UFC Press Conference News and Notes
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Oct 30, 2007 at 2:20 pm ET29 Comments
The UFC held a press conference earlier today in Las Vegas at the company’s headquarters to address recent statements by Randy Couture. UFC President Dana White, UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, and UFC Chief Financial Officer John Mulkey were all on hand at the event and White and Fertitta answered questions from the media.
- Dana White opens up by saying that they will be providing a full breakdown on Couture’s salary and that the UFC doesn’t release figures because it should be about the sport and not about the money.
- Couture received $500,000 signing bonus. The bonus was split into two payments: half of which was paid immediately and half of which was paid following his first fight.
- Couture was paid a total of $1.186 million dollars for his fight against Tim Sylvia at UFC 68. That total is composed of a $250,000 base salary and $936,000 PPV bonus. All of this money has been paid to Couture except for $17,000 which is pending.
- He was paid a total of $1.072 million for his UFC 74 title fight against Gabriel Gonzaga. The breakdown for his salary was a $250,000 purse, $35,000 fight of night bonus, and a $787,000 PPV bonus for 485,000 estimated buys. The PPV bonus remains to be paid but is expected to be paid in early to mid-November.
- His total salary for 2007 is $2.9 million.
- Bonuses which Couture referred to as “off the books” are indeed recorded by Zuffa and are not required contractually but are given out on the discretion of the UFC.
- Couture also received $200,000 per year as part of his employment agreement and an additional $50,000 for his commentating.
- The UFC is going to offer Couture a fight this week against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. If the fight is turned down he will official be considered “retired” and the two top contenders in the heavyweight division (likely Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira) will fight for the vacant championship.
- Couture is still officially considered the UFC Heavyweight Champion.
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[...] story will be updated following our live coverage of the UFC press conference at 4pm [...]
Things are really starting to heat up. Looks like they may give us a better look at the books.
and somehow everyone will find a way to twist all of the figures and rip Dana white
It seems that way, at least in this case they are giving us an insight into how much they actually make versus what is reported to the athletic commissions.
It’s too bad that it had to come to this before Dana started “really” talking. If he had been open about everything to do with pay from the get-go he wouldn’t have come out looking like such a bad guy.
I really would like to see Couture vs. Nog. I hope Randy puts the “bad blood” behind him. He can’t fight Fedor til at least November 2008 anyways, do it Randy, for the FANS!
Looks like Randy is doing alright, for a sport that is just coming into its own. Things are only going to continue to go up. Randy will definately fight in the ufc again soon.
He is 44 years old. He only has 1 maybe 2 fights left. I don’t understand why everyone is making this a big deal. If Randy wants to screw himself over by alienating himself from the ufc, then so be it.
Did anyone else catch the whole “Fedor isn’t top five” thing? I think it’s funny how Fedor isn’t top five but “Nog is our number one contender, I’m pitching a match to randy this week”… Last time i checked Fedor beat nog.. Twice.
Hate to say it but if Randy declines this fight with nog i think he should be stripped of the title. The logical match-up in my eyes is has to involve Big poopy. He is the only logical choice, active heavyweight, not coming of a loss, or a terrible
showing. Nog 1-0 in the UFC didn’t look good enough to advance to #1 contendership to me. Arlovski, who is inactive, is the only heavyweight who is 2-0 in his last 2 fights. GG is 1-1, Vera is 1-1, Cro Cop is 0-2, Werdum is 0-1.
I think the pecking order should be something along these lines.
#1 contender- Timmey (i hate him just as much as you do)
#2 Arlovski (Promised title shot after last fight. Never in danger, got the W but i forgot this is entertainment not a sport?)
#3 Nog- (Great BJJ, been in there with the best but he worried me against HH who IS a can.)
#4 Brandon Vera
#5 GG
Honorable Mention-Werdum.
I’d be very interested in your thoughts on your top 5 guys.
it is something to think about if Vera doesn’t break his hand and beats Silva. Is he higher in the order? or if Nog would have killed HH and maybe beat up on some one else ,,,,higher?
To this point I am not impressed with any of the heavyweight Pride fighters.
Nog didn’t impress at all against Herring. I would vote Sylvia v Gonzaga (last 2 #1 contenders get the shot). Arlovski v Sylvia IV will not happen (Kongo v Sylvia would be entertaining too, but I think Cheick needs one more fight to be #1 contender material).
My 2 cents.
Arlovski vs Couture makes a whole lotta sence, very marketable…..Tim Sylvia should be embarrassed after his fight with Vera, he’s not a exciting fighter to watch (has become less dominant and cannot finish a fight!).
I completely agree with you Shay, Arlovski -Never in danger, got the W but i forgot this is entertainment not a sport? Dana needs to sign this guy and make it happen.
Eww I had a major weakness… I totally forgot about Kongo. He’s up there with GG and Vera in my eyes. I agree Sylvia is very boring. I also agree the UFC will avoid AA vs Sylvia at all costs. I could see the UFC making a GG vs sylvia match up BUT i would like to see kongo vs slyvia for a couple reasons. 1) Because i don’t think Kongo will allow him too clinch all fight (he has good knees)2) Kongo’s hands are good enough to keep it from being a jab fest from slyvia. And 3.. One of them will lose
. I think kongo is a devastating striker but its hard for me to like him because of his lack of pretty much everything but striking and clinching.
