Bellator Sued By Former Matchmaker For Wrongful Termination

Bellator has been sued by a former matchmaker for wrongful termination. MMAjunkie reports that former MMA fighter and coach Zach Light filed a lawsuit against Bellator and Viacom, claiming that the former company violated whistleblower laws when they fired him after he confronted them about practices under their new management.

According to the suit, which was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Light says that he began with the company when Bjorn Rebney was in charge and was promoted from director to manager in the talent development division. Light says he worked eighteen-hour days for the company and helped generate “over $2.5 million in ticket sales.”

Light says that after Rebney was released by Viacom and replaced by Scott Coker, things went quickly south. The lawsuit claims, “The marked change in management practices was also evident by a disregard for well established business protocols in the accounting for consignment tickets and income from events…[there was] a lack of communication regarding important issues such as status of upcoming events and fighter contracts.” He says that he heard from “a reliable source” that the company forged Ryan Martinez’s blood and eye medicals before Bellator 126 and that several fighters submitted medical papers from an unlicensed doctor.

He further details allegations that Coker told him to convince Chieck Kongo to fire Anthony McGann, who was representing Quinton Jackson in the midst of Jackson’s legal battle with Bellator, and sign a contract for less than his promotional agreement stipulated. When he brought Kongo’s complaints to Bellator, he says he was told to do what he had been instructed to and “get rid of McGann.” He further claims that Coker used him to arrage opponents for McGann’s fighters “who would convincingly defeat them…Such outcomes would then enable Coker to have a convenient pretext to terminate McGann’s fighters’ promotional contracts. Such collusive matches were tantamount to fight fixing and constituted a fraud on ticket buyers, fight patrons, television viewers, advertisers, and the public at large, as well as McGann and the professional fighters he managed.”

Light says that when he spoke out about mang of these practices his job wasa threatened. He had a panic attack after Bellator 136 that sent him to the hospital, after which he was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, placed on leave, prescribed “psychoactive medications” and underwent therapy.

Light says that one week after he returned to work in March of this year, he was fired. He seeks unspecified economic damages, general damages “for emotional distress and repetitional harm,” and punitive damages along with court costs.