Just weeks after being ordered by the Federal Court of Australia to pay $5 million to three former franchisees, the Ultimate Franchising Group Pty Ltd (UFG), UFC Gym Prospect Pty Ltd and Ultimate Franchising Group Properties Pty Ltd, the companies operating the Australian master franchise for USA-based UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Gyms, have each entered administration.
News reports today advise that the companies all went into voluntary administration on 23rd May – the day after the Federal Court judgement.
The Federal Court had found that UFG had indulged in “deceptive” conduct involving “profiteering”, misleading the franchisees about businesses which were “near valueless” and unlikely to operate profitably.
As reported by Australasian Leisure Management on 24th May, Federal Court Justice Thomas Thawley had found that UFC Gym’s Directors, Mazen ‘Maz’ Hagemrad and Samer Husseini, had falsely told franchisees that the businesses were profitable when they were actually losing money.
Launched in 2009 in the USA, UFC Gym Australia opened the mixed martial brand’s first international club in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria in 2013. At its peak, it operated 10 facilities in Sydney, Melbourne,…