Couture’s Agent: Salary Numbers “Severely Inflated”
Earlier this week Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports reported that Couture’s salary, which has become the focus of discussion since his resignation from the UFC, was estimated to be worth $13-15 million. Couture’s agent, Matt Walker, tells Sherdog that the reported salary was “extremely innaccurate”:
“When I first read the story on Yahoo! I actually laughed because they are so far from fact. If he were getting $3.25-$3.75 million a fight then Randy’s compensation would not be an issue. However, I can tell you those salary numbers for Randy are severely inflated and I would love to know where they got the information.
I can tell you that this decision was made out of principle and would have been made regardless of the outcome. Randy is a man of integrity and felt he needed to make a stand. The story will be told in the results and I think everyone knows the type of man Randy is, as has been demonstrated over the decade, while others may have built a different type of reputation.”
Former MMAFrenzy.com contributor Adam Swift, who penned the column, says the UFC likely faces an uphill battle should the parties head to court:
“The situation seems ripe for litigation. It is hard to imagine that Zuffa is anxious to test the enforceability of its contracts in court due to the dire results that could accompany an adverse ruling. The company could face a legitimate labor crisis were key provisions of Couture’s contract to be found invalid, allowing other fighters to follow suit in leaving the company or demanding new contracts.”
Couture appears adamant on fighting Fedor Emelianenko in 2008 and will likely do everything he can to make that fight happen. Time is on the UFC’s side if they go to court and the promotion will likely focus on dragging out the proceedings to keep Couture out of action for as long as they can. The UFC knows Couture has very few fights remaining in his career and keeping him from fighting will only make this number smaller.
A potential ruling in this case will set a precendent for future disputes between the UFC and fighters, particularly what happens to their contract if they retire or fail to complete their required fights.
Tags: Randy Couture
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i think the UFC should have paid Randy so much more that what they were paying him.they were gonna give Fedor $2 million a fight, and to me that’s insane. Randy is the best fighter in the UFC right now (well he was) and he deserves to make twice as much as Fedor. i hope Randy and Dana can work this out cause the UFC won’t be the same without Randy. i don’t even know why they would pay Fedor that much anyway,cause Randy would have beat the **** out of him, and then the UFC would feel pretty stupid for paying him that much just for Couture to walk all over him……..And if Randy would have done that, he would be the baddest motherf%&*#er on the planet.If he’s not allready.
By no means do I think Couture would walk through Fedor. I think(and hope) he beats Fedor when(if?) they fight. I think this fight is necessary for the sport. It pits the two baddest men, from the to baddest organization to get one true world heavyweight champion. It is important to the whole sport of MMA to prove that they can organize this fight and make it happen. It is the exact same problem boxing has had for the past 20 years with the inability to join the greats in the ring against each other because of money, and contractual problems with promoters.
hey Kris….are todays weigh ins on ESPNews?
Dana White has made a huge error. Randy IS (at this time) the best fighter in the UFC. He’s the 3 time Champion… alone that deserves massive respect. His fights may not always be the exciting, adreneline fueled slugfests that rocketed the salary of Liddel. But hey, he’s the champion and his contract should reflect that. Not only that, Randy’s image is a perfect advertisement for the UFC. I cant imagine the UFC without Randy Couture. Dont forget the guys a Hall of famer, a Stud in the sport. For this to have gotten to the stage where he would walk away from the UFC, giving up his hard earned belt speaks volumes. Perhap’s we’ll never know the exact figures involved but the fact remains that Randy must have been dumped on from a great hight.
Sort yourself out Dana White ffs.
“…If he were getting $3.25-$3.75 million a fight…”
I mean, does that mean he’s was making like 3.05 million per fight and they are just being b****es?
I wish the UFC would be like a real professional sport and tell everyone exactly what they are paying the athlete.
This back and forth is annoying. I don’t know who to believe, I was leaning towards Randy, but after this statement, I have no idea what to think.
What up FiX? They are on ESPN AND UFC.com. Thought you were leaving for a while. Type at you SOON.
Much like other professional sports organizations that are private like MLB, they still disclose salaries for the simple reason that **** like this doesn’t happen. Inflated numbers and speculation causing players to become angry over money. The UFC needs to think about putting salaries out there.
There is absolutely no way Randy Couture was making 3.25-3.75 million per fight. If he was making those kinds of numbers, why would he leave?
LR, I see what you are saying, the 3.25 to 3.75 were the UFC’s numbers.
Dana White needs to start to disclosing fighter pay like last year.
This story just keeps getting more and more annoying.
I would also like to know where those figures came from.
This is going to turn into a PR nightmare for Zuffa if they continue to try to prove that they weren’t liars. They should just leave it and talk to Couture himself.
