shot proved that Bellator feels just fine being in the crosshairs.
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