Mr. Couture, How Could You?!
By Brandt DeLorenzo on Aug 30, 2008
After all this time. All of the court hearings and help from Mark Cuban. All of this talk of Mr. America finally being free from the clutches of the evil Dana White and Zuffa. Randy Couture once told everyone that they treated him poorly, lied to his face about how much he made, and sometimes didn’t even pay him the Pay Per View revenue that he deserved.
But I won’t lie – I’d be happy to see Randy Couture fight some more heavyweight competition in the octagon. I’m just a tad confused as to why he went running back to White after more money and a new contract was put on the table. I thought Couture decide to leave the UFC and “resign” from the UFC because of respect and treatment issues? Wasn’t it always about self-respect? It was never about the money, right? Why sign this new contract for more fights with the same people and go from two fights to three?
I even went out and said that Couture should not have left any company for “money issues” back in October of 2007, 10 months ago, but yet it seems that money was really the issue. Or perhaps maybe Couture knew that acting wasn’t his strongest suit as The Scorpion King 2 is not exactly making the critics sing praise. He is still planning to play a role in upcoming films “Command and Conquer” and “Mandrake” which are scheduled for filming in ’08 and ’09 yet. And we’ll see if this turns into another Gina Carano situation – too much film time and not enough training time (or in her case, weight cutting time). Either way, I hope once all is said and done that Couture explains the reasoning behind why he decided to return, if he does.
There’s really not much else to say about the situation. I hope Couture is treated fairly in his eyes if he does return to fight a very large and formidable Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 in Portland Oregon. I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t surprised when I read the article from a member of the MixedMartialArts.com UG forum when he broke the rumor on Wednesday (a day before anyone else on the web). And I won’t say that I think he’ll easily beat a much larger, stronger, and hungrier Brock Lesnar. But I will say, welcome back Randy Couture…and please make sure that Fedor Emelianenko is one of your three opponents. I mean, you were just rolling around with him and hugging him recently.
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Brandt, I’m a little surprised at this article.
Not at the smashing of Randy Couture for denying us fights to release an absolutely terrible straight-to-video film.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that Brock Lesnar is going to be much of an opponent. Lesnar may give him an issue in the wrestling department, but he’ll be severely outclasses standing up, and I think that’s a serious issue.
Still, we’ll see how it goes.
There are also reports of Couture vs Emelianenko in January 2009. I believe it when Randy steps in the Octagon or Ring against either opponent.
Brock has a serious wing span to contend with. I would imagine that being a tremendous fight card.
Dana White is smiling and grinning. Whether or not Randy fights in a future UFC card, they really don’t need him. There are a number of upcoming, unknown great fighters that can equally put on a great show, and they already are doing it.
I would also say, the other weight classes offer more exciting match-ups and tougher competition. Just think about the last couple of heavyweight fights compared to the LHW division or the LW division. And I think the MW division is on the rise. Besides BJ Penn is doing his part to respectfully hype up his upcoming match.
It was about both money and respect, and Randy always said so. In fact, the main reason that Randy felt disrespected by the UFC was because certain fighters with less of a history with the organization were purportedly making higher salaries. There was also the rumor that Fedor had been offered more during negotiations with the UFC.
So, it really was about money at the core. The respect issue developed from that.
Fred: good point. Maybe Lorenzo had some influence as well. I doubt Randy wants to deal with solely Dana these days.
I really think Dana White dispelled all rumors or issues concerning exactly how much Randy Couture was paid. Not to mention his name value has increased in large part due to the UFC and the quick opportunity to fight for the belt (although that was a win-win situation). And let’s not forget that Randy was offered a straight cool ONE million to fight Fedor with Bodog.*
Whatever happens, it will be really interesting to see the upcoming Randy contests. Randy vs. (Brock, Fedor and possibly Nogueira). It looks like UFC defeats Randy Couture via technical legal submission. An issue of respect? I don’t know about that. But I think money will play a huge part in any fighters decision. HOPEFULLY, I pray that Jardine’s next contract is bigger than it currently is, he definitely paid his dues and deserves it . . . too bad he’s not a huge draw.
Don’t be surprised if Tito Ortiz enters the octagon late 2008 or early 2009.
Well, what can you say. I guess the only thing it means for all of us is that it will take another N years for us to wait for Randy’s fight against Fedor. With Dana being a bitch he is I’m sure this fight will never happen inside the octagon. So it means we’re bound to wait ’till Randy’s done fighting for UFC, which can mean A LOT. With bad news about Affliction coming lately who knows whether at the time they’re ready there’s an organization to host their fight besides UFC?