The Legal Submission Newsletter 8
UFC 259 happens on Saturday with three title fights. Israel Adesanya attempts to be a double-champ as he goes for the Light Heavyweight against Jan Blachowicz. Despite weighing in at just a tick over 200 pounds, the middleweight champion is the favorite according to DraftKings (-235 as of Friday night). The champ is the underdog at +187. Look for Blachowicz to use his 20 pounds plus weight advantage (after rehydrating) to lean on Adesanya. But, the question will be whether the man from Poland can keep up with Adesanya striking.
The co-main features a double champ Amanda Nunes as she takes on Megan Anderson for the Featherweight title. Nunes is a -1000 favorite which shows you how much bettors believe in the new mom. Despite a great height advantage, Nunes’ striking ability is next level and expect this fight ending in a KO with the Lionness retaining both titles.
The other co-main is a fight Aljamain Sterling has been waiting and waiting on for years. He finally gets a shot at the 135 pound title as Petr Yan defends the bantamweight title for the first time. Yan is a slight favorite at -125 with Sterling at +102. This should be a fight with tons of action as the two are superior wrestlers. This is a pick’em but I’ll go with Sterling based on the fact that he’s been waiting for this for a while.
My picks: Adesanya, Nunes and Sterling.
The big news this fight week was the UFC’s deal with DraftKings to be the exclusive Daily Fantasy and sports betting company with the promotion in North America. The deal is for $100 million in rights fees plus $250 million in media rights and obligations. As part of the deal, DraftKings will have dedicated signage on fight broadcasts including a time clock.
On the same day as the UFC-DK announcement, UFC COO Lawrence Epstein participated in an Ask Anything (note leaving out a word to avoid a TM dispute with Reddit) session with Sportico. While the idea of the future of tech for the company and lauding the company’s new deal was the overarching theme, Epstein answered some questions from people tuning in.
Late last week, professional wrestler Kelly Klein filed a lawsuit against her former promotion Ring of Honor in a variety of claims including sexual harassment, unequal pay for women wrestlers, unsafe working conditions and other issues. She also argues that she should have been classified as an employee and not an independent contractor. More on the case in the link at MMA Payout.
In personal news, I’ve uploaded my talk at the Sports Law and Recreation Association Conference which took place last month. My topic was about the Mark Hunt lawsuit against Zuffa with a focus on Hunt’s battery claim against Brock Lesnar and the UFC. The issue of whether a tort can happen during a sport was central to the theme of my discussion. You can find it here at my YouTube page.