Couture leaves UFC
 

http://mmajunkie.com/

wowow

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

So we're what, 3 years away from 5 different mma associations naming champions?

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

this is so brutal

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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So we're what, 3 years away from 5 different mma associations naming champions?

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There's already a ton of orgs naming champions? UFC, Pro Elite, Strikeforce, Cage Rage, WEC, Shooto, etc. It just isn't as [censored] as boxing because there's a pretty clear #1 org and "everyone else."

This is shocking, and a huge blow to the UFC HW division, especially after Fedor signed with M-1. OTOH, this might end up being good for the sport overall.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

it looks like couture is avoiding the word retirement

M1 I guess was bought by US investors

is this all setting up a fedor/couture fight in vegas sometime next year?

if that happened it'd be very interesting to see how much mainstream coverage it would get

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

From UFC.com...

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STATEMENT FROM DANA WHITE, UFC PRESIDENT, REGARDING COUTURE

“I’m not surprised at all by Randy’s decision. I talked to Randy several weeks ago and he said that if he couldn’t fight Fedor, then he has nothing left to prove in the sport of mixed martial arts.

He has been doing a lot of acting, and I know he is in South Africa right now filming a movie. I think it’s a great move for Randy’s acting career to retire from fighting while he is on top.

As we all know, Randy retired before. The landscape in MMA changes every day. So when he is ready to come out of retirement again, he is still under contract with me, and I’m ready to promote him.”

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Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

It has been reported by various MMA outlets that M-1 was bought by U.S. individual/company with no previous MMA interests.

Sherdog has an exclusive interview with Randy up, and the article mentions that Randy would have to wait 9 months for his UFC contract to expire. Will be interesting if he will want to fight Fedor with that much time off.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

reading the sherdog interview, couture is pretty pissed off about his pay

fighter compensation is a v tricky issue. its clear ufc underpays top fighters relative to the money those fighters make for the ufc. but other promotions are going to make an order of magnitude less money promoting the same fighters, so i don't see how things change

fedor/couture would make a lot of money because its the biggest fight ever, but i dont think anyone would watch like silva/lindland or barnett/gonzaga if it was promoted by strikeforce

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

I think it was more about the fact that Dana and Lorenzo told him he was the #2 paid guy in the company, but when he asked around, that clearly wasn't the truth.

That's pretty damning if the UFC execs would lie to the face of the sport about his place on the payscale.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

this is crazy, mad respect for couture leaving to fight fedor

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

UFC is making $ hand over fist. Hundreds of millions of dollars a year going into their pockets. Absolutely sickening what they are paying their fighters I don't blame Randy or Fedor. Even more reason to hate Dana White and the UFC.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

The pay scale is an tough thing to get into though. We have no clue what these guys actually make. Between PPV bonuses and sponsorships and stuff, we have no clue what each guy is really getting per fight. I think the fact that he was told he was getting #2 money and wasnt, was a much bigger factor then the actual numbers..

Overall, I say good for Randy. He only had maybe 2 fights left in him. Since it doesnt look like he was going to get the big fight with Fedor, it looks like he opted against a Big Nog or maybe Vera fight and decided to make a stand and leave.

How this effects other fighters in terms on unionization and "filing for free agency" will be interesting also. Could lead to bigger guys leaving for big money from start ups, diluting the talent base of each org.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

Eventually, UFC will have to pay its top fighters very well if it want's to contiune to be the superbowl of mma.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

isn't he like 44 ? Is it really a huge blow to lose a guy at this point in his career ? That says a lot about the young guys then.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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isn't he like 44 ? Is it really a huge blow to lose a guy at this point in his career ? That says a lot about the young guys then.

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It always hurts to lose your champion, especialy when he's one of your biggest draws and a legend of the sport

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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isn't he like 44 ? Is it really a huge blow to lose a guy at this point in his career ? That says a lot about the young guys then.

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It always hurts to lose your champion, especialy when he's one of your biggest draws and a legend of the sport

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That said how old can a guy be and fight in this sport ? Could he fight till 47 or 48 ? That blows my mind.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

I love Randy. He did this as much for himself as he did for the rest of the fighters in the UFC. I hope this gets Dana White fired.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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I love Randy. He did this as much for himself as he did for the rest of the fighters in the UFC. I hope this gets Dana White fired.

