UFC Press Release shows Ken Shamrock whose boss

On the day where the MMA community is still coming to terms with MFC's bizarre press release practices the UFC sent out a release regarding their legal victory over Ken Shamrock.

Middle Easy described the action as "pull[ing] a Mark Pavelich", deiced for yourself:

Las Vegas, NV (USA) - Zuffa, LLC, doing business as the Ultimate Fighting Championship® ("UFC®"), was awarded a legal victory today against former champion, Ken Shamrock. Shamrock, who claimed Zuffa had violated certain contractual provisions of his final fight agreement, was demanding several hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation he claimed was due and owing from the UFC. Following a trial before the Honorable Susan H. Johnson, the Court entered a sixteen page written decision concluding that Ken Shamrock was to "take nothing by way of its Complaint filed April 15, 2008, and judgment is rendered in favor of Zuffa, LLC dba the Ultimate Fighting Championship." Specifically, Judge Johnson ruled that Zuffa (1) did not breach the contract; (2) that the contract should be interpreted in manner advocated by Zuffa; and (3) that, in any event, Shamrock and his attorney/agent Rod Donohoo waived any purported breach by Zuffa.

"The UFC has a clear and unambiguous attorney fee clause in all of its contracts with fighters to the effect, that in the event a fighter loses any contractual challenge in court, that fighter will be responsible for paying our fees. Accordingly, we will be filing a motion to seek recovery of all of our expenses and fees which were occasioned by this lawsuit."

Update: Michael Rome breaks down the court ruling at Bloody Elbow but to the point regarding Shamrock's legal requirement to pay legal fees for Zuffa Rome states:

There are two interesting points to consider:

First, Ken Shamrock and the UFC still have merchandising agreements together.  They are still doing business, which complicates the issue of attorney's fees.  The only way to get attorney's fees is to get a judgment for those fees, and I expect Zuffa to get that judgment, but it's not as if Shamrock has the money to pay those fees, which are probably in the $300,000-$500,000 range.  It's possible they will get the judgment and then hold it over Shamrock's head in the course of further business with him.  Such a judgment lasts a long time and is renewable; Zuffa can hold this over his head for years, and perhaps even draw down money from his merchandising agreements to pay it off.