Posts with the tag "Randy Couture"

I was reading this article yesterday when I ran across this tidbit.

All UFC contracts have a championship clause, which ties the fighter with the company as long as they hold a company title unless they retire as champion.

This was a surprise to me and it got me thinking about some of the recent contract disputes. Previously, I was under the impression that the UFC wouldn't give a fighter a title shot if they only had one fight remaining on their contract. This would assure that they would stay under contract at least to defend their title.

With the championship clause, I would think that the UFC wouldn't care if a fighter only has one fight left on their contract. The reason being is that they would be bound to the organization as long as they are the title holder. Am I missing something here? What the hell was Randy Coutre thinking when he left the organization? I guess I will have to dig further on this one...

Just when you think you have seen it all, Randy Coutrue will fight again in the UFC. After a year of legal hassling, it seems both sides agree the best result is to have Couture fight again in the UFC. To me, this is a clear win for the UFC who was right in the first place.

Interestingly, the big winner in the whole ordeal is Brock Lesnar. He gets a title shot probably one or two wins earlier than he would have otherwise. On the other hand, he has to fight a legend and a fighter that knows how to execute a game plan.

Maybe the big winner isn't Brock Lesnar, but its the fans. We are treated to a very marketable fight and potentially two future fights from Randy Couture. To say the least, this is a very exciting announcement.

What the hell happened to Randy Couture? How does one go from favorite UFC fighter to an outcast to the MMA community? For me it all started with the tiff he had with UFC management over a singing bonus. The UFC held a press conference and proved their point to me, strike one.

Next came the holdout and "retirement" from the UFC. OK, not the biggest deal. The UFC didn't land Fedor, so he had nothing left to prove. The problem for me was that he wanted out of UFC contract to fight Fedor. The UFC had given him an instant title shot and a title defense fight and then he wanted out of his contract, strike two.

Finally, I am reading MMAJunkie today and I see this quote from Randy Couture, "The Best Fighters Have to Be Allowed to Fight Each Other." Randy goes on to say something about losing the trust of the fans when the best fighters aren't allowed to fight each other. Sure, the fans want to see the best fighters and that's why they watch the UFC because 95% of the best fighters are there.

So who is Randy hurting the most with his holdout? The fans like me who want to see him fight even if it isn't Fedor. Come on Randy, do what's right and fight Nogueira.