The entire debacle that is playing itself out in public between Dana White and Randy Couture is just flat out stupid to me. Here we are, a little more than 24 hours before a big show in Ohio, and all the headlines are dominated with contradictory chatter about Randy retiring, er, resigning.
Which one is it? According to Randy it is simply a resignation. According to Dana it is being called a retirement. Is this significant? I think it is more significant than most are realizing.
For years, Randy Couture was the manager of Randy Couture (and several other Team Quest fighters, and it should be noted that this was one reason Evan Tanner left the team in the first place.) From what I have been told, Randy was still acting as his own manager when he came out of retirement and renegotiated his contract. That’s right, you read it correctly. Randy is now upset with Zuffa over a contract that he negotiated for himself, complete with specific demands that Randy asked be included, which both parties agreed to.
According to Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports, Randy’s contract is likely to include a Retirement Clause which in effect, freezes his contract. It is in my opinion, almost as concrete as a cinder block that the folks at Zuffa would have included such language in the contract for a (then) 43 year old man who had already retired previously.
I’ve often wondered since this situation started, how does one resign from a contract? Sure, Randy can resign from the organization, but he is still legally bound to that company until he fulfills his contract. Zuffa obviously has the right to release him from his contract, but I doubt anyone is holding their breath waiting for that to happen. The talk around the MMA internet is that Randy is saying he’s free from the contract in nine months, but I highly doubt that is valid.
Just think about the difference between what Dana and Randy are calling it. Randy saying “resignation” gives the clear implication that he’s intending to fight somewhere else. Dana saying “retirement” is making it clear that he believes Randy will never fight again. This is based on the alleged “retirement clause” that is in Randy’s contract. If Randy agreed to four fights in a contract that he wrote up himself, and only fulfilled half of it, I wouldn’t expect to see him fighting anywhere else until he finished the contract out. Because if he attempts to, it is tremendously likely that an injuction will be filed not only against him but also the promotion that tries to secure his services.
And the contradictions coming out from Randy’s side of the fence are also equally annoying. Last week Randy said:
“You hear what other guys were paid (for) signing bonuses and what other guys were paid on the record and off the record with bonuses. I’ve heard Chuck’s numbers. Tito’s numbers. Hughes’ numbers. Quinton’s numbers. Cro Cop, Wanderlei. I heard what they were offering Fedor, and it’s insulting.”
Today I read his agent being quoted as saying:
“The money isn’t even the issue; it is just the final straw that, combined with other indications, showed him how the UFC appreciated what he’s brought to the sport, which is far more than just his success in the Octagon.”
The final straw? Well what the heck are the other straws? How big of a straw was the financial aspect? And while I’m asking questions, questions that I fully intend to get answers to, let me ask a few more.
Why is it that Randy has said it only makes sense for him to fight Fedor now, after only fulfilling two fights, even though he specifically negotiated a four fight contract?
What did Randy mean when he said he was tired of “swimming upstream with management” ?
And what’s with the huge descrepancy between the sources reporting Couture’s financial agreements with the UFC? One source says his contract is worth between $13-15 Million , while Randy says it’s $250,000 per fight in addition to guarantees on pay per view bonuses?
Well that’s one question I can venture an answer towards. His downside guarantee is $250,000. But those pay per view bonuses can get huge. I can’t say which one is totally correct, but would like people to remember that guarantees on PPV bonuses are also a guarantee to make millions. Go back up check out what Randy said above about “on the record” and “off the record” when it comes to payment. It is important.
This entire situation has a lot more under the covers than we can all see right now, but it should be rather apparent that Randy seems to intend to fight again. It should also be apparent that Dana isn’t going to allow that to happen unless it is in the UFC.
And I hate to tell people this, but if this gets dragged into court the probability of Randy being retired whether he likes it or not is very high. The man is 44 years old, and this kind of litigation could litterally take years. I for one am hopeful that by the time 2010 arrives I’m not interested in watching a 47 year old man try and compete against the very best in the world.
The story itself will probably have no solid conclusion, this week, next week or even nine months from now. Randy is going to need either Dana or a Judge to release him from his contract, and neither prospect looks promising as far as his continued competing in MMA is concerned.
I’m tired of it, and think that the very worst part of this entire situation is that we will lose the chance to have a Heavyweight Champion who got the belt by beating “Captain America”. That nickname drives me through the roof, but the reasons for that should be apparent with time forcing more details out of the muck.
In other news………there’s a UFC this weekend, and no one seems interested in talking about it.
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