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Reaction to Randy Couture’s resignation from UFC
By Zach Arnold | October 11, 2007
Not from us, but from you.
Loretta Hunt and Sam Caplan talked about Randy Couture’s departure from UFC on Fight Network Radio.
- UFC HP: Dana White’s statement about Randy Couture’s departure from UFC
- MMA Game: Couture quits the UFC… holy crap
- MMA Weekly: Randy Couture resigns, White responds
- Sherdog: Randy Couture talks UFC resignation
- MMA on Tap: Media reaction to Randy Couture leaving UFC
- Sam Caplan: Trying to figure out what Randy and Dana’s statements really mean
- Fightlinker: The UFC tries to retire Randy
- Kevin Iole: Randy Couture stuns MMA world with retirement
- Steve Cofield: Now we know why Dana White was in a bad mood for the UFC 77 conference call
- UFC supporter: Saddened that MMA is turning into boxing and that fighters are crybabies
- Fox Sports: Randy Couture’s retirement stings UFC
- Fox News: Video of Fox News Fight Game covering Couture’s departure from UFC
- ADCC News: Eddie Goldman’s reaction to Randy Couture telling Dana White to take a hike
- Kevin Iole (Yahoo Sports): Dana White’s reaction could determine MMA’s future
- MMA HQ: Kevin Iole is a Zuffa robot
- Steve Sievert (Houston Chronicle): Randy Couture stuns MMA world by severing ties with UFC
- Adam Morgan: Dana White f***** up, period
- MMA Analyst: Randy Couture leaves the UFC… lack of respect and no Fedor, good reasons?
- Steve Cofield: MMA expert Luke Thomas on Couture’s departure (audio)
- MMA Payout: Potential fallout from Couture’s resignation and Greater transparency is the answer
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 76 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White to Randy Couture: “DO YOU WANNA BE A F*CKING FIGHTER??””
Seriously though, if it’s true that Mark Cuban bought out M-1, then the UFC has instant competition with decent exposure (HDnet), some good fighters (Red Devil squad), and a whole truck load of cash! Also, the prospect of Barnett/Randy/Fedor/Arlovski all fighting makes the whole thing pretty exciting.
Best move for Dana now? Sign Arlovski, Barnett, or anyone that we would care to see Fedor fight.
Thanks for the linkage… Man this whole thing is just changing so fast that I’d write it totally different an hour or so later.
Now knowing that he can get out of the contract in 9 months changes everything even makes this even more important. If he does sign with someone else in 9 months, this is definitely the single most important event in MMA history.
HDnet is not decent exposure.
I think the real Randy Couture has finally stood up.
1. He has now vacated the UFC Heavyweight Title on TWO occasions. Each on different management. He is the only common element.
2. He is going public with his money issues, yet he signed on the dotted line and basically sounds like he wants to re-negotiate if the Fedor fight ever happened. Tough luck.
3. Randy Couture is doing exactly what Tito Ortiz did. Ortiz started to get some bit movie parts on D Movies, and then all of a sudden thought he was too big for the sport. As soon as those roles dried up, he was right back to fighting with the UFC.
And this is the problem with combat sports. The male ego gets in the way.
Kevin Iole continues to a Dana White lackey. Couture did not retire. Couture resigned. Massive difference.
Jake Rosen has an opinion piece on the topic:
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=9456
Jake is a weird dude. Who the hell starts a piece with a comment about wet farts? Deary me, it’s certainly a different approach. 😛
Iole is out of touch with the rest of the world on this one (except for ufc.com). The article completely suppressed the real story here: money and respect. In fact Iole goes out of his way to quote dana as saying it has nothing to do with money, it was because of fedor. It also mentions nothing about respect or lack thereof.
Iole is a big ole fat douchebag who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “honest”. I have yet to see a major news site spin a story like the one Iole just wrote. “Randy RETIRES”? In his interview with sherdog and his official letter to the UFC, does he say a word about “retiring from MMA”. Because all I saw was “quits” or “leaves” the UFC, nothing about retiring from MMA. I guess for someone as small minded as Iole, there is no difference between MMA and UFC.