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Awfully hard to fire a guy who owns 10% of the company

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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I love Randy. He did this as much for himself as he did for the rest of the fighters in the UFC. I hope this gets Dana White fired.

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Awfully hard to fire a guy who owns 10% of the company

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Maybe his limousine will blow up then. Fitting end for a man turning MMA into the WWF.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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I love Randy. He did this as much for himself as he did for the rest of the fighters in the UFC. I hope this gets Dana White fired.

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Awfully hard to fire a guy who owns 10% of the company

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Maybe his limousine will blow up then. Fitting end for a man turning MMA into the WWF.

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Can you explain your last statement?

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

Dana White is a hard working, driven, businessman. Granted, I don't know him at all, just his TV persona really, but I see no reason to say bad things about him. He deserves credit for helping to bring a lot of fans to MMA, myself included.

On TUF, he seems like a cool guy. Sure, big ego, arrogant at times, but he's a young guy who has accomplished a lot through hard work, and most of the time he is just busting his ass all day, probably doesn't have a lot of time for bull [censored], so he's direct.

Bad beat though, no HBO, no Fedor, or Randy. Fedor v Randy would be huge.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

The big PO for me is Dana White trying to be the biggest star of MMA. The truth is deep down no one gives a [censored] about Dana White (the fans) we just want to see the best fighters fight. Period. The top 3 of 5 HW's in the world aren't in the UFC and that's a huge blow to that weight class IMO. He fumbled the whole PRIDE thing to IMO. I just can't stand some of the things he's done and the more I see him on TV trying to be the center of attention the more it pisses me off.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

I see UFC heading in the same direction as boxing. When the power shifts to the fighers, eventually the top guys will just fight cans to protect their records and not each other except once in awhile for big $$$. Then call it a career.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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I see UFC heading in the same direction as boxing. When the power shifts to the fighers, eventually the top guys will just fight cans to protect their records and not each other except once in awhile for big $$$. Then call it a career.

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A lot of this is dependent on powerful promoters in boxing, whereas MMA promoters/managers have little influence over the UFC.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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I see UFC heading in the same direction as boxing. When the power shifts to the fighers, eventually the top guys will just fight cans to protect their records and not each other except once in awhile for big $$$. Then call it a career.

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the cans win way too often in MMA for this to ever happen

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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I see UFC heading in the same direction as boxing. When the power shifts to the fighers, eventually the top guys will just fight cans to protect their records and not each other except once in awhile for big $$$. Then call it a career.

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the cans win way too often in MMA for this to ever happen

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probably should be that way in boxing, but it isn't. wouldn't be hard for them to pick a marketable champ, a challenger and hold everyone else down.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

the fact that he's not "retiring as the champ", but is intead "resigning from the ufc" and giving up commentating etc., seems huge to me. he's not saying he'll never fight again, he's saying he's had to put up with a bunch of crap from the ufc and now they don't even rep the top opponents, therefore there is no reason to bother with them.

definately takes away from the ufc's rep as the undisputed #1 mma league.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

Various quotes:

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So we're what, 3 years away from 5 different mma associations naming champions?

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We just consolidated. While their may be 5 champions there is a Division I, II, III aspect to the champions. A year ago we had both Pride and UFC with valid claims to the true champions.

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Eventually, UFC will have to pay its top fighters very well if it want's to contiune to be the superbowl of mma.


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It arguably wasn't until recently. Also, remember the flood of UFC talent to Pride several years back? This was more applicable then.

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I see UFC heading in the same direction as boxing. When the power shifts to the fighers, eventually the top guys will just fight cans to protect their records and not each other except once in awhile for big $$$. Then call it a career.


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Like the Gracies and Frank Shamrock try to do? I see no evidence of this for the UFC.

J

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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We just consolidated. While their may be 5 champions there is a Division I, II, III aspect to the champions. A year ago we had both Pride and UFC with valid claims to the true champions.

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This is still going to be a problem. Many of the best fighters in the world are fighting outside UFC: Fedor, Paulo Filho, Takanori Gomi, Josh Barnett, Matt Lindland, etc.

Re: Couture leaves UFC
 

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