Couture Resignation Goes Mainstream; White Continues to Stumble in Response
Randy Couture appeared via phone on last night’s edition of Sports Center on ESPN. Audio of the segment is available here. Couture largely repeated his previous statements, however, he did expand his critique of the UFC’s management, saying “I think there are a lot of other fighters maybe a little further down in stature in the UFC that are kind of getting the shaft as well. So maybe this will raise some awareness for those fighters and get a fair shake.” Couture left the door open on returning to the sport, but remains insistent on a fight with Fedor.
White continues to stumble badly in responding to the potential crisis. On Sports Center he was quoted as blaming Couture’s “Hollywood agent” whom he “slapped down.” White went on to call such agents parasites and stated that the movie world was where Randy wants to be right now.
Instead of trying to tone down the situation with a muted but firm response, his incendiary comments risk adding fuel to the fire. The media loves a colorful quote, which is part of what makes White such a likable and effective spokesman for the company. However, this situation called for a more professional, politically correct statement, something to the effect of:
We at the UFC have the utmost respect for Randy Couture and his contributions to our company. We wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors. It is unfortunate that a misunderstanding has resulted in the end of a ten year association between the UFC and Randy Couture. We recognize and appreciate the importance of our highly talented athletes to the UFC’s continued success. That is why our fighters are the best compensated in the sport of mixed martial-arts today.
Instead White has continued to lash out at Hollywood agents and the internet. Continued inflammatory comments risk prolonging the company’s negative exposure as well as escalating the situation.
I love White as a spokesman for the company, but if he insists on going negative then he needs someone else out in front to take the hits, and deliver the blows, on issues like this one and the Sherk steroid issue. There’s no reason he has to lower himself into the fray as President of the company.
Tags: Dana White, Randy Couture
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Randy should have been the top paid athlete in the UFC, plain and simple. If he got paid by the hour, he would have definately been making way more for his time spent for the UFC. Although,……. the UFC does pay their fighters quite a bit more than other federations, but they need to make a TOP TEN of sorts, and base their pay on a fighters standind. I still think fighting for a large purse, still keeping a base pay but having a large purse that would even the pay out for a win, would make not only the pay rate better for all, but make fighters give it their all, and show who deserves the wins.
I think that beyond the amount he was making he was offended the UFC lied to him about being number two behind Liddell when he really wasn’t. Dana White has blamed internet sites for reporting the salaries as incorrect but those are the numbers the athletic commissions receive and, to my knowledge, they are correct within a very small margin. If those numbers are false the UFC should be upfront and release the true numbers on their own.
There is a great article at Sherdog on the top 10 moments in Randy “the Natural” Couture’s carreer. Not trying to advertise another site, it is just a great history of his career.
I don’t blame Couture for what he did. I am happy that Couture is exposing the UFC for the mishandling of some of their athletes. I hope Couture becomes the mainstream Hollywood star that he is destined to be.
I think that Randy wants to be like Dwayne “the rock” Johnson. A real fighter.
I am disapointed about this situation. Lest we forget, this is “As real as it gets.” MY question is, now that “The Natural” is gone, are we going to see a HW championship fight on on the 20th??? Brandon Vera vs. Randy Couture would have been great. It would be even greater for him to beat “The Maine-iac.” Only Tim will know “The Truth.” -Lou
Couture is awesome. I’ll miss him as a fighting in the UFC, but I hope he does well as an actor.
Bottom line is that the UFC needs to get the finances down. THey need too set something up where the rankings are how you get paid…not the popularity. Sponsers can pay for the popularity factor. Chuck Liddell should not make anymore money than his next fighter. Fighters should get paid on how they perform by the UFC….not by how popular they are. Agreed?
The ufc and Dana in particular messed up, but Randy leaving ain’t gonna kill the UFC
I would pay big money to see Fedor and Randy
M-1 pay per view’s for $30
“M-1 Pay-Per Views for 30$” When and where. Does Direct TV carry it. I am there. I already paid for the next 3 UFCs but I am interested to see the production value of this new organization.
this is one of the worst things that could of happend to the UFC right now and i think the UFC and Zuffa Inc. are the ones to be blamed they need to start paying their fighters more money especialy with the money they are making at this time…
The worst thing that can happen now is guys like Arlovski and Tito Ortize (who are in contract disputes) leave to goto another promotion and the others follow, Don’t get me wrong i have been a fan of this sport for some time now and i have not met any1 who knows as much about this sport as i do, but right now the future of the UFC has never been darker in some time
napoa- good thread untill the last line. the ufc’s future doesn’t look dark because of the recent events. in the last year or so hendo, wanderlei, shogun, big nog, crocop, jackson, anderson silva, and the list goes on. 2 of these guys are already champs. with the exception of wanderlei… hendo, crocop, big nog have started slow but will make major impacts on the ufc. they’re never going to have every top fighter but you can bet they will have most of them.
Dan Henderson appears to be the latest person angry at the UFC’s negotiations and compensation. Full post to come later but he reportedly turned down an extension with the UFC and in essence sympathizes with Couture about why he left.
I think it’s hilarious that all these people are blaming the UFC and not going, how the hell are you complaining about making over $1 million for one fight? Randy is obviously releasing different numbers than the UFC, and who’s to say who’s right. Besides that people are basing the $$ he makes based on the athletic comission, who have no idea how much he is getting paid in a contract or private pvp comissions. Randy is an amazing guy, but I will not feel bad for someone who says they don’t care about money, then complain about money when they are making several millions of dollars a year.
Randy Couture will be the first to say he has made plenty of money in the sport. He just believes that some fighters who don’t deserve to be payed more than him are. Thats what he said in his press conference anyhow. I think Couture fighting Nog would be much better for his career than sitting out for 9 months. Sitting for that long is one of the main reasons Fedor is having all of this debate about his talent. If he sits that long, who’s to say Fedor will fight him. He needs to stay in the public eye, and keep fighting til his contract is up, or, the UFC co-produces the Fedor/Couture event.