Cung Le v. Zuffa, LLC

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO TRANSFER VENUE

Representative Plaintiffs Cung Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Luis Javier Vasquez, Dennis Lloyd Hallman, Brandon Vera, Pablo Garza, Gabe Ruediger, Mac Danzig, Kyle Kingsbury and Darren Uye-noyama (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) are professional athletes. Plaintiffs each compete in a style of fighting known as mixed martial arts (“MMA”), which according to them “is a unique blend of various martial arts disciplines,” including boxing, Muay Thai, judo, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, taekwondo and karate. MMA differs from other professional combat sports, such as boxing, because the rules of MMA allow for kicks, takedowns, chokeholds, joint-locks, or any strikes below the waist.

Defendant Zuffa, LLC (“Defendant”) is a promoter of professional MMA bouts throughout the world. It does business in the United States as “Ultimate Fighting Championship,” or UFC, and promotes live events in various venues across the country. It also promotes the broadcasts of those events through television, internet and pay-per-view (“PPV”) mediums, and licenses, markets, sells and distributes MMA merchandise and other materials, including video games,…