Rossen, not Rosen. (sorry)
Kind of interesting to see how they’ll play this, it could get very ugly but I also think Couture could end up reconciling with the UFC.
They’re definetly going to have re-sign Arlovski now, possibly bury the hatchet with Barnett and pray to god that Vera beats Tim cause they’re in need of some marketable HWs. But like I said earlier, worst-week-EVA! for the UFC.
You know, Iole’s article is almost pure spin, tbh so is the statement on Coture’s website, it seems like both sides don’t want to drag each other through the mud.
Sherdog’s article seems to reflect Couture true feelings on why left the UFC, wish we could hear UFC’s (undoctored) side of this.
Haha- when this originally broke on the Thursday Trash Talk post, someone suggested that 45 would have a stroke when he saw the news. I guess he’s opted for an unabashed attack on Couture instead.
I expect couture’s website to be from his biased point of view just as I expect ufc.com to be biased in theirs.
What I don’t expect is a news source that should be as objective as possible to spin the hell out of a story. yahoo is supposed to be a respected news source yet the guy they have reporting on mma sounds more like something I would read on the sherdog forum.
45, say what?
I am puzzled here. Meltzer says Randy was outraged at the big dollars being thrown Fedor’s way, but then quits in part because UFC failed to make the Fedor fight a reality?
Oh yeah, and when the fight does happen and Fedor wins, you’ll hear fans say Fedor only fights fat kickboxers, middleweights and AARP members. Fedor needs to fight Barnett to solidify his universal no. 1 ranking.
And this is the problem with combat sports. The male ego gets in the way.
“I am puzzled here. Meltzer says Randy was outraged at the big dollars being thrown Fedor’s way, but then quits in part because UFC failed to make the Fedor fight a reality?”
Don’t be puzzled. Randy apparently wanted more money than he currently gets AND he wanted to fight Fedor.
Once Meltzer is on board with Yahoo, hopefully Iole will go back to fetching coffee. It will be very weird reading Meltzer writing without all the typos though.
There’s some really weird stuff going on here, there’s got to be something else underneath this.
The $250,000 total payout claim is odd too, since that’s the same amount that was disclosed as his purse for UFC 74. It certainly doesn’t jive with the reports that the big names in UFC were getting significant ancilaries in addition to their purses.
Which leads to another question…why would he have to be chatting up his friends in the industry to find out that they’re being paid more than him if he’s really only getting $250,000? We’ve read in the general media that other guys were pulling in larger purses. Hell, at UFC 76 alone, Chuck got a half million to lose, as he did at UFC 71.
We know that Cro Cop was paid $350,000 with no win bonus to fight at UFC 67. That’s a lifetime ago…how could he not have been aware of this when he signed his one year three fight deal three months ago?
I can’t blame Randy for demanding more money. How could the most popular fighter right now not demand equal or more money than a foreign fighter whom no one has heard of? On the other hand, I don’t think Randy’s retirement will do much to the marketing machine that is the UFC. If Randy doesn’t come back, it will hurt a little bit, but not much. He only fight every 6 months or so anyway. No fighter is bigger than the organization–and that is the biggest difference between the UFC (I didn’t say MMA) and boxing. That is why losing Fedor won’t hurt them either.
If Silvia wins, Dana will have a dilemma on his hands. If Vera wins, all will be normal again in UFC-land. The fans will have someone new to worship. Business as usual.
We Fight Opinion regulars need to disregard the comments of 45 Huddle. I consider his comments to be extraordinarily biased and blind. We all know this, so why give it any credence beyond that.
BTW, 45’s is probably Kevin Iole himself; Iole’s ‘keyboard warrior’ alternate identity. And Iole’s journalistic credibility is only slightly more valid.
Bring on Brock Lesnar
“Haha- when this originally broke on the Thursday Trash Talk post, someone suggested that 45 would have a stroke when he saw the news. I guess he’s opted for an unabashed attack on Couture instead.”
That was I…frankly I’m pretty shocked that his hero worship flip-flopped so quickly.
