UFC Awarded Legal Victory Over Ken Shamrock
The UFC today claimed a legal victory over former champion and hall of famer Ken Shamrock, as a judge ruled that the promotion did not breach Shamrock’s contract by releasing him following his loss to Tito Ortiz in October 2006.
The complete press release is below:
Zuffa, LLC, doing business as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (“UFC”), was awarded a legal victory today against former champion, Ken Shamrock. Shamrock, who claimed Zuffa had violated certain contractual provisions of his final fight agreement, was demanding several hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation he claimed was due and owing from the UFC. Following a trial before the Honorable Susan H. Johnson, the Court entered a sixteen page written decision concluding that Ken Shamrock was to “take nothing by way of its Complaint filed April 15, 2008, and judgment is rendered in favor of Zuffa, LLC dba the Ultimate Fighting Championship.” Specifically, Judge Johnson ruled that Zuffa (1) did not breach the contract; (2) that the contract should be interpreted in manner advocated by Zuffa; and (3) that, in any event, Shamrock and his attorney/agent Rod Donohoo waived any purported breach by Zuffa.
The UFC was again represented by their trial counsel Donald J. Campbell and J. Colby Williams of the Las Vegas firm Campbell & Williams. Asked for a comment, Messrs. Campbell and Williams responded as follows:
“Zuffa has issued a clear directive that we are to pursue every legal remedy to ensure that the UFC’s contracts are scrupulously honored and defended. The resulting judgment in this case is just one more example of the UFC’s resolve to vigorously vindicate its contractual rights in the courts.”
When asked if further proceedings would be likely in this case, Messrs. Campbell and Williams remarked in the affirmative:
“The UFC has a clear and unambiguous attorney fee clause in all of its contracts with fighters to the effect, that in the event a fighter loses any contractual challenge in court, that fighter will be responsible for paying our fees. Accordingly, we will be filing a motion to seek recovery of all of our expenses and fees which were occasioned by this lawsuit.”
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Tags: Ken Shamrock
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Gee, what a shock.
A company valued at more than half a billion dollars won a legal victory over Ken Shamrock, a guy experiencing finanical difficulties.
Now I’m not saying who is right or wrong here, just that this isn’t really news to anyone, is it?
Subjectively I would have preferred Dana and Shammy to solve their issues in the Octagon, or at the very least a boxing ring, rather than drag this into court and make all concerned look like suit-wearing weasels.
Objectively the UFC was smart to get rid of Shamrock when they did, because he had nothing left to offer to either the sport [in-cage] or the promotion, and their actions probably saves him from another beating or two…
No argument with hiss cut. He lost he got cut end of story. But going after a man with financial problems when your company is loaded is kinda scumbag IMO. Espessially since Ken is a legend who Did a lot for the company and helped build the sport. Just seems like a low blow from the UFC to me
I hear you on that, but that clause was in his contract. What can he do?
He tried to get a settlement out of them because he apparently didn’t manage his finances well. His claim was based solely on the premise that the contract was breached. It should not have been a surprise to him or his counsel that, once the contract was found to not have been breached, he would have to fulfill that clause.
The UFC sort of has to enforce this clause so that others don’t get the idea that they can just sue for a payday with no consequences.
Perhaps Dana could very quietly invest anything the UFC receives as a result in Shamrock’s gym to keep him solvent.
Exactly! It makes perfect business sense to pursue Sham for the legal costs. Sham would have known the risk of taking this to court and the cost of it if he lost. The guy’s not destitute, he’s still fighting on occasion and announcing for StrikeForce. He’s doing ok – he just happened to lose another bout.
Ken is different than Frank.
????
Ken Shamrock is scheduled to fight against Seth Petruzelli and he announces for StrikeForce.
Frank Shamrock is an announcer for Strikeforce. Ken Shamrock is scheduled to fight Petruzelli. Two different people, same last name. They’re brothers, and about a 7 year age difference, and 40 lbs weight difference, Ken being the elder and the larger.
Haha – I thought I was crazy for a second there. Here’s the video link – Ken Shamrock is the guest announcer for StrikeForce’s Top 10 knockouts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34A19yZLEKg
I’m actually really glad that the UFC has that clause in their fighters contracts that said fighters will have to pay the UFC’s legal fees should they sue and lose over the contract. Instituting the concept of loser pay in our legal system would end a lot of frivolous lawsuits.
Amen.
Define ‘frivolous’…..
You can go to Dictionary.com for a definition of Frivolous. An example would be, suing a company for breach of contract, when they did not, in fact, breach any contract. Or another example, that Washington DC judge that sued his dry cleaner for $67 million over a lost pair of pants.
This is just a lesson for other fighters so that they don’t mess with UFC.
No. It’s not. Not by any stretch.
All this case does is affirm the UFC’s ability to cut fighters at any time regardless of how many fights are still on the contract.
This most certainly is a lesson, though I feel bad for the legend Ken Shamrock.
The contracts state quite clearly that the UFC reserves the right to cut any fighter at any time for any reason, especially if they lose their first fight on the contract or 2/3, 2/4, etc. But they can also cut fighters for other reasons. A perfect example is when Babalu was cut for refusing to release the choke on Heath; he had fights left on his contract, won his fight, but was still cut for breaking the rules. Sherk, Franca, Leben, and Karo all failed drug tests, thus also broke the rules, but they were not cut. Dana cuts whoever he wants, whenever he wants. But it’s in the contract that everyone signs so no one can really complain.
@ eldiablo – I know what you’re saying on the inequity issue, but now you know why I sometimes refer to the UFC as Dana White’s personal fight club…
jcohl: when you sign the paychecks and run the company, you can do whatever you darn-well please. And you’re right, this is his fight club, but it’s a fight club that I’ll watch until he proves he doesn’t know what he’s doing. I’m just saying he does what he wants and the fighters should know to kiss @ss if they want to remain relevant to the sport. It’s not right, it’s not wrong, it’s just Dana.
Its not the clause that the pronlem for me I,just feel that since they can but dont have to enforce this that they should just take it as a minor loss. I dont think were talking millions.
Trust me.
Campbell & Williams is one of the top law firms in the city, and I’m betting they bill out at hundreds of dollars per hour, even for a client like Zuffa.
When you multiply hundreds of dollars per hour over what I’m sure were hundreds of manhours of legal work, it adds up.
Plus, Zuffa needs to put the hammer down on cut fighters filing lawsuits, otherwise they’ll all be doing it…
If they don’t enforce the clause in the contract with Shamrock, the next person with a grievance is more likely to take them to court. It also sets a bad precedent to not enforce your contracts.
Plus lets be honest here.
Don’t get me wrong about Ken Shamrock.
I have He11a respect for what he accomplished in this sport.
However, consider the following:
Sure, Shamrock has done a lot for both the sport and the UFC, but they’ve done right be him as well, by giving him opportunities when he was long past his fighting prime.
If he’d done right by Dana his last go-round, Dana might have been more inclined to throw him more ops instead of cutting him.
Remember how Shamrock tanked as a TUF coach?
Remember how Shamrock performed against Tito Ortiz, a guy claiming to be fighting for years with a tweaked back that eventually required surgery?
And since then Shamrock hasn’t exactly carried himself like a UFC Hall of Fame sportsman recently, has he?
The guy has won I believe 3 fights out of 12 in the past decade, embarrassed himself in some of those losses, sh!tted around in pro wrestling, and had an issue with PEDs.
I have very specific ideas of how a fighter in this sport should conduct themselves, and Shamrock hasn’t come close.
When you factor in his status as a pionerr and legend, he’s really falling short of the mark…
true dat