Bellator files lawsuit to block UFC access to documents in antitrust case

Bellator isn't lying down for the UFC.

The No. 2 MMA promotion in North America became embroiled in a legal battle with the industry giant two years ago when the UFC was named in a class-action lawsuit in which several former fighters claimed that it had created a monopoly that was detrimental to the athletes involved in the sport.

As part of the antitrust claim, the UFC's lawyers filed subpoenas to acquire financial and contract information from other promotions to help them form a defense. Unsurprisingly, Bellator was one of the promotions asked to divulge this information.

On Wednesday, Bellator filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to block the UFC's requests for confidential documents, according to Ron Clements of Sporting News.

The Bellator affidavit states that the promotion has already cooperated by providing thousands of pages to responsive documents, but it's drawing the line at revealing the details of its contracts and financial records, as doing so would be detrimental to its business.

Bellator president Scott Coker added that cooperating any further would give the UFC "a significant and unilateral advantage" that would harm Bellator and the MMA industry as a whole.

- With h/t to MMAmania.com