I just don’t get how everyone is so blind to the very basic fact in all this. Couture signed the contract with his own hand. He lost 2 in a row and then was more then happy with his 4 fight contract that payed him way more then a fighter should get after loosing 2 straight. But now that he won a few, he wants more money. So so typical of another man that can’t keep his word. I have lost all respect for him, I hope he never gets to fight again, cause now he is just another TO of the UFC. It absolutley makes no difference what Randy thinks he deserves now, cause it was Randy himself that signed the contract. Was he going to give up some of that money if he lost to Sylvia, or Ganzaga. And the only way he has a Chance to beat Fedor would be inside the UFC cage, anywhere else he gets destroyed.
MMA_MIND, I see where you are coming from and it is difficult to argue with the facts you laid down.
With that said, Dana White is a douchebag, and thats all that matters in public oppinion.
Randy is coming across as the vitim due to Dana’s poor tactics.
Reg MMA MIND’s comment
I’m sure you wouldn’t have that same attitude if you were in the same boat. I’ll try and break it down for you in a situation you might understand.
Your the top burger flipper in MacD’s and by god you’ve sweated blood to get there. Your boss calls you into the office to thrash out your new promotion pay details! Your happy, your at the top of your game and the moneys great and yeah you’ve gotta work real hard but who cares your overcome with pride! Couple of days later you overhear Dwayne revealing to billybob that he’s on 3 times what your earning even though your the new top dawg, and he’s only been working here 2 mth, AND he only works the fries section!!
The sad fact is that Companies and corparations will by nature pay employee’s as little as they can get away with. It happens every day and when it happens to you, your obviously not gonna be impressed.
As for saying you lost all respect in Randy Couture (after what he’s contributed to the UFC out of the ring not to mention his unparalleled acheivements in the sport) you wanna just re-think your idiotic critisism. The man is a Legend and always will be, regardless if the situation gets resolved.
To Kev:
Thanks for the so called breakdown, but you might want to compare two things that are actually compatible. While I am sure you are an expert in the inner workings of fast food industry, you obviously don’t understand how major contracts work. If Couture wanted to sign a performance based contract where his pay goes up according to his performance then that is what he should have done. If he thought 250K per plus whatever extra was not fair then don’t do it. But he did and he was very happy about it when he signed. You also have to talk about it one issue at a time. We are not talking about the fairness of pay, we are talking about being a man and living up to the deal the you sign. Do you even get that. You have to compare apples to apples…like TO and Couture. That is a perfect comparison.
And as far as respect, I do have a lot of respect for him as a fighter but dew to his latest comment and actions less respect for him as a man of his word
To MMA_MIND:
Ok… of Randy’s latest comments This one to me is compelling:
“I think the final straw for me was meeting with Dana 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,”
Yes i agree that Randy signed a contract. Refuted to be 250,000k per fight + hefty pay per view bonuses. Regardless he signed the contract.
I belive, the current Heavyweight Champion irrespective of previous losses should command the highest wage. Its the untimate prize in MMA and the rewards should be comparable.
Is Couture being greedy? maybe he is or maybe he’s pissed that other fighters who have achieved far less in the game and are being payed considerably more. I know which answer i’de be inclined to agree with.
As for the being a man and living up to the deal you sign thing. If i learned i’de been taken for a ride by my employer i wouldn’t **** out and just take it up the tail pipe. I’de fight my corner, raise my concern’s with the approapriate individules and if i was told lies to my face i wouldn’t allow myself to become a glove puppet. Nobody with any integrety or self respect couldn’t allow that to happen to themselves im my opinion.
It seems to me your idea of what a man is, has become confused. Dana the man who issued the contract telling Randy he was 2nd highest paid. A comment which is clearly in doubt now…… Is Dana a man of his word?
Randy is reacting to being treated (in his own opinion) unfairly by an organisation and people he trusted.
Kev: Ok so if you think that as a champ he deserves more, then you have to belive that for loosing fighters should get pay cuts, and that is obviously should not happen.
and where do you get this unfair treatment? did he not get his contract renegotiated with a huge raise after back to back loses as he wanted to come out of retierment?….Yes did he get an instant HW title shot(that in no way does a fighter on a 2 fight loosing streak deserves)?…..Yes
He did not “just” figure out that he was getting screwed by UFC, he is not retarded, and don’t think he was intoxicated as he was signing the contract. Do you really not see that it’s not about what he thinks is fair, but because this is his last chance to get really paid…and he belives he has levrage to pull that of right now.
Look I don’t completly blame Randy for doing this, he sees an opportunity to get paid and he is trying to take advantage of it, especially since it’s prob. his last opportunity. And now with Danas new statments, it seems more and more that I am right on with this.
MMA-MIND,
You bring up contractual points, but it IS about him being lied to. I agree he will be taken to court over the whole deal, and loose. But I don’t blame him for being pissed. By the way…….
You write like a certain someone, seems you just toned down the insults-GOOD. You are obviously very passionate aboute the sport.