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Celebrity Justice1/16/2008 1:45 PM PST BY TMZ STAFF
UFC to Randy Couture -- Pants on Fire!

UFC Heavyweight champ Randy Couture is being sued by the organization that crowned him king.
Read the lawsuit
According to the lawsuit filed Monday in Clark County District Court in Nevada, Zuffa (the company which owns the UFC) alleges Couture lied about his dealings with the UFC and violated his contract after resigning last October. In spite of his resignation, the UFC website still lists Couture as the champ. The UFC claims Couture lied when he gave interviews claiming he was not paid a signing bonus, that fighters were paid bonuses "under the table" and that the UFC treated him and other athletes in "a disrespectful, shabby and unprofessional manner."

The UFC also alleges Couture violated his contract by announcing in January he would sponsor and promote a team in the International Fighting League -- a UFC competitor -- in spite of the fact that his contract forbade him from working with the competition for one year after from his UFC termination date.

The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $50,000. Reps for Couture had no comment.

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Reader Comments

(Page 1 of 3) | 1 | 2 | 3 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments
1.

RedFox:  1427 days ago

Very many thanks for a good work. Nice and useful. Like it!

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2.

scyren:  1488 days ago

that sucks

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3.

STEPH1127:  1488 days ago

this is so disappointing.... randy used to be my favorite fighter!!

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4.

Party 'till you die!:  1488 days ago

He got screwed by the UFC! Why else would he leave suddenly while champ? He's so pissed he won't even talk about it in interviews yet!

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5.

Ooooo Noooo!:  1488 days ago

The wrestling game is much like the old southern share croppers or coal miners who "owe my soul to the company store" to quote Ernie. Step out of line, and they not only toss you aside but make sure you'll never work again as a wrestler.

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6.

Hunter:  1488 days ago

Couture is the MAN!! Dana needs to listen

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7.

Yevrah Enivel:  1488 days ago

Dana White is a White Don King

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8.

sgv21:  1488 days ago

He didn't want to fight that one big ass mo-fo, that's why he left the ufc. You know that dude that was a wwe wrestler. Brock Lesnar.

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9.

Chris:  1488 days ago

The UFC actually held a press conference "opening the books" and fully disclosed all the money that was paid to Randy and the dates he was paid. They are a legitmitate company that has made Randy who is he so he can make more money now out of the ring than in it. He called them to come back out of retirement to fight and got into a silly argument over compensation as well as was misguided by his NEW shady manager and thats why he left the UFC., the company that made him famous. Randy, who I love, is wrong and hes lucky the UFC isnt suing him for more.

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10.

Merry Christmas:  1488 days ago

He can just pay them in roid capsules.

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11.

Shirley Jones:  1488 days ago

I love Randy too but there is two sides to this story and I don't think that Dana has done anything wrong. Randy signed a contract and now doesn't like that contract because he thinks he could have gotten more. He did receive bonuses and they have the canceled checks to prove it. I think it sucks and as fans we are stuck in the middle but, Randy has made some mistakes with what he has said publicly.

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12.

Chris:  1488 days ago

Randy Couture got a new high profile hollywood agent. His new agent misled him and was advising him that he was underpaid. Problem is that Randy Couture cashed all the cheques the UFC was giving him, totaling close to 2 million. Randy was claiming he was only paid 400K. Either Randy is horrible at math or he is a snake and his new agent is helping him look like an idiot. Honestly I hate Dana White but the UFC made the financial records and pay records for Rany Couture public just so everyone could see what an idiot he was being. I believed Rany at first since he has always seemed to be honorable and genuine but then when you look at the evidence he is full of it.

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13.

kelly:  1488 days ago

Well that all sucks, but if it means I new title fight bye Randy. I mean he's the best clearly, but I always like to see a new title fight. And don't bash Dana. he's cool. Stuff like this just happens. I'm sure whatever the details are, Dