The IBF has filed a Motion to Dismiss in the Jai Opetaia lawsuit. The parties stipulated to move the due dates for the Opposition Brief and Reply.

Opetaia’s brief will be due September 22nd while the IBF will also have extra time to file its Reply due October 13th.

Notably, Opetaia fights this Saturday on the undercard of Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn.

The IBF cites its governing rules which indicate that an IBF Championship “will be declared vacant” if a champion proceeds with a contest after IBF sanctioning has been withdrawn.” The IBF argues that it initially granted the fight but withdrew its support citing that an IBF fighter could not box for another championship without prior approval.

Thus, the IBF argues that Opetaia’s allegations of fraud and conspiracy in its Complaint are not true.

In addition, the IBF argues that Opetaia did not follow the procedures as required by the rules in appealing the decision to strip him of the title.

The IBF also cite the distinguishing factors between this case and that of the Mahmoud Charr suing Don King.

As for its Ali Act allegation lodged by Opetaia, the IBF argues that the fighter lacks standing because he cannot identify the injury and/or claimed damage. While Opetaia had to pay the IBF a $73K sanctioning fee, the IBF states it was returned.

Payout Perspective:

We won’t hear about this case until after the New Zealander’s fight on Saturday night. But the lack of exhausting all remedies through the IBF is a relevant argument regardless of how the appeal would turn out. Notably, how ill the Court interpret the Charr case in light of these facts as that case had similar issues. In that case, Charr claimed that the WBA and King conspired together to strip him of his title. Charr was later restored as the WBA heavyweight champion after an exhaustive legal process. MPO will continue to follow.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a date for oral argument in Zuffa’s appeal of the district court ruling in the Mikhail Cirkunov antitrust lawsuit.

The date of the hearing will be Friday, November 20th at 9:00 am in San Francisco.

For those keeping score, the Cirkunov lawsuit deals with fighters contracted with the UFC from 2017 to the present. The fighters in this lawsuit signed arbitration agreements and/or class action waivers in their promotional contracts.

The district court ordered discovery from the parties to determine if the contracts signed by the fighters were unconscionable due to the market power of Zuffa. The attorneys for Zuffa filed a motion to stay the case and move it to arbitration. But, since the district court issued the order, Zuffa filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Cirkunov’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. It has yet to be decided.

Recently Zuffa filed its Reply Brief which responded to Cirkunov’s Answering Brief. It also responded to Cirkunov’s Motion to Dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction.

The attorney for Don King sent a cease and desist letter to Zuffa Boxing demanding that his promoted fighter Noel Mikaelian should not be fighting Jai Opetaia as the co-main event of Saturday’s event in Las Vegas.

King argues that Zuffa Boxing did not negotiate with Don King Promotions (DKP) for the services of Mikaelian. King asserts that his promotion company has world-wide rights of Mikaelian and since Zuffa Boxing did not negotiate with King, the fight with Opetaia should be cancelled.

A letter was sent to Isabelle Mercer, Senior VP and Associate General Counsel from a law firm stating it represented Don King Productions.

Don King attorney sends cease and desist letter demanding cancellation of Opetaia-Mikaelian fight that is on Saturday’s #GarciaBenn card. #boxinc pic.twitter.com/Vqe3qoER8w

— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) September 8, 2026

Based on, inter alia, emails between you and DKP’s legal counsel, Carl Lewis, Esq. (“Mr. Lewis”), there is absolutely no doubt that TKO/Zuffa was and is aware that DKP is Noel’s promoter. I understand that you were personally involved in discussions with Mr. Lewis regarding a potential fight or multi-fight deal for Mikaelian, which would include a fight with Opetaia, and that no agreement was consummated. It is particularly disturbing to know that TKO/Zuffa’s Chief Operating Officer, Harrison Whitman, Esq., and the head of TKO/Zuffa, Dana White, had at least one virtual conference with DKP’s President, Mr. Don King, and Mr. Lewis in an effort to secure a Provision of Services (“POS”) deal for Mikaelian, again which included a fight with Opetaia.

…it is indefensible for Zuffa/TKO to completely ignore the DKP Agreement, the promoter-fighter relationship between DKP and Mikaelian, and circumvent DKP and engage the services of Mikaelian for the Bout with Opetaia. TKO/Zuffa cannot justify its actions by claiming that you negotiated with Mikaelian’s Manager, Anthony Girges and Mikaelian’s attorney, James Greeley, Esq., as again only DKP can negotiate and enter into an agreement with a third party for Mikaelian’s services. The DKP Agreement grants Mikaelian the right to “discuss and explore” other fight opportunities, but only in consultation with DKP and under no circumstance can Mikaelian enter into an agreement with
another party for his professional services without the expressed consent and permission of DKP. As stated above, TKO/Zuffa’s actions in promoting Mikaelian, without DKP’s knowledge, consent or permission, is a clear tortious interference of the Agreement. DKP does not and has not granted TKO/Zuffa permission to engage the services of its fighter, Mikaelian. To be unequivocally clear, TKO/Zuffa’s actions constitute a knowing, intentional and unjustified tortious interference with the Agreement. Any contracts that Mikaelian has entered into or shall enter into for his professional services as a fighter, without the express, written consent of DKP are void. The announced September 12, 2026, Bout between Mikaelian and Opetaia cannot go forward. TKO/Zuffa must immediately cancel the Bout between Mikaelian and Opetaia and announce such cancellation in the media immediately. Furthermore, TKO/Zuffa cannot engage Mikaelian for any match without DKP’s express, written consent and permission.

