Mark Hunt (photo via UFC.com)

By FCF Staff

Just days before Mark Hunt is scheduled to fight Alistair Overeem at UFC 209, it’s being reported the legal team for the UFC and Dana White, has filed a motion to dismiss the heavyweight’s lawsuit.

In January, it was reported that Hunt had filed a civil suit against Brock Lesnar, UFC President Dana White and the UFC. Hunt faced Lesnar last July at UFC 200, and following the fight, it was announced that the latter had tested positive for the banned substance Hydroxy-clomiphene. Hunt was outraged by the news, as the four month testing requirement that returning fighters typically are held to, was waived for Lesnar. Hunt’s team demanded that the heavyweight be compensated as a result of the test results, and further, they have campaigned for PED clauses to be implemented for future fights.

The UFC, however, has not done so, and Hunt launched a suit alleging the defendants “affirmatively circumvented and obstructed fair competition for their own benefit.” The suit’s allegations include fraud and racketeering.

According to a new report from MMA Junkie, the UFC’s legal team is asking that the suit be dismissed, since they claim the suit cannot establish correlation “between the injury asserted and the purported injurious conduct”. The UFC is also arguing the suit “nonetheless seeks to employ the heavy hand of the federal RICO statutes to stigmatize defendants and other individuals with baseless allegations of quasi-criminal conduct in the hopes of reaping a windfall in the form of treble damages. Unfortunately for Hunt, his RICO claims are fatally defective.”