He warned everyone he was going to take legal action, and now Mark Hunt has carried through with his promise.
Hunt has filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court naming Brock Lesnar, UFC president Dana White, and Zuffa LLC as defendants stemming from Lesnar’s failed drug tests ahead of his bout against Hunt at UFC 200.
The 42-year-old fan-favourite is seeking damages to the tune of “millions” and is making some serious allegations against the aforementioned parties in his suit, including racketeering, fraud and breach of contract. The news was first broken by Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com.
His suit states:
“UFC and its agents have affirmatively circumvented and obstructed fair competition for their own benefit, including being complicit in doping proliferation under the guise of advancing ‘the best anti-doping program in all of professional sports. Defendants have accomplished this by means including but not limited to various and rampant purported use exemptions, drug testing exemptions and by failure to enforce its own policies.”
Mark Hunt calls for UFC drugs cheats to be sued in foul-mouthed rant https://t.co/UbXMfaSyBt
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 25, 2016
Former heavyweight champion Lesnar made his highly anticipated comeback against Hunt at the landmark UFC 200 card on July 9, 2016. He failed an out-of-competition test taken on July 28 as well as an in-competition test which was carried out on fight night, both times for the same banned substance clomiphene and its metabolite, 4-hydroxyclomiphene.
Hunt was controversially granted an exemption from the four-month written notice rule for un-retiring athletes under the USADA/UFC policy, which Hunt was very vocal about before the positive test news emerged. Hunt’s lawsuit alleges the UFC and Lesnar knew about his planned return to the Octagon well in advance of it being officially announced, claiming he could have entered the testing pool four months before UFC 200.
Lesnar went on to win the fight via unanimous decision, but this result was overturned to a No Contest. The WWE star was also handed a one-year suspension for the failed tests as well as a $250,000 fine, which only amounted to 10% of his disclosed purse.
Hunt is now seeking compensatory damages alleging that he “suffered severe physical injury, as well as economic and non-economic damages including without limit damage to his reputation, title contention, and future earning capacity.”
He also alleges that the defendants wrongfully maximised profit, including the landmark $4.2 billion sale of the company to WME IMG, “to the detriment of the health and safety of all fighters and to the detriment of fair competition.”
