UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt filed a RICO lawsuit against his employers, Dana White, and Brock Lesnar earlier this year – now Lesnar’s team have responded.
The lawsuit pertained to Lesnar’s controversial failure of two drug tests related to his UFC 200 bout against Hunt. The New Zealand-born heavyweight had made allegations of a “criminal conspiracy” to profit “to the detriment of the health and safety of all fighters and to the detriment of fair competition”.
In simpler terms, Hunt claimed that the UFC had purposely ensured that Lesnar would be kept out of the USADA testing program knowing that Lesnar would test positive, and as such, be pulled from the fight t the bicentennial event.
The attorneys of Brock Lesnar responded on Monday in an attempt to seek a dismissal of the lawsuit.
MMAJunkie reported the story, and obtained several key points of the 30-page document:
“Plaintiff’s complaint is so devoid of any facts to support his RICO and fraud claims that it would be almost impossible for Mr. Lesnar to respond.”
“Plaintiff’s RICO claim is so incredibly deficient as to defendant Lesnar, that it is difficult to know where to even begin. As an initial matter, plaintiff lacks standing to bring this claim, because he does not even allege the type of injury that is covered by the RICO statute.
“Furthermore, as to defendant Lesnar, the complaint fails to plead long-term criminal activity, fails to plead a predicate act, fails to adequately plead intent, fails to adequately plead fraud, fails to adequately plead false pretenses, fails to adequately plead the requisite pattern of activity, and fails to adequately plead a conspiracy within the meaning of the RICO statute.”
Lesnar’s response mirrors that of White, who also filed a motion to dismiss, last month.
Watch this space.