Former NFL star Shawne Merriman founded Lights Out Xtreme Fighting in April 2019 with hopes of building a mixed martial arts brand that differentiates from global companies like UFC, Bellator and the like.Lights Out made strides in doing just that. The company used innovative AI technology to bring more advertising possibilities to their bouts and signed a distribution rights deal with ESPN to broadcast in Latin American countries.On Jan. 8, everything changed.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMLights Out Sports announced that Applied Real Intelligence (ARI), which is described as a “leading alternative investment firm and provider of growth capital to North American innovators,” acquired a “majority interest in the company.”A press release at the time said Lights Out Sports “appointed Dr. Zack Ellison as Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately” and that Ellison would “next phase of growth, with responsibility for strategy, governance, capital allocation, and execution.””Assets don’t scale themselves. Leadership does,” Ellison said in the release. “There’s a huge opportunity at Lights Out to grow the platform across live events, streaming TV, and partnerships to create durable enterprise value.”Merriman told Fox News Digital the announcement came as a surprise to him.”It was instant. I was literally being removed from the board and just got strong armed,” Merriman said. “Like I said, we had every intention of making things right, that just wasn’t even an option. This is unnecessary and even as I’m speaking to you today, we’re looking for a solution and we got the capabilities for a solution but it’s not an option. I get it, we got some signed paperwork that may allow them to do some things, but not this. It’s just unfortunate. Every day, I’m just thinking about my team and staff and the fighters.”Merriman said the issue between the two companies stemmed over a loan from ARI. A lawsuit was filed against ARI Agent, LLC and ARI Senior Secured Growth on Jan. 26.Lights Out secured an agreement to borrow $2.1 million in May 2024 and missed three interest payments between October and December 2025, totaling approximately $50,000, according to court documents filed in Nevada. The court filing said “the loan was secured by company’s assets including intellectual property” but ARI didn’t have “management or ownership rights” in Lights Out.BROWNS TO HOLD OPEN QB COMPETITION BETWEEN SHEDEUR SANDERS AND DESHAUN WATSON, GM SAYSMerriman’s attorney said in a court filing the loan agreement preserved Lights Out and Merriman’s “equity ownership and voting rights and contemplates secured-lender remedies.” The filing said ARI “issued a notice purporting to exercise default remedies under the Loan Agreement and, simultaneously, invoked proxy and attorney-in-fact provisions” on Jan. 2.The filing said that ARI allegedly removed Merriman from the board, changed the company’s incorporation,
Ex-NFL star Shawne Merriman loses control of MMA company, legal battle ensues