Dana White stated in his post-fight press conference after Dana White’s Contender Series that the fight will go on. Thus, he’s calling DKP’s bluff or we will see a lawsuit filed by Wednesday seeking to halt the fight.

MPO will keep you updated.

TKO President and and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro spoke on Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference about the company. He spoke on multiple issues regarding business including UFC, WWE and Zuffa Boxing. One of the issues he spoke about was fighter pay.

In the past, Shapiro has hinted of increases in pay. Specifically, for UFC fighters, he addressed the benefits of the Performance Centers and how they are contributing to the health of the athlete (as well as being another touchpoint for its sponsors).

Shapiro at today’s conference:

On the UFC front, we’ve really capitalized on the investments of our performance centers in Mexico City and Vegas, and particularly China. We’re really getting real traction. So that’s a big part of our strategy. It will continue to be a big part of our strategy, and we will continue to be aggressive in other monetization opportunities for both our superstars and our UFC fighters with regard to advertiser deals, marketing partnerships, bonuses through the fight card in terms of finishes and fight of the night. What you see is you see the best of the best signing up and lining up to be a part of the UFC and to be a part of WWE. So that’s something we always watch out for and we want to make sure that we’re really spreading the opportunities, but the strategy’s working.

What you don’t read in the comments about pay is TKO expending money out of its own budget to pay its independent contractors. Rather, Shapiro points to “advertiser deals, marketing partnerships [and] bonuses…” These things are not accounted for in a fighter’s contracts unless the fighter performs and TKO decides to allow the fighter to reap the benefit. Fight bonuses have grown to $100K which is a good thing. But, also is subjective based on whatever metric the UFC decides. Notably, it does reward those fighters with first round finishes. Also, TKO determines which fighters will receive advertiser deals or participate in marketing with its sponsors.

This past Saturday, the UFC announced its main event for October’s UFC numbered card in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The main event will feature Natalia Silva taking on Wang Cong for the vacant UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship. The main event was hindered by injury as Valentina Shevchenko vacated the belt due to an injury that will likely have her out for a year. As a result, we a new champion will be unveiled.

In the co-main event has Payton Talbott facing Deiveson Figueiredo in a battle between bantamweights. Talbott is the #11 ranked bantamweight while the former champ, Figueiredo is #9.

The last time a women’s bout headlined a UFC-numbered card it was in June 2023 when Irene Aldana met Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight title.

Cong is coming off of a win on the early prelims of UFC 329 where she defeated Tracey Cortez. Silva is coming off of a win over Rose Namajunas this past January at UFC 324.

Silva is the number 1 contender and would likely have had the challenger spot against Shevchenko if she was not injured. And Cong is an exciting young fighter ranked #6 overall.

While the UFC touts the best fighters in MMA, the lack of booking for this event is horrid. Moreover, this is one of the cards that will air on CBS. The event is part of a multi-year deal with Utah in which the state’s tourism board is paying TKO to have events come to the state. The assumption would be that there would be marquee fighters appearing.

You can argue that the main event is quality and just not for the casual fan. But, this has been a problem with UFC booking of late. Uninspired matchups and lack of planning to ensure that top contenders are meeting each other at big events. One has to be a hardcore fan (or convinced by a UFC influencer) to think that the last few fight night card headliners have been events you would stop and watch.

Even if Shevchenko was not injured, the UFC usually backs it up with another title fight. But, this time it has not, and will have to do some stretching to sell Silva-Cong.

Zuffa recently filed its Reply Brief in its appeal of the district court’s ruling allowing discovery in the Mikhail Cirkunov lawsuit. 

Despite the ongoing lawsuit, Zuffa filed the appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals. Zuffa attempted to move this lawsuit into arbitration based on the clauses in the fighters’ agreements. Attorneys for the fighters argued that since the Le case provided findings that the UFC had a monopoly/monopsony the clauses relied upon were unconscionable.

The district court ordered the case to have limited discovery to determine whether the fighters were forced to sign the contracts with arbitration agreements. If so, the clauses would be void due to the fact that they were not bargained for by the parties. Instead, Zuffa appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. The issue has yet to be decided by the Ninth CIrcuit. The Court has asked parties about the potential for oral arguments on the case this fall. It has yet to decide a date.

The Cirkunov Plaintiff argued the following in its Brief:

In its Reply Brief, Zuffa argues that attorneys for Cirkunov conceeded that the clauses were enforceable.

