PRIDE FIGHTERS PLAN CLASS ACTION AGAINST DSE

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PRIDE FIGHTERS PLAN CLASS ACTION AGAINST DSE
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - by MMAWeekly.com

BREAKING NEWS:

MMAWeekly.com has confirmed that multiple fighters under contract to DSE and Pride are filing a class action lawsuit against the organization for an undisclosed amount of money.

Reports have come to MMAWeekly that a number of fighters who are still contracted to DSE are filing the lawsuit with a list of complaints against their former employer.

According to sources, DSE requested that Pride fighters assign their contracts to “Pride FC Worldwide” (the new company created in the wake of Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta's proposed buy-out of Pride), and most of the fighters refused to do so.

DSE has apparently countered by threatening to keep the fighters under contract until the organization officially dissolves, which could be held up in court for months or even years.

The class action lawsuit is intended to enable the Pride fighters to either be released from their current contracts and allow them to move on to compete in other MMA organizations; or to be paid for lost wages, training wages (many of the fighters were already preparing for upcoming bouts), and wages surrounding two cancelled Pride shows.

Those involved believe DSE has no intention of running anymore shows under the “Pride” label, but many of the fighters under contract were signed exclusively to Pride, with the only provision that would allow them out of the contracts being to show just cause as to why they should be released and allowed to pursue outside interests.

MMAWeekly will continue to follow this late-breaking story and report as more information becomes available.

[MMA_Fan]

Is this all necessary?

These Pride fighers have been paid quite well in the past and the new owners said they would honor these contracts (maybe except for the part about not being exclusive....)

Suing is going to give a bad name to the whole MMA industry.