Henri Hooft announced a short time ago that he was leaving his coaching position at the Blackzilians to become a coach and manager at the Combat Club in South Florida.
Glenn Robinson is the owner of the Blackzilians and he’s seeking a court injunction against Hooft for allegedly breaking a no compete clause Hooft signed when he left the team.
MMA Junkie was the first to report the news.
In a complaint filed this past June, the Blackzilians owner alleges that Hooft broke his contract with the team when he started performing similar duties with his new team.
Those duties include providing any services that are similar to the services offered by the Blackzilians for two years and no fighter recruiting for the new gym he works at for three years.
According to the paperwork filed in the case, the owner of the Blackzilians is seeking an “injunction or equitable relief” in accordance with the lawsuit. What that means is that Robinson is simply asking the court to stop Hooft from teaching classes at the Combat Club, but Robinson isn’t seeking any form of financial compensation from his team's former coach.
A host of UFC fighters are currently working with Hooft at the Combat Club, those fighters include the retired Anthony Johnson, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans, UFC veteran Michael Johnson, UFC veteran Volkan Oezdemir, UFC veteran Stefan Struve and a host of others.
Hooft responded to the lawsuit just a few weeks ago by filing an affirmative defense, which means that he and his legal team are looking to bring up other facts in his own defense to prove why he (Hooft) should not be held liable from the claims brought against him.
The former Blackzilians coach also alleges that he isn’t currently operating any business that’s in competition with his former team, that Robinson still owes him $10,000 and that would breach the original contract with the Blackzilians, plus the contract goes against previously instituted Florida statutes for non-compete clauses.
There is no word at this time when the two rivals will face each other in court or if a settlement can be reached before it has to go that far.
