http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/12/16/7406409/the-key-questions-in-the-lawsuit-filed-against-the-ufc
Some excerpts
And in recent years, with the implement of the sponsor tax, fighters themselves had seen a one-time lucrative market dry up, both from the tax and from market conditions. Some companies found, over time, that it was not economically worthwhile to spend the level of money it had in sponsoring fighters
For a time, White claimed any fighter who appeared in a competing video game produced by EA Sports (which years later acquired the UFC license when THQ had financial problems) would never be allowed in the UFC. However, when top fighters who were in the EA Sports game became available, that provision was quickly forgotten about.
The lawsuit addresses issues of exclusive fighter contracts, UFC decisions that they claim have restrained fighters from making as much as they could from both the sponsorship market and the merchandise and licensing market, as well as UFC's ability to use the likeness of the fighters, per their contract, even after the fighter is no longer with the organization.
Dell'Angelo said that the domination of the market by UFC and ability to extend the contracts indefinitely, since the UFC has the rights to match outside offers when the contracts expire, prevents rival promotions from garnering the best talent and makes real competition in the marketplace virtually impossible.
Maysey said the difference between this and the major sports leagues, which also control virtually all the top talent and have the stadium and television deals to where it would be a virtual impassability to compete with them, is that the leagues have teams with individual owners, and the teams are in competition, plus the biggest leagues have players associations. Even in individual sports, like golf, he argued that each tournament is not owned by the same owner, even if the major league tournaments for the most part fit into the same organizational banner.
It also mentions the champion's clause, which allows the UFC the right to extend a fighter's contract as long as they hold a UFC championship. This blocks rival promotions from bidding for the person generally considered best in the world in their specific weight classes
They also note that UFC has the ability to merchandise fighters in perpetuity worldwide, which would lower the fighter's leverage to garner merchandising or video game deals for the fighters themselves after leaving the organization, since the company negotiating with them wouldn't even get exclusivity on their rights. They also note that if a fighter loses and is cut, the UFC still can merchandise the fighter when no longer with the organization, or even after retirement. It also notes a fighter can't even sit out the terms of his contract, because if a fighter refuses to fight, like Randy Couture did years back, the UFC can freeze the contract length and essentially either force the end of his career or force him to return.
