UFC fighters Nate Diaz and Leslie Smith are being sued by The Ballengee Group, their former management team, for skipping out on payments and conspiring with an attorney to break management agreements.
This is according to a report first filed by TMZ.
The group is seeking $1 million in damages. They filed the suit this past Monday (6/19) at a court in Dallas, Texas.
Jason H. Friedman is currently representing The Ballengee Group, who first signed Nate Diaz to a contract in 2014 after his brother Nick Diaz made the recommendation to do so.
According to the lawsuit, the Diaz brothers had agreed that Nate would pay the group in the same way and terms that brother Nick was paying them. The agreement between the parties also stated that The Ballengee Group would represent Nate in all future business matters, including successful negotiations for Nate’s bouts against Conor McGregor at UFC 196 and UFC 202.
Approximately one month after UFC 202, the younger Diaz brother unexpectedly ended his agreement with the group. The suit also claims that Sam Awad, the attorney for Nate, convinced Nate to not only leave the management team, but to stop making payments to them as well.
For Awad’s supposed actions with Nate, the group has also included him in the lawsuit.
Leslie Smith also signed with The Ballengee Group on the recommendation of the Diaz brothers and would leave the group as well this past November. Awad also is a legal representative of Smith and had allegedly told her to stop making payments the group as well.
In the lawsuit, the group also asserts that if Awad hadn’t interfered in their business with Diaz and Smith, that both would still be working with them to this day.
Neither Awad, Diaz or Smith have commented on the matter as of this writing.
