lawsuit

(Nothing says 'power couple' like matching shirts and leis.)

Affliction's Todd Beard really knows how to screw up. First he goes on Scott Ferrall's radio show to blast Randy Couture and publicly state his desire to see him get his ass kicked by Brock Lesnar. But that's not enough to really alienate one of the biggest stars Affliction works with, so just for good measure he also threatens Couture's wife, Kim, who then gets a restraining order against him. That's called going above and beyond, working fuck-up overtime. And here we thought he was just an alcoholic.

TMZ has the scoop:

Randy and wife Kim claim Affliction Prez Todd Beard has been on a campaign of terror against them since they asked for an accounting of profits. A Las Vegas judge just issued a temporary restraining order, prohibiting Beard from going near Kim, and that includes going near the MGM Grand when Randy fights this Saturday. And Beard can't go to the hotel during the weigh-in the day before either.

According to Kim Couture's declaration, Beard has made "a series of threats and acts intended to intimidate me and otherwise coerce me to 'back off.'"

She goes on: "My fear of Mr. Beard is well-founded given his extensive criminal history. Not only has he been convicted of numerous state and federal felonies relating to fraud ...he has engaged in numerous acts of violence, including violence against women."

Hold up, "extensive criminal history?" You mean, aside from making those overpriced t-shirts? Yes. As it turns out, Beard is a bit of a rounder. He's even served time.

(Maybe this legal hottie can sort this shit out.)

It's only been a couple of months since Zuffa/Pride FC Worldwide filed suit against the former heads of PRIDE because of their alleged defrauding of millions from Pride's sell to the Fertittas. Dream Stage Entertainment's president, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, has been silent in the case, but Dream Stage Holdings filed for dismissal since they were not a party to the previous contracts.

Now, Sakakibara, Ubon, and Dream Stage Holdings have sued Pride FC Worldwide --- the Nevada and Japanese branches --- and have laid down the legal to the Fertitta Bros, too. Ubon is a stock company in Japan owned by Sakakibara, who also owns 95% of DSH. The suit filing went down in Vegas on the 2nd of this month. Sherdog has a full rundown of the mess:

In an ironic twist, the motion accused Zuffa of including the DSE Nevada Corporation in an effort to defeat diversity jurisdiction. Zuffa is currently contesting a similar legal strategy employed by HDNet Fights in its suit against Zuffa for declaratory judgment on Randy Couture's promotional contract.

The suit filed by the former owners of Pride in federal court, under diversity jurisdiction, seeks damages for breach of the asset purchase and consulting agreements that were part of the Pride transaction, as well as fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

The complaint alleges that Pride was sold to the owners of the UFC with the promise that the Pride brand would be maintained as a "global top-level brand." This promise allegedly resulted in the former owners' decision to sell to the Fertittas despite more lucrative financial offers from other suitors.

According to the complaint, Sakakibara also met with another "company which promotes martial arts related events, an operator of another sports-related business and investors in the entertainment industry, and received various offers to purchase Pride or to enter into business partnerships with plaintiffs."

However, the suit alleges that the defendants had no intention of fulfilling that promise.

Fedor Emelianenko has won $1.6 million because of the following video:

A Russian chief of a martial arts agency was nailed for fraud for using publicity rights of Fedor without permission. KoreaTimes has the scoop:

Emelianenko filed the suit early this month over a "shoddy" honey commercial that went on air on Korean cable television featuring his image. The world heavyweight champion sought 1.55 billion won ($1.6 million) in compensation from the president of Korea Sambo Federation and the head of a local apiculture agency whose honey product the commercial promoted.

The 19-second commercial starts with a victorious scene of Emelianenko in a wrestling ring, followed by footage of a bee landing on a yellow rape flower. Then the image of a plain, expressionless Emelianenko returns, as he drinks a bottle of the honey and says " Seonyu Honey is good."

In the complaint, his representative said, "Fedor is the sports star who commands the image of being the strongest fighter in the world... The defendants damaged Fedor's image by producing commercials that do not fit his powerful image and were made with shoddy footage."

Besides the compensation, his representative asked the advertisers to run an apology in mass-circulation newspapers in South Korea.

Dude, I don't know about honey, but bees are pretty badass.

(Props to MMAMania)

When we last discussed Zuffa's lawsuit against Randy Couture, our only source was an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal. Now, thanks to TMZ, we've seen the lawsuit with our own eyes (it's conveniently PDF'd for you here). And after reading it, we immediately remembered why we never went to law school. But we were able to pick up a few interesting details:

— The lawsuit is seeking damages in excess of $50,000, not $10,000.

— Zuffa has hired Donald J. Campbell and J. Colby Williams as their representation.

— The lawsuit implicates Sherdog as the medium by which Randy Couture first began "implementing a tortious scheme and artifice whereby he and others acting on his behalf [fabricated] a false and fictitious history of events in which Couture was purportedly lied to and otherwise purposefully abused by Zuffa in a series of bad faith acts and unfair dealings." Bastards! They get all the publicity!

— The parties who conspired with Couture are the "Does and Roe Corporations LLC" I think that means "to be named later," but I'm no lawyer, and Google comes up with nothing, so I'm not 100% clear. But anyway, the lawsuit is referring to the people who hooked him up with HDNet so he could air his grievances in a public (or at least cable TV) forum. The accused "sought to maximize the damage inflicted upon Plaintiffs by arranging with HD Net TV to broadcast Couture's remarks live and to later rebroadcast them during the course of an MMA event being presented by an UFC competitor."

— Part of the financial judgement the UFC is seeking is to repay the costs that they incurred when they had to hold their response press conference (satellite uplink, production trucks, personnel, etc.).

— "Zuffa will further suffer a loss of prestige within the MMA community which will produce the consequential effect of inducing others not to deal with Zuffa." Well, they may have a point there...

— Zuffa seems to accept Couture's resignation from the organization on October 11, 2007, but argues that a one-year Restricted Period — in which he isn't allowed to promote any events, programs, products or services related to unarmed combat — immediately kicked in. Couture's sponsorship of the IFL's "Xtreme Couture Team" was "the most recent and notorious" beach of "his covenant."

See? Even better than NyQuil!

(Couture and a pre-Headblade Dana White.)

The Las Vegas Review Journal has reported that lawyers for Zuffa have filed suit alleging that Randy Couture's comments about the UFC have led to significant financial losses for the company, and that he is in breach of his contract. The lawsuit is complicated by a "conspiracy" charge, claiming that other people worked with Couture to intentionally inflict harm on the UFC, and the breach-of-contract refers specifically to a stipulation that prohibits him from engaging in "direct or indirect competition" with the UFC for a year after he leaves the organization. Couture's sponsorship of a team in the IFL may violate this, and Zuffa is seeking an injunction to prohibit him from continuing his participation. According to the article, "The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $10,000 and states that the amount of both compensatory and punitive damages would be proven at trial."

Said Dana White:

"What's really tough for me, to be honest, is we have been friends for a very long time," White said. "The hard part is that he is not living up to his obligations. Captain America is not keeping his word."