Matt Brown Lays into ‘Idiot’ Renato Moicano and Others for Jostling UFC Love by Refusing Antitrust Money

With $375M settlement in for Le v. Zuffa antitrust case, Renato Moicano not collecting the money angers a UFC veteran.

Matt Brown Lays into ‘Idiot’ Renato Moicano and Others for Jostling UFC Love by Refusing Antitrust Money

UFC's Renato Moicano hasn't applied for antitrust money (Source: X)

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The UFC antitrust resolution is within reach. There is $375 million in settlement funds available for UFC fighters who made ballot appearances in fights between 2010 and 2017. However, as early as January, it came to be that some 400+ fighters hadn’t opted for those funds. UFC lightweight Renato Moicano was one of them who made such a headline, and veteran Matt Brown is against it.

The UFC antitrust case stems back to a case in 2014 wherein ex-UFC standouts Cung Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Brandon Vera, et al. acted as plaintiffs. UFC and parent TKO have yearned to close the book on claims of anti-competitive conduct and violating Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

District Court Judge Richard Boulware previously shunted a $335 million settlement, saying low-order fighters would only get marginal payouts. Hence, the amount disbursed is now a pool of $375 million in settlement funds for the case (Case No. 2:15-cv-01045-RFB-BNW). 

Litigators handing out the payments said by now, 97 percent are getting paid, but there’s those like Renato Moicano who have blatantly refused to take it. UFC veteran Matt Brown is among those taking the money and takes umbrage with the practice of refusing it.

I question whether that’s true or not, too. I think Moicano may be saying that in public but I don’t know if that’s truly the case in reality, though…It doesn’t make him look better saying that. I don’t think anybody is like ‘Wow, bro, you’re f**king brand loyal, good for you!’ No, everybody’s like, ‘You’re a f**king idiot for this’; it’s stupid…[I do] doubt that Moicano’s one of them to be honest. 

Matt Brown on ‘The Fighter vs. Writer’ for MMAFighting on SBN

‘Money’ Moicano iterated on agreeing “to the terms of the contract” and that it netted him a huge deal in his current contractual run. However, the veteran disagrees that sticking up to the UFC execs and CEO Dana White would do him any additional favors.

15 years or so after, Brown said high output of unwavering allegiance to the UFC brass was not always reciprocated, particularly in light of the current state of affairs. When he started here, barring a few UFC execs, he felt the promotion was a tightly-knit family.

That all changed with Endeavor purchasing over $4 billion in equity stakes in the company in 2016. UFC®/TKO Holdings has larger directives to put this to bed. There’s a chunk of money that litigators make in windfalls, and a huge chunk that is spent to make the case, legal waivers, year-long retainers, and so on.

That is more apparent by the promotions settling with the $375 million funds, treating this as a business move. Hence, Matt Brown says Moicano or any other fighters won’t do White any favors by sticking up for their loyalty regime.

It’s a corporation now. You’re not changing Dana’s day at all [If not take the settlement]…Once the lawsuit was settled, Dana did not think it for one second after that. He claims he didn’t think about it before that …but I doubt that’s actually the case. But after it was settled, it was a drop in the bucket for them, the amount of money. It’s a f**king write off for them, too, of all things, which is not a write off for us.

Matt Brown further explained

There was a time when Brown iterated that the No.11-ranking lightweight was his favorite. The ultra-practical, ultra-utilitarian fighter, Moicano, would often cut jazzy promos or even douse Ludwig von Mises and the six lessons of the Austrian Economic School with equal prowess.

Moicano has always exhibited a good grasp of such things. But the 44-year-old veteran from Team Immortal Martial Arts said this all boiled down to a centric practice of wrongly trying to please White and other top UFC brass.

Matt Brown thinks fighters shouldn’t look for brass validation but other way around

In contrast to the NFL, which features 32 teams engaged for a limited pool of players, leading to an escalating arms race of exorbitant contracts, the UFC is different. It has devised a remarkably divergent organizational framework instead of all-out lucrative combat packages.

With stingy 6-fight signing deals at $10,000, it already has the leg-up on premier combat sports contracting. According to ‘The Immortal’, trying to curry favors with UFC brass won’t change or switch-up those contracts.

Matt Brown explains contractual monopoly plagues fighter like Renato Moicano
Matt Brown explains contractual monopoly plagues fighter like Renato Moicano (Source: X)

Fighters are in active competition for UFC, which boosts the ‘UFC’ branding and how they stick out as a business. Matt Brown said it should be the other way around, with the brass favoring talents like Renato Moicano. The 155-pounder is a top-order fighter and was even a recent title challenger, before falling to a first-round D’arce choke submission at UFC 311.

What it leads to the way it’s built — if you’re Dana White, it’s proper, if you’re on the business side, you sold your business for $4 billion, you did the right thing…not fighters though; [UFC] doesn’t care about doing things right — The promoters should be competing for the fighters. With the way the UFC has been structured and built is the fighters are competing for Dana’s acknowledgment and Dana’s love. That is completely opposite…way it should be.

Matt Brown said

The former welterweight star has explained that those like Moicano should not wait out on this antitrust settlement so that it begets him more money and better deals in the future. A fighting promotion should have fighter-oriented contract packages for the top order, regardless.

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