Former UFC welterweight Jon Fitch says the UFC still unfairly pushes its athletes to sign lifelong agreements to give up their name, image, and likeness rights.
In an interview with Blaze News, Fitch discussed a lawsuit against the UFC that he was involved with for years. His issues with the organization began all the way back in 2008, when the UFC dropped him for refusing to sign what he described as a lifetime contract for his likeness rights. The dispute famously took just 24 hours to resolve before Fitch was welcomed back into the promotion after agreeing to terms that would see him in a UFC video game.
‘They wanted me to sign my image and likeness rights away for zero dollars.’
Fitch claimed these contracts still exist and that fighters are still signing away their likeness rights in perpetuity. Particularly, Fitch referred to UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former champion Conor McGregor. Fitch said the UFC’s consistent mentions of Jones as the greatest of all time and the organization persistently teasing McGregor’s return both are efforts to capitalize on the fighters’ likenesses.
“They own Jon Jones. They own him in a way that no one was ever able to own Muhammad Ali or Bruce Lee. Think about if a corporation or a film studio or Don King, like, one of Ali’s promoters, owned everything about Ali,” Fitch said, adding that the UFC “own[s] every fighter. That was my whole thing back then. … They wanted me to sign my image and likeness rights away for zero dollars … forever.”
Fitch then referred to the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000, which prohibits boxing promoters from requiring boxers to grant future promotional rights as a prerequisite for competing. This rule does not apply to mixed martial arts, however, which Fitch said often traps fighters into one promotion when their marketing value is at its highest.
The 47-year-old said he didn’t ask for money during his original dispute; he simply wanted a 20-year sunset clause for his likeness rights, which means he would have been under contract to this day. He further claimed that the UFC used his situation to “scare everybody else into signing, and it worked.”
The class-action lawsuit against the UFC, which lasted more than 10 years, claimed that the company suppressed fighter pay by using an anti-competitive scheme to shut out rivals. The UFC has declined to comment on the suit on many occasions (in particular to MMA fighting) and has simply said that it will “vigorously defend itself and its business practices.”
In February, the UFC finally settled for a whopping $375 million.
Other outlets have reported that UFC contracts often include exclusive image and likeness rights as well as competitive restrictions.
At the same time, however, former fighters such as Demetrious Johnson have expressed gratitude over the extensive likeness rights. Johnson has praised payouts that he has received from UFC video games.
The UFC didn’t immediately respond to Blaze News’ request for comment on Fitch’s claims.
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