I grossly underestimated his undying love for the UFC organizationally. A short 24 hours ago I think he’d take you out with sniper fire if you said anything bad against “the Natural”…just shows you that it IS a PROFESSIONAL SPORT, this is a business for the fighters too and why should they be happy to have Zuffa make millions off their blood, sweat and tears.
45 huddle is dana white.
But seriously…
Randy made the move he should have made years ago when he was at the top of the 205 division. He wanted Silva, Silva wanted him, everyone wanted that fight. But dana couldn’t put that fight together.
Randy made the choice then to stay with ufc rather than go to pride to make the fight of the decade. Same thing with Fedor, again dana can’t get the fighter.
Randy, hopefully will get Fedor on his own terms and treat true mma fans to a great fight.
From the Sherdog piece:
See, this is why editors-in-chief should not engage in flame wars with the people they cover. The instant I read this, all I can think of is Josh Gross trying to get one over on Dana White. Couture keeps talking about UFC management in general, and even including Lorenzo in his quote, but Gross pins the blame personally on White. It’s hard for me to think that all the big-money decisions are handled by White when its Fertitta money he’s handling. Maybe Couture really did say it was mostly White’s fault, but whatever, it doesn’t matter, Gross lost my trust in him as a journalist.
10. UFC supporter: Saddened that MMA is turning into boxing and that fighters are crybabies
All due respect to Zach, but why link to this pile of shit posting.
Are you f#ckin’ kidding me? If anything they’re the least of the whiners, if you could even accuse them of being that.
If the UFC wants to be the MLB of mma, maybe the fighters should get somewhere more than the
# Jason Bennett Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
“We Fight Opinion regulars need to disregard the comments of 45 Huddle. I consider his comments to be extraordinarily biased and blind. We all know this, so why give it any credence beyond that.
BTW, 45’s is probably Kevin Iole himself; Iole’s ‘keyboard warrior’ alternate identity. And Iole’s journalistic credibility is only slightly more valid.”
45 is Iole? LMFAO
Look at meltzers original report more than a week ago about top UFC fighters being upset about money. One of the points he makes is that fighters didn’t seem to trust what the UFC was saying were the ppv buys. This makes sense as to why randy was chatting up other fighters to see what they were making on bonuses. He stated flat out that he felt dana and lorenzo lied to him about his status as the #2 paid guy.
And cyphron I am going to have to disagree with you that not signing fedor doesn’t hurt the UFC at all and losing randy just hurts a little. I agree that no one fighter is bigger than an Org. but this turn of events leaves the UFC weakened. They went from Randy vs fedor to a possible Sylvia vs Kongo title bout. LOL now that is a significant swing. The UFC in general is going through some tough times. A weak UFC 78 card, losing a possible deal with HBO, TUF ratings never jumped up like they wanted, Lightweight champ sherk probably going to be suspended have not helped their cause.(whatever that may be)
I’m just sad, no winners today with this news.
The Gaijin shouldn’t be throwing stones. 45’s love for the UFC can only be rivaled by your love of Pride. At least now you can see it from the other point of view.
The 250k is his downside guarantee. This all about the guaranted money. He was getting large ppv bonuses, somewhere between $1-2 per ppv reportedly.
I don’t mind getting bashed, but some facts speak for themselves.
1. Randy Couture has walked away from the UFC Heavyweight Title on 2 occasions.
2. Randy Couture signed a contract for a certain amount. Half way through that contract, he was unhappy with the amount and decided to leave. If the UFC budges on that contract, then they open a door for every fighter after that to renegotiate after every fight. And even as Randy said, fighters talk about this stuff.
3. When Randy Couture signed the 4 fight contract, it was all about fighting Mirko Filipovic. Now 2 fights in, he wants to fight Fedor. He signed with the UFC based on one thing, and then leaves now that he wants to change his mind.