Kongo should be the number 1 contender. The guy is unbeaten in the octagon and has just came off somewhat of an upset in some peoples minds against CroCop. The thing the Ufc needs i a champion the is very marketable and that maretable athlete is Kongo he is exciting to watch an arsenal of attacks and has the look… you think i am crazy well mma fans and joe rogan agree with me
Nog would SLAUGHTER kongo.. Joe Rogan said “someone needs to kidnap him and not let him work on anything but his ground game.” I agree he is a superior striker. With that said, big nog has a great chin and would easily take him down and sub him. Easily.
Napoa, Kongo is not unbeaten. Check out the fight finder at Sherdog. Carmelo Marrero beat him.
I agree with Big Nog being the next in line. I think Tim should fight Cheick for #1 spot. GG/FW gets #2. AA/? gets #3
But, with Randy leaving, it’s going to be Nog vs Tim. I sure as hell hope that Nog can put the Man Yak away. I hate that bastard almost as much as Jenito.
I want to see in 2008, AA vs Vera, Herring vs Mir, GG vs Tim/Kongo, Cro Cop get a win, Brock make a huge splash!
Here i am the bad guy again.. I seem to say stuff no one likes.. ha ha.
With all the talk of boring fights how does Tim Sylvia stay at the top? and this talk i hear of Nog and Sylvia for the belt is BS!! Nog arguably was beat by Herring and the ref didn’t stop the fight allowing him to comeback (and the rest of the fight was not exactly all that exciting) And Sylvia is like cancer that keeps coming back. Boring fights from the man sloth and he stays considered a top contender… Personally i think he’d beat Kongo for the fact he’d do like he did against Vera, hug him for 3 rounds throwing random punches every 30-45 seconds.
How bout they just take the supposed top 8 heavyweights and have an elimination style tourney for the belt
For anyone who hasn’t seen the Press Conference you should go over to UFC.com and watch it. I just watched the whole thing (I only caught about 5 min. live earlier) Dana and Lorenzo held it very professionally, and kept it clean from trashing Couture. In fact, just the opposite. Dana repeated he thinks Couture is the #1 fighter, not Fedor, and supplied fairly logical beliefs and facts to back his statement. It seems that Zuffa may be right on this one, and I hope Couture takes this fight with Nog. If he doesn’t sit down with Dana, or the Frateta’s, then I feel it will be very bad for his career, and personally, I would see it as a blemish on him as a person. The door is obviously open, and M-1 seems to have Fedor readily avalible for a fight with Randy later next year. Don’t tarnish your reputation, and don’t punish the fans. The UFC will give you whatever you want.
How disappointed have the UFC got to be with Crop Cop? The way he was hyped up when he arrived and how he’s since performed. Arlovski’s still my favourite fighter. I agree it’s unlikely we’ll see another fight with him and Sylvia (unless one is champ & the other earns a title shot) but in a way I’d like to – in the hope that Arlovski would completely destroy him.
I wonder if Randy will change his mind and decide to fight in the UFC again. I woul dlove to see him put a beating on Minotauro, but the fight that most fans wouldn’t mind seeing in the UFC is Arlovski vs. Couture.
Sean,
So think the UFC should adapt a Pride FC style tournament for the vacant belt(s). Well, I like it, and the UFC could get at least 3 good pay per view shows out of it. Also, you they could use this same style in the LW division. I’m sure Joe Stevenson nor BJ Penn would like that, but from the UFC’s standpoint, they stand to make a lot of money and most fighters would feel that they are now 3 wins from the belt as opposed to 5 or 6. I like it.
As much as I hate sylvia Sean, I think that its more important that this remain a sport rather than an entertainment industry. Weather you like him or not Sylvia wins his fights. I’m sure he has fans that aren’t bothered by his fighting style just as I didn’t find the Werdum fight boring. Yeah I wish he would have KO’d him but ohh well. I think the important thing to remember is a win is a win is a win. Arlovski won and he hasn’t fought in like 5 months. But i forgot about the UFC’s clause ***MUST end all fights by spinning back fist, flying arm-bar, or spinning heel kick*** If they really want to encourage the fighters to be more exciting they should have their put a special rewards clause in their contract. Something like decision fights x amount of dollars, Submissions X amount + y amount ect ect…
That’s a great idea shay to have an incentive in a contract for a fighter to be rewarded for finishing a fight.
I like that idea. That adds some excitement for fans and incentive for the fighters. I like.
I think that is the idea behind “submission of the night”, “fight of the night” and “discretionary bonuses”.
All fighters want to end a fight in the ring and not let it go to the judges.
I’d love to see a tournament, but Dana has made it clear in the past that he doesn’t like them (he thinks it’ll regress people back to the early days of the UFC, even tho he should do them over 3 events as mentioned above instead of all in one night).
Yes that is the purpose behind fight of the night, submission of the night and so on.. I just believe they should also implement the yellow cards like in pride for lack of action..
I’m not talking in terms of fight of the night or submission of the night.. That is a possibility.. “Perhaps if i knock this guy out i get a bonus” With this system its more “I’m gonna knock this dude out and get 5000 extra for sure” I agree with the yellow card system too. Take away a certain percentage of the purse..
All incentives for more exciting fights