Zuffa cites the Federal Arbitration Act as its legal support to the right it had to “stay” the district court case pending arbitration. However, the district court did not do so which is its rationale for the appeal.

It also argues that the district court wrongly preconditions the merits of the facts to determine the arbitrability of the contract.

Payout Perspective:

The Ninth Circuit will likely have oral arguments on this case this fall which means that the ruling will not come out until 2027. It will be interesting how this affects the case at the district court level and the other antitrust cases (Johnson and Davis). The specific issue will be based on whether the 9th Circuit rules on the overarching case of jurisdiction. If it entertains jurisdiction the case will be decided upon how it reads the Federal Arbitration Act in relation to the issues of unconscionability.

Former AEW Wrestler Andy “Butcher” Williams passed away at an independent wrestling show in Pittsburgh. Williams was 48.

TMZ confirmed his passing on Sunday morning. In addition to being a professional wrestler, Williams was part of the bands ETID and Atomic Rule.

Williams was with his longtime partner, The Blade, in a pro wrestling show in Millvale, Pennsylvania when he had a health crisis. According to the promoters at Enjoy Wrestling, Williams “collapsed at the end of his match” and doctors helped him including CPR until an ambulance arrived.

Andy collapsed at the end of his match this evening.

Our doctors on staff tended to him immediately, administering CPR until the ambulance arrived.

We sent everyone home and are at the hospital now waiting for more information.

Thanks to everyone who helped and has reached out https://t.co/A2rnCnOOgR

— Enjoy Wrestling (@EnjoyWrestle) September 6, 2026

The wrestling community mourned his death. We will learn about what transpired as more information becomes available.

The UFC returned to Paris on Saturday and the promotion handed out its usual bonuses for standout performances.

This past May Salahdine Parnasse was on the MVP MMA card featuring Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. On Saturday, Parnasse made his UFC debut in the main event and earned a $100K Performance Bonus for his first round stoppage of Dan Hooker.

Alex Sola earned a first round KO of Fares Ziam in a battle of Frendhman. Sola’s left hook stopped Ziam in his tracks even though he hit Sola with an elbow at the same time. Ziam was out before he hit the canvas. Sola earned $100K.

Losene Keita earned a $100K Performance Bonus as he defeated Muhammad Naimov. It was his first performance bonus of his UFC career. Keita looked good in the first round and hit him with a left hook which knocked Naimov out. Keita then jumped the cage and took a seat ringside in one of the best post-fight celebrations in memory.

Mario Pinto looked to have been knocked out briefly in the first round against Ryan Spann. However, Pinto regained senses and overwhelmed Spann for the stoppage in round 2.

The $25K stoppage bonuses went to Delphine Benouaich, Mattieu Duchos, Modestas Bukauskas and Kurtis Campbell.

Dana White is making the media rounds in preparation for next weeks Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn fight. In a recent interview with an LA station, he discussed his latest investment, “Slap Snacks”.

In the interview, White disclosed that he is co-found of a company that is producing a frozen snack called “Slap Snacks.” They are supposed to be a take on the Hot Pocket but be

Slap Snacks – A New Contender Has Arrived.

Korean Style BBQ Chicken Bites
Smash Burger Bites
Chicken Parm Bites
Salsa Verde Chicken Bites https://t.co/6NC6JYUHqG pic.twitter.com/P7qocEZMAN

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) September 4, 2026

White is partnering with Happi, Co. founder Sam Rockwell, to sell these snacks which will be sold at Walmart. In his interview, he talked about speaking with Walmart executives about the product and it being a healthy alternative as a snack.

Rockwell’s company partners with brands on products. It has worked with Snoop Dogg in putting out Dr. Bombay ice cream.

Payout Perspective:

The Slap Snacks are the Official Snack of PowerSlap, Street League Skateboarding and Nitro Circus according to the box. Yet, to associate Dana White with “Slap Snacks” seems to remind everyone of his New Year’s Eve domestic violence incident in which video caught him slapping his wife. But we are in a new era of not caring about these past incidents. Slap Snacks may make its way into the UFC Octagon and/or next week’s Benn-Garcia fight.

TKO will be looking at the idea of having musical acts during major WWE events. This weekend’s Sunday Night’s Main Event will be the first test.

According to a report from Fightful Select, the company is floating the idea of whether live musical performances can become another attraction at major WWE events. The report indicates that it is to enhance the experience of fans in attendance.

Payout Perspective:

The latest rumor seems to fall in line with TKO’s commitment to bring as many mainstream celebrities to WWE events as possible. Will this help bring in a broader audience? Will fans attending the WWE PLE be persuaded to come for a musical performance. If you are a fan of the musical artist, you would rather see a full concert rather than a halftime show. Moreover, the strategy seems to overshoot the goal of producing a great pro wrestling event. Rather, TKO seems to think that putting a musical act in-between matches would be a good thing. The problem with this is that most fans complain of pacing during PLEs. Being at Wrestlemania the last two years, the pacing is slow due to the video packages to set the story for the match for those not following. This attempt to add musical acts seems like a non-pro-wrestling fan view of WWE events.