Paul Gift Provides Updates and Expertise on the UFC Antitrust Lawsuit for Forbes

Nearly six years ago, a group of former UFC fighters filed a class-action lawsuit that accused the UFC organization of acquiring and maintaining a monopoly and abusing its monopoly power to suppress fighter pay. Dr. Paul Gift provides his expertise and updates on the UFC lawsuit with Forbes, including a detailed breakdown of the ongoing lawsuit, explanation of the judge’s decision, and how the case will impact the MMA industry. Recently, federal Judge Grant certified the group of UFC fighters as a class, moving the ongoing class-action lawsuit forward and exposing it to damages from a much larger pool of potential plaintiffs.

Dr. Gift is a sports economist with a research focus in MMA and is considered an expert in the MMA industry. Most recently, Dr. Gift was referenced on the Joe Rogan podcast featuring Luke Thomas, a CBS sports analyst and MMA journalist, in which Luke highlighted Dr. Gift’s research and expertise on the UFC lawsuit. In the niche field, Dr. Gift has published four academic papers: Performance Evaluation and Favoritism: Evidence From Mixed Martial Arts, Performance Bonuses and Effort: Evidence from Fight Night Awards in Mixed Martial Arts, Entertainment Design in Mixed Martial Arts: Does Cage Size Matter?, and Moving the Needle in MMA: on the Marginal Revenue Product of UFC Fighters. He is currently conducting research and will soon be publishing another research paper on the impacts of the new judging criteria on 10-8 scores in MMA, which is expected to be published in 2021.

Dr. Gift’s Forbes articles are available here.