MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz could be in some legal trouble after lawyers representing fighters in a UFC anti-trust lawsuit are accusing his company, Dominance MMA, of refusing to comply with court-ordered discovery requests.
Johnson v Zuffa is a follow-up class action anti-trust lawsuit filed against the UFC on behalf of fighters who competed in the promotion from 2017 onward. Le v Zuffa, which covered UFC fighters from 2010 to 2017, settled in 2025 for $375 million. This new anti-trust case has several
moving parts and involves other anti-trust cases which broaden the scope of fighters who are represented. All of them are currently being handled simultaneously by Judge Richard Boulware, who oversaw the Le v Zuffa case and eventual settlement.
The current anti-trust case is in the discovery phase, and lawyers for the fighters are accusing the UFC of hiding years worth of relevant communications regarding fighter negotiations and contractual stipulations from them. Judge Boulware just held a spoliation hearing on that subject and ended up giving UFC thirty days to sort out a mess of missing cell phones and data from key figures within the company. If he isn’t satisfied with what’s turned over, legal sanctions could be brought against UFC.
UFC isn’t the only company fighter lawyers are having a hard time getting documents from. A new filing has the anti-trust plaintiffs demanding Judge Boulware find Dominance MMA in contempt of court for refusing to comply with a previous court order to turn over communications.
According to the filing (provided by John Nash), Dominance MMA lawyers had initially agreed in November 2025 to a payment plan that would allow a third party company to collect discovery materials from the agency. Then they backtracked and ceased all communication for weeks.
On January 5th, 2026, “Counsel finally informed Plaintiffs that Dominance was refusing to comply with the Court’s August 29 Order and would not produce a single document absent a second court order. Counsel spoke of a ‘revolt’ at Dominance and made clear that Dominance President and CEO Ali Abdelaziz and others were refusing to provide responsive documents and communications, citing confidentiality concerns, unspecified social media posts ‘disparaging’ Dominance, and general mistrust of Plaintiffs.”
According to the fighter lawyers, they were surprised by this considering the previous court order requiring Dominance MMA to submit discovery materials “included additional protections that Dominance had successfully negotiated for.”
The complaint filed by fighter lawyers asked the court why Dominance MMA shouldn’t be found in contempt of court, and why they shouldn’t be forced to pay legal fees related to the delays in disclosure. What happens from here depends on how Judge Boulware reacts, but given this feeds into a pattern where relevant discovery is not being turned over, we don’t expect him to be happy with the refusal to comply with his previous order.
