UFC chiefs Dana White and Hunter Campbell answered questions in Nevada state court last week about a lack of disclosures in another series of antitrust lawsuits filed by fighters.
Like Le v. Zu, which saw fighters receive $375 million in settlements from 2012 to 2017, Johnson v. Zu accuses the UFC of using its monopoly power to artificially keep fighter wages artificially low, this time starting in 2017. Cirkunov v. Zuffa held that UFC fighters who signed class action arbitration clauses should still be able to participate in Johnson v. Zuffa , while Davis v. Zuffa represented fighters outside of the UFC who also claimed they had been harmed by the UFC’s anti-competitive conduct.
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All of these antitrust cases are being handled by Judge Richard Boulware, who also oversaw the Le v. Zuffa settlement. Years of communications between White, Campbell and UFC attorney Tracy Long were completely missing from discovery documents turned over, leading to last week’s destruction hearing, according to the boxers’ attorneys.
If the UFC is unable to dig up this data, they could be subject to serious legal consequences from Judge Bulwell.
Even with UFC CEO Dana White and Congressional Budget Office Hunter Campbell testifying, those who sat in on the defamation hearing on February 11-12, 2026 didn’t see much exciting courtroom drama. Instead, there was a lot of back-and-forth about who did the work related to the fighter contract, how those people communicated with each other, and the fate of old cellphones used by different employees.
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The purpose of the hearing is to determine why five years of communications between White and Long were not turned over to Warrior attorneys. There was also a cell phone from Campbell that was never scanned and the plaintiffs claim was used to send more than 3,000 messages to UFC matchmakers. Taken together, the testimony presented paints a picture of the UFC being extremely sloppy in its legal responsibility to maintain and turn over court records.
Legal expert John Nash witnessed the hearing live in Nevada and discussed the potential outcomes of the predation hearings on his Substack podcast.
“The judge may impose some kind of sanctions on the plaintiffs,” Nash said on “Hey Not The Face.” “He said these were punishable offenses. The question is: Based on what he could do and how much he found wrong with him, what would he do?”
The UFC claims Dana White is no longer involved in anything involving UFC fighters, contracts or matchmaking, meaning the years of missing communication don’t matter. Boulware’s questioning of White suggests he is not entirely convinced of the argument.
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“The material in it is important if the judge believes it is indeed relevant to the case,” Nash said. “Not just a small amount, but a large amount, which is so important to showcasing the business operations of the UFC, but it’s missing. So how do you try a case? How does the plaintiff present their case? How does the judge rule? How about the jury?”
“Judges have to rule on these arbitration agreements,” Nash said of Cirkunov v. Zuffa. “He has to make a decision on these arbitration class action waivers and he can basically say, ‘I have to work with [fighters] Because there is a lack of material that might prove the plaintiff’s case or prove the defendant’s case. “
“‘And because it was lost due to gross negligence or malicious intent [UFC]in which case I was forced to weigh in on the plaintiff’s side by working backwards. I MUST WAIVE THESE ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER UNDER NEVADA LAW. So all the warriors… they’re back in the Johnson class now. “
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As antitrust cases progress, the more fighters the class represents, the greater the risks. The $375 million Le v. Zuffa settlement is a small sum compared to the amount Johnson v. Zuffa fighters can sue for. And adverse inferences arising from sanctioned discovery violations could come to haunt the UFC at an actual trial.
“If it goes to trial,” Nash said. “[The judge] It’s possible to turn to the trial and say, ‘Because of the lack of this material, I think you should have an adverse inference that you, the jury, can always interpret arguments based on material that we don’t have.’ You can weigh it, this is the most disadvantageous for you [UFC] and most beneficial [fighters]”.
Judge Bulwell gave UFC attorneys another 30 days to sort through the missing phones and records, but it sounds like Dana White’s years-long missing communications will not be recovered. The judge’s reaction to this is unknown, but he made it clear that he was very unhappy with how poorly the UFC was keeping records, despite a court order to save them.
His ruling on the issue could have huge legal implications and could push the UFC into another multimillion-dollar settlement with its fighters.
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