Couture Talks About Decision to Quit the UFC
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture has released an official statement on his resignation via his official website, TheNatural.tv:
“Randy is very excited to embark on a promising career in acting, as well as spending more time with his wife and family. He’s currently shooting a lead role in Universal’s “The Scorpion King – The Rise of the Akkadian” in South Africa, and has more offers on the table.
His heart will always belong to the sport, and I doubt he will wander too far away from it, but it was a matter of respect and Randy felt the need to move on.”
*****
In addition to the above statement Couture also spoke with Sherdog about his decision to resign. Here are some excerpts from their interview with “The Natural”:
- “I sent the letter of resignation to the UFC today, resigning not only from my position in the company as a commentator and as an ambassador, but also as the heavyweight champion”
- “The motivation for the decision is two-fold. I know Fedor (Emelianenko) just signed with another organization and that’s the only real fight that makes sense for me at 44 years old as the heavyweight champion of the UFC. That’s the fight I wanted and if that can’t happen it doesn’t make sense for me to compete with all these other guys. And then obviously that’s not going to happen now. And, two, I’m tired of being taken advantage of, played as the nice guy and basically swimming against the current with the management of the UFC. I have a lot of other things going on in my life that I’m doing just fine with. I don’t need the problems. I don’t feel like I get the respect I deserve from the organization, and that’s motivation No. 2 for the letter of resignation that was sent today.”
- “Knowing what they offered him [Fedor], I would have made demands to get paid equally or better than him as the champion. Whether or not those would have been met is another question.”
- “I think the final straw for me was meeting with White and Lorenzo (Fertitta, UFC co-owner) where they claimed I was the No. 2 paid athlete in the organization, which I know is a bold-faced lie. I’ve heard Chuck’s numbers. Tito’s numbers. Hughes’ numbers. Quinton’s numbers. Cro Cop, Wanderlei. I heard what they were offering Fedor, and it’s insulting.”
Additionally, Sherdog reported that Couture must wait 9-months before he could potentially compete for another MMA promotion making a potential fight with Fedor impossible until mid-2008.
In the interim he will reportedly focus on acting in addition to working on further developing his company, “Xtreme Couture”.
Tags: Randy Couture
Loading ...
They need to really figure out a better pay plan for the fighters. I remember when Chris Leben was b****ing about money and I was calling him a little b****…..but this is Randy Couture…..HE IS THE MAN. Seriously..PAY YOUR FIGHTERS FAIRLY!!
this is the problem that dana said for the past 2 years wasnt a problem. money is something that has to be up’d when the company takes off like it has the past couple years. but when your the champ of the heavy’s and you get paid 250,000 a fight plus other bonuses and ppv percentages and the owners get 300 plus mil thats crazy.
This is getting really messed up. I know fighters have been pissed for a while. Every since TUF 1. Everybody thought Nick Diaz was just being a dick when he was complaining about the TUF guys making more than the seasoned vets, Throw the PRIDE guys on top of that, now we have WWIII. Please Zuffa, fix this problem before my favorite sport falls completely appart. M1, Strikeforce- learn a HUGE lesson from all of this OK.
So, if M-1 signed the pitbull (a russian), Josh barnett, and offered Rnady a contract with comparable money to Fedor, I would so pay $50 to watch some of those matchups.
I think that Dana and ZUFFA needs to smarten up and realize that just a “bit” more money would make all these issues go away!! Pay the fighters what they deserve! They are the ones out there taking the hits!
So very intelligent Randy! This is the only way the Fedor fight will happen. The UFC blew this one.
if this is how they treat someone who has given as much to the ufc as randy has they deserve the consequences.things must be pretty messed up and will take a lot of fixing.the fact that randy has quit commentating and his position as ambassador as well as fighting shows how badly he feels hes been treated.i cant believe hes gone from the ufc gutted!!!
[...] Couture Talks About Decision to Quit the UFC [...]
wow.. what the hell. this is the worst news i have heard in a while… he is still a dominant force in the ufc and I want to see him fight arloski
I hope someday Randy will own an organization as big as the UFC,Randy pls concentrate on the MMA(fights, and the organizing it)rather than movies, if there is someone who can do it, it is Randy. Too much fighters will need another organization to run it,just like boxing,they have WBO,WBC etc, UFC will meet its nearest competitor soon.