UFC stars Nate Diaz and Leslie Smith being sued by management group
By:
Steven Marrocco | June 21, 2017 4:30 pm
Nate Diaz and
Leslie Smith’s former management group is taking the fighters to court for allegedly skipping out on commissions and conspiring with an attorney to break management agreements.
The Ballengee Group seeks over $1 million in damages, among other claims alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentation and tortious interference in a lawsuit filed Monday by the firm’s attorney in Dallas County (Texas) court.
News of Diaz’s legal trouble was
first reported by TMZ.com, and MMAjunkie obtained a copy of the lawsuit, which also includes Smith and attorney Sam Awad.
Nate Diaz could not be reached for comment, and calls to Smith and Awad went unreturned.
The suit, filed by attorney Jason H. Friedman, claims Ballengee signed Nate Diaz as a client in the summer of 2014 after his older brother Nick had signed and recommended him.
Diaz, the complaint states, was “looking for a management team that could take him to the next level which he had previously been unable to do.”
The brothers “represented and assured” Ballengee that in exchange for representing the younger Diaz, he would pay the firm “on the same terms and as set forth in” the elder Diaz, “and that The Ballengee Group would, if such terms were agreeable to it, represent Nate on all future bouts and business matters.”
The firm subsequently negotiated with the UFC on the younger Diaz’s behalf for several bouts, including his blockbuster against Conor McGregor at UFC 196, an ill-fated rematch planned for UFC 200 and a follow-up at UFC 202.
Diaz wound up making a disclosed $500,000 for UFC 196 and $2 million for UFC 202, though his final pay was likely much higher.
On the Diaz brothers’ recommendation, the management firm also picked up Smith, negotiating a promotional agreement in March 2016.
But just four months later in July, or one month after terms for UFC 202 had been negotiated, the suit claims Nate Diaz “unexpectedly” terminated its representation, and Smith did the same in November.
The suit claims that unbeknownst to Ballengee, attorney Awad had begun “interfering with their agreements” with the Diaz brothers and advised Nate Diaz and Smith not to pay for their services.
As a result, the firm is suing Awad for tortious interference while alleging the defendants “intended to avoid payment for the plaintiff’s services by intentionally or knowingly securing the performance of the service by deception,” or “knowingly securing the performance of a service by agreeing to provide compensation and, after the service was rendered, failing to make payment after receiving notice demanding payment.”
Cont.
UFC stars Nate Diaz and Leslie Smith being sued by management group
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