Big infusion of capital? American debut? Josh Barnet maybe?
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Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. -- Sidney J. Harris
Perhaps part of the deal in getting Fedor is that Zuffa would buy M-1 (owned by Fedor's manager) and thus get a foothold in Russia and S. Korea. Fedor & his manager get a few mill in the bank & Dana continues his march toward world domination - someone save us!
Or it may mean Mark Cuban is in the house.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
Randy Couture has resigned from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Not only has he relinquished his heavyweight title, he will also no longer be providing on-air fight analysis for the mixed martial arts juggernaut.
MMAWeekly on Thursday confirmed the resignation, first reported by The Fight Network’s Brian Knapp, through both Sean O’Heir and Valerie Haney, representatives of Couture’s Las Vegas-based Xtreme Couture training facility.
The focal point of his resignation appears to be the reports that Fedor Emelianenko, highly regarded as the No. 1 heavyweight fighter in the world, has agreed to forgo offers from the UFC and fight elsewhere.
A statement released by Haney, Couture’s personal assistant, read, “Fedor Emelianenko was Randy's last great challenge and with that prospect gone, he feels he's accomplished all that he can in mixed martial arts.”
Although indications are that he would still remain active in MMA in some capacity, Haney also said, “… it was a matter of respect and Randy felt the need to move on.”
According to Knapp, Couture stated, “I’m tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC.”
This obviously comes as a surprise considering that UFC president Dana White was fielding questions from the media earlier in the day about the possibility of Brandon Vera and Tim Sylvia’s fight in Cincinnati being a possible elimination bout for a shot at Couture’s belt.
Haney said that Couture “is very excited to embark on a promising career in acting” and that “he’s currently shooting a lead role in Universal’s ‘The Scorpion King – The Rise of the Akkadian’ in South Africa and has more offers on the table.”
Representatives of the UFC had not returned requests for comment at the time of publication.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
Just saw the same article on Sherdog, interesting.
I thought about Cuban, but he just started a new MMA deal. wouldn't think he would try to overlaod the wagon till he learned how to pull it. But you never know.
Rumour was this morning that it might possibly be Shane McMahon of WWE!
The news about Randy is unbelievable. As soon as I heard about that the first thing that entered my mind was that M-1 needs to sign Randy if it's at all possible and make that fight happen. I don't think Zuffa bought M-1 because if they did then I doubt Randy would've retired because that would make his fight with Fedor very likely and I'm sure they would've told him about it considering what happened today.
I can picture Mark Cuban buying M-1. That was the first guy that came to mind yesterday but who knows.
Please don't let it be Shane McMahon. That just seems like it would carry too much of a negative connotation with it. lol
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"Is there no standard anymore?" - Walk, Pantera
But Couture said it was a lack of respect by the UFC, in particular its president Dana White, that led him to resigning.
"I think the final straw for me was meeting with Dana and Lorenzo (Fertitta, UFC co-owner) where they claimed I was the No. 2 paid athlete in the organization, which I know is a bold-faced lie," Couture said. Polling other athletes, said Couture, he learned that his compensation -- some $250,000 a fight with pay-per-view bonuses, according to the Couture camp -- was nowhere near what other top UFC fighters were making.
"All us athletes are all pretty tightly intertwined," he said. "You hear what other guys were paid 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."
Dana's greed has thus far prevented how many good fights and forced who knows how many fighters to have to keep full-time jobs while Mr. "its good to be" White has bought mansions in Newport & Vegas and a fleet of Ferraris.
I'm happy to see a high profile fighter stand up to the UFC's bullshit.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
I definitely agree with that. I think we've gotten to a point where Dana's lying, greed and ego are detrimental to many of the fighters and the fans. But you know there are guys that think Dana White is the MMA god and hate it when people criticize him, even if he deserves it.
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"Is there no standard anymore?" - Walk, Pantera
Dana says if Randy vcomes out of retirement he is still under contract to him...how tight is that? Is it simply a matter of a buy out clause? Or is there no chance of Randy going to M1?
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Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. -- Sidney J. Harris
I highly doubt Dana would let Randy fight in another organization ever. Maybe this will be a wake up call to Dana and the UFC, and they will start giving the fighters the money they deserve.
Dana says if Randy vcomes out of retirement he is still under contract to him...how tight is that? Is it simply a matter of a buy out clause? Or is there no chance of Randy going to M1?
From the news about it the situation seems to be that Randy's contract was on a fight-by-fight basis but if he doesn't fight or retires he has a 9-month no compete clause. So he can leave the UFC but he can't fight in another organization for 9 months. So if Randy wants to, M-1 could put the fight together before this time next year.
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"Is there no standard anymore?" - Walk, Pantera
Fedor Rumor
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