UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture has cut ties with Ultimate Fighting Championship, his Las Vegas spokesman said on Thursday, according to Yahoo’s Kevin Iole.
Spokesman Sean O’Heir of Couture’s Xtreme Couture MMA said Thursday that the 44-year-old champ had vacated his championship and resigned as an analyst on UFC PPV shows.
Iole says that Couture wanted a fight with Fedor Emelianenko, but that UFC and Emelianenko didn’t come to terms, and the Russian signed with a new promotional outfir, M-1.
“He was disappointed when he couldn’t get a fight with Fedor,” O’Heir said. “That would have been his legacy fight.”
The story was first reported by Brian Knapp of The Fight Network, which has a business relationship with Couture, Iole states.
Dana White commented on the move: ““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.â€?
My guess: the pot will get sweetened for Couture, money-wise, and he and UFC will kiss and make up.
who cares, mma has got me bored for some reason, its still a bunch off bobo dudes who could not make it in boxing or kickboxing. id like to see 1 mma fighter go 12 rounds with just a b fighter in boxing it would be funny!
This last weekend’s Diaz vs Diaz fight was a lot more exciting then any MMA fight I have seen in the last six months