Living up to his word, Mikey Burnett has filed a lawsuit in the state of Nevada against TufGuy Productions for injuries sustained during his time as a contestant on season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter.
The lawsuit, filed against TufGuy Productions, Inc. and American International Group, Inc claims:
alleged negligence against the defendants, who “carelessly, recklessly and negligently failed to provide a safe environment for the Ultimate Fighter 4 participants.”
Specifically, the 34-year-old Burnett states that he suffered a career-ending spinal injury during the show’s tapings.
The suit alleges that Burnett has suffered “serious bodily injuries, has endured and continues to endure both physical and mental pain and suffering and has incurred severe medical expenses.”
Burnett has also filed grievances with AIG, which allegedly insured Burnett during his time on the series, for breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing for failing “to make a reasonable offer and payment in connection” with the policy.
Burnett also claims that AIG has failed to provide him and his attorneys with a true and correct copy of said policy and has failed to properly investigate the extent of his injuries, as well as refused to pay Burnett the value of his uncompensated damages.
Burnett is suing for an amount in excess of $10,000 for each claim, along with damages and attorneys’ fees.
I, personally, find this lawsuit extremely humorous and don’t know what Mikey Burnett is thinking. Even if he did legitimately get injured on the show as a result of “gross negligence” no jury in the world is going to rule in his favor.
Why you ask? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because TufGuy Productions has multiple occurrences on video tape of Burnett running head first into a wall inside the TUF house. No one forced him to run into the wall and there is no way Burnett can prove that willingly running his head into the wall isn’t what caused his spinal injury.
To his credit, Burnett isn’t looking to “strike it rich” and only wants to cover his medical expenses, but come on Mikey, did you even watch yourself on season 4?
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you honestly think an attorney can just show that video of burnett running into the wall and the judge will say “oh! well never mind then, he’s obviously insane!”?
That’s not how it works. Burnett’s lawyers will make specific claims, and TuFGuys’s lawyers will have to answer those claims. and “I done runned into a wall an hurted my face!” is not a claim they’ll make. not saying it won’t be a factor, but saying “it’s a funny lawsuit” without addressing the specifics of the case is silly.
I said nothing about being insane.
What I said was if you run headfirst into a wall and there is video evidence of you doing so multiple times, the burden of proof lies on you to prove that doing so is not what caused your spinal injury. In case you forget, defendants are innocent until proven guilty in this country and running headfirst into a wall is a heck of plausible deniability if I’ve ever seen it.
Doc, they may very well be liable for his injuries, even if it WAS from running into the wall. I think theyre responsible for ANYTHING that happens to those guys during the course of the show. Like in this past season when they removed the railing from the stairs, dam i was nervous about that man, ive done alot of work on scaffolds and even WITH caution and protective gear alot can happen.
Now if one of those guys broke their neck stumbling off the edge in a drunken stupor, do you think the UFC would be liable? I think they definately would and it would probably have been the end of the TUF show. Thankfully that didnt happen…
Mikey has injuries and he doesnt have the money.. where will that money come from? the only place he can think of is the UFC, i feel sorry for that guy but hes not gonna win this suit..
I think its kind of sad personally.. Since we first saw him on the show, he didnt look right man. He could talk right, he couldnt think right, and the way his eyes darted around the whole time really concerned me and kind of made me dizzy too during closeups..
If hes filing a suit now, then clearly the statute of limitations isnt up, but i still think the timing is a big factor and ultimately will be the deciding factor. Its too late Mikey, why wait all this time before persuing this?
Like Dr. J said, how can you determine what caused the injuries? the fighting and training on the show? the antics on the show? fighting and training after the show? some brawl in a bar somewhere? who knows!
in a previous Season, Kerry Schall came to TUF knowing his knees were for sht and he reinjured himself got his bills paid for and left the show. So its not as if they dont live up to their responsibilities when it comes to medical liability involving “fighting and training” on TUF show.
I think what really happened is this (based on other interviews I’ve heard with Burnett about it).
He got injured on the show and AIG didn’t pay his medical insurance claim and he has been battling with them for over a year to pay for his bills. If they are not paying his insurance claim, they obviously feel they are not ‘at fault’ for his injuries, which is basically the point of my post.
I feel bad for Burnett as well. He has some serious injuries and he gave it a shot at a comeback but the injuries were just too much for him. I feel bad that any fighter cannot pay for medical bills as a result of doing what they love, fighting.
ya bro, its tough getting your brains beat out and having nothing to show for it.. it be nice if they paid his bills just out of compassion.. but its a business ofcourse and a cutthroat one at that…
this one is a hard one for me to pick a side in, i hate anytime someone is suing someone else and feels like there just looking for easy money.
Perhaps he should get a desk job or be a greeter at walmart.. he did sign a waiver you know.. lol