As for my love for the UFC…. I am down on the ENTIRE sport right now. Look at the recent news:
1. EliteXC plans on having Nick Diaz fight for 160 lbs title.
2. IFL trying to get fighters to sign contracts in the back of cars.
3. Randy Couture leaving a title belt for a second time.
4. Fedor Emelianenko going to an organization that as of right now has no legit contenders for him.
I just have a bad taste in my mouth on the direction of it. That has nothing to do with the UFC. I just feel a horrible trend going on, and Couture might just be the rock to start the avalanche. As a MMA fan, I think this might be the beginning of the end. Welcome to the world of boxing all over again. As a fan, I say no thanks.
****************
As for Josh Gross, he is an idiot. He makes the following statement: “But Couture said it was a lack of respect by the UFC, in particular its president Dana White, that led him to resigning.” After that he can’t back up that statement with a quote of Couture saying this.
Gross also does not mention that Couture has done this before. Nor does he comment on the fact that the UFC has NEVER redone a fighters contract like Couture wanted them to. Gross must be loving this. Sadly, his credibility on the matter was shot when he wrote the letter to Dana White a while back.
Why all the 45 bashing? Whether he prefers the UFC or not, he raises some points that merit discussion, not Sherdog-esque flames.
“The Gaijin shouldn’t be throwing stones. 45’s love for the UFC can only be rivaled by your love of Pride. At least now you can see it from the other point of view.”
Ok troll, if you say so… 😉
And by the way…my earlier post was cut-off for some reason or another, my main quibble with 45 was that
(a) 24 hours ago, Randy Couture could do no wrong but now that he’s not seeing eye-to-eye with the UFC, he’s being a bad sport. My argument is that it appears he’s not getting a fair share of the pie like some others were, we might be seeing that the much vaunted “PPV bonus shares” were a figment of our imagination and that, imo, he is entitled to seek more money since he’s the guy whose back the revitalized UFC was built off of and I’m glad to see a fighter who has some bargaining power getting some leverage for the fighters;
(b) He makes it seem like UFC is supposed to be the MLB of mma, but unlike every other professional league the UFC shares a miniscule %age of their profits with the fighters – if they want to be a professional sport maybe they should pay the athletes enough money to be “professional fighters”;
(c) His complaint that Couture is making his situation public is pretty weak. It’s not as if we’re seeing something absolutely novel here at least Couture isn’t working out in his drive-way telling reporters he’s being robbed after signing a 7-yr/$49M contract or saying he’s insulted by $17M b/c he has a family to feed; athletes in EVERY sport hold out when they have a contract in place in order to renegotiate when the market dictates that they’re being underpaid – most teams out of goodwill renegotiate them b/c its fair to do so or if they don’t want to they will let them sit out…so this situation will sort itself out like it does in every pro sport.
^ So if *that’s* what you consider “PRIDE” loving, you’re 100% correct son.
The Gaijn,
a) He isn’t receiving a fair share of the pie? HE SIGNED AN F’N CONTRACT. If he thought that was the case, he should have negotiated better terms BEFORE he signed the dotted line.
b) Couture does not fall into the category of fighters who can’t train as a professional because of pay. And my MLB is example is to show that I would like to see all of the top fighters in one organization. Just like every other sport. The only thing the UFC is missing is a union to counteract that power.
c) I’m sorry, but I don’t know of any athlete who re-negotiates his contract half way through the terms. And that is what Couture is on it. Half way through it.
^^^ What’s good for the goose…
UFC makes dude’s renegotiate with a fight left on their contract, and if they can’t come to an agreement, they ice them (see AA/Vera.)
Now you have a fighter who transcends the sport, and he’s going for it. It’s a shame that he’s too old to have much of a fighting career left. This is what Tito always wanted to do but didn’t have the balls. We’ll see if he does now.
Lie #1: “I’m not surprised at all by Randy’s decision.”
Also, the UFC reported on its own TV show (Inside the UFC) when the Couture comeback announcement was made in early January of this year that Couture had signed a contract that was for four fights or two years, and that was signed a couple of weeks earlier. So that would mean he would be a free agent in late 2008… still approximately a year away.
Fights on!
Good grief, October 20th cannot come soon enough.
# Zack Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
^^^ What’s good for the goose…
UFC makes dude’s renegotiate with a fight left on their contract, and if they can’t come to an agreement, they ice them (see AA/Vera.)
This is one of the best points I have seen made. It is the definition of the a UFC double standard. So 45 you might as well stop making the “he signed a fucking contract” bullshit. It doesn’t hold up and you are doing nothing but losing what little respect you had here. (so you don’t know of any athlete that re negotiates before his contract is up, but you do know of a organization that does when its in their favor)
And stop comparing the UFC to MLB. There are huge differences of which a 8 year old could see (how old are you?). First, like you stated, MLB has a players union (MLBPA) that allows them to collective bargain, so until a union for mma fighters becomes a reality, I would be cautious about the comparison. But Second and most important, MLB is a TEAM SPORT. So when a player becomes a free agent he has multiple teams vying for his services therefore pushing his asking price up. The UFC is just one org that offers one contract with little or no room for comprimise. MLB is more like a governing body, not a promoter. They don’t pay players directly and teams make their own profits, which allows a somewhat artificial competition when it comes to signing talent. You are comparing team sports leagues against individual sports organizations. This isn’t apples and oranges.
Does anyone really believe this is going to hurt the UFC in the long term OR that M-1 is going to compete with the UFC?
Check out the Kevin Iole article with quotes from Dana White. Yeesh, Vince McMahon would be very proud of Dana White’s ability to blame anything and everything on that gosh-darned media.
Very conveniently, it’s ignored that Couture never said he found out about other fighters’ pay through the evil media. Couture said that he found out about other fighters’ pay by talking to those fighters.
Also, I’m sure Couture and the fighters that he spoke to will appreciate the quote, “These guys are all the toughest guys in the world, but they’re like (expletives) in a beauty salon… They hear these rumors and they believe them and then they get insulted like (expletives) after we try to talk reality with them.”
Equally endearing is the following quote about Fedor: “The negotiations with those guys were so nutty, that at this point, I don’t give (an expletive) if he ever comes with us. If there were real rankings out there, he wouldn’t be the No. 1 fighter in the world, believe me.”
Fedor isnt #1
Didn’t the ufc announce that they would no longer be giving ppv buy bonuses to fighters a little while back. If it was that money that was the majority of the top guys pay then couture, hughes, tito or whoever will not be getting what they have come to expect from the ufc and will either need to sito out or renegotiate.
By the way has anyone on this site seen what a ufc contract looks like, did they ever guarantee a cut to fighters or did they just wink and say you will be taken care of?
I honestly dont think it matters. Couture signed a contract fairly recently. it has been no secret what the likes of Crocop etc were on… Randy’s explanation just doesnt make sense, why sign the contract in the first place?
c) I’m sorry, but I don’t know of any athlete who re-negotiates his contract half way through the terms. And that is what Couture is on it. Half way through it.
I guess you don’t watch too many sports…happens ALL the time.
“Earlier this off-season, it looked like Larry Johnson wouldn’t hold out, even though he’s well-outperformed a rookie contract that still has three years left on it. Apparently, there’s been a change in plans and Jason Whitlock expects a knock-down, drag-out between LJ and Chiefs president Carl Peterson…”
– Jun 11th 2007
So shut up.
Ivan, are you sure it was 4 fights, 2 years? I could’ve sworn he said 3 when he was interviewed about it on Sherdog radio, but I’m not entirely sure. And it’s possible that he signed a new, different contract before the Gonzaga fight.
If Dana wasn’t such a twit, he’d start actually paying fighters what they’re worth, and treating them with some god damned respect.
Then maybe he wouldn’t have lost the opportunity to sign Fedor, lost Couture, failed to book Ortiz for their December show, and ultimately, could lose Arlivski, and will let Barnett get signed by someone else.
Even small fuck-ups, like not giving Matt Hamill a rematch with Bisping after fucking him over. You’re deaf and can’t cut a good promo? No rematch for you, Matt.
UFC, in the way their fighters are treated, is so much like WWE it’s scary. And Dana White gets more like Vince McMahon with each passing ego-driven decision.