UFC Chatter: Couture Says “It’s Not a Retirement”
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Oct 14, 2007 at 12:00 pm ET16 Comments
“It’s not a retirement. It’s a resignation from the UFC organization.”
In an interview with The Fight Network Randy Couture clarifies that he has resigned from the UFC but has not retired, leaving the door open for a possible return to MMA competition in another promotion.
Tags: Randy Couture
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i hope that if things can be cleared up randy may return to the ufc at some point.if not then i hope he can fight and beat fedor in a different promotion.the mans a legend!!!!!!
Way to stick it to them Randy. I am interested to see how much (or little) he is willing to take to fight Fedor. I bet he would do it for fairly cheap, considering how long he has waited, and he doesn’t have (or does he?) much time left in his career. I CAN’T WAIT.
The biggest thing to watch from here out is does the UFC go out of its way to stop a fight between Couture and Fedor. Dana said he’s still under contract but if he fights for the new M1 in Russia I doubt the contract will mean anything unless the UFC puts up a fight. Personally I think that fight is going to happen sometime in 2008 but it is a very interesting situation that we’ll all be keeping an eye on.
That is kind of funny. Couture is AWESOME.
Randy would crush Dana even more in the press if he tried to stop this fight. As a fan of the sport (so he claims), I don’t know why Dana would. It wouldn’t help business wise, and if he let Randy out of his contract it might just heal any bad feelings Randy holds twords the UFC, Zuffa in paticular.
But has the UFC ever just rolled over on contracts? They are pretty strict when it comes to who people can and can’t fight. I hope for the sake of the sport and Couture’s reputation they let it go without much fuss but we’ll see in ‘08.
Everyone need to stop talking about Couture as a superhero. If you look at it closely he is Just another TO of UFC. He signed the contract, then he really wanted Fedor and whe UFC throws all kinds of money at Fedor to make this happen Couture uses that as leverage to try to get more money then the contract he already signed. he though it was a fair contract when he lost 2 in a row, but now he wants more. He said it himself, he feels disrespected and the way UFC could show respect is by paying him more…Does no one else see a problem with people signing contracts and then wanting more money? People killed TO and any other person that sits out for more money…This is no different so don’t fool yourseves!!!
Couture is the man and I am happy that he is sticking up for himself and his fellow fighters in the UFC. If the Couture vs. Fedor fight does happen, it would be great to see Dana White’s heartbroken face, when he hears that Couture will fight Fedor at M-1.
Even if Randy never fights again, his legacy will live on through the fighters he is and will be training. Team Couture has been dominating with well trained fighters and perfect game plans (see Forrest Griffin). Randy does have a 16-8 record, but he has fought the who’s who of MMA and all in their prime. Fedor can’t say that. His wins especially as of late, have come over out of their prime fighters and fighters from much lower weight class. Randy has gotten not just better with age, but he has gotten much smarter. I see a fight between these two ending with Randy getting his hand raised due to an awesome game plan and cardio to spare. He is the man and we will see continuing evidence of this in the fighters he trains.
Its time for Randy to get all Apollo Creed on Fedor’s ass and be the bad guy and call him out! Embarrass and taunt him…anything to make this fight happen and then crush that big Russian bastard!
jlayne3 is totally right…his legacy is gonna go on through his fighters…however how is he gonna have time to train fighters when he wants to be a movie star…that schedule is worse then the path of a fighter…its gonna be fun to see randy being a movie star acting like hes not a fighter no more….dont count randy out jus yet guys hes gonna get his fight wit fedor win that fight and become even more of an international star jus for the fact that he beat the #1 guy at 44 even possibly 45 years old
I read the statments about Couture having two fights left on his contract, but contracts are like rules they are made to be broken. Specially with a talented lawyer, I’m sure Randy can find a loop hole in his two remaining fights with the UFC. Hell I’ll even help buy his contract out if it means I can see Fedor and Randy go at it.
Randy left so he could go and get it on with Fedor for sure. He only wants to fight the best with his few fights he has left in him. It is the same thing Dan Henderson said this past satudsay. He only has a few fights left to.
I agree with MMA_Mind to a point. People burned Tito for sitting out for more money, but when Courture ends his stay in UFC, as heavyweight champ, because of money, that’s not right. While I do agree he and all fighters need to be paid more, especially when UFC is drawing in the money that they are, it’s kinda of childish to do what Courture did too. He stuck it to UFC and it’s funny and some one needed to, because these guys need to be paid WAY more, but he should of waited for his contract to end and then held out on his next contract for more money, especially if he was still champ.
Also, i think Randy will follow Fedor over to M1 but he needs to also watch what he does. Randy going for broke and just chasing Fedor around will make him look better and make Fedor look like he’s dodging him, yeah, and we all get to laugh. What happens when Fedor finally gets annoyed and fights Randy. Courture is awesome, no doubt, but Fedor is a monster. I respect what randy can do and he could very possibly beat Fedor. On the other hand, Fedor could very easily maul Randy. I mean, destroy him. So, Randy may not want to piss off the Russian Experiment just yet.
couture is one of if not my favorite fighter in mma and i honestly thought he would beat tim and gabe. i think he’ll find himself in trouble with fedor though. everyone seems to forget how good fedor is. not sure why he’s never been beatin. i think it would be best for randy to just end it now. everyone already thinks he would beat fedor anyways. i still think fedor is the top dog in mma.
Someone needs to tell Kevin Iole to read statements better. He’s had the same article up for over a week without any correction stating that Couture has retired.