According to a report from Variety, the complainant, Cat Zingano, filed a lawsuit against Halle Berry after she missed a UFC fight. She claims that the director/actress promised her a starring role in Bruised only for Berry to back out at the last second.
Why is Cat Zingano suing Halle Berry?
Cat Zingano is a 39-year-old professional MMA fighter who was previously signed with the UFC. She is currently signed with Bellator MMO. In her lawsuit, the former UFC fighter claims that Berry had asked her to star in Bruised back in 2019, reportedly selling the professional MMA fighter on the fact that the script of the movie had parallels with her life’s story. Because of this, Zingano declined an offer from the UFC to fight in the same year so that she could star in the film. Zingano explained in her lawsuit that this decision was huge for her career. Had she not declined, she would’ve been in a good position to secure a title fight. Following Zingano’s decision to pass on UFC’s offer to fight, the mixed martial arts promotion company decided to let her go. After this, Berry allegedly pulled her offer to Zingano. Zingano claims that Berry told her that “only UFC fighters could participate”. Zingano added that she was relying on starring in Berry’s directorial debut film instead of fighting in the UFC in the same year. Bruised is currently scheduled to launch on Netflix on November 24, 2021, following its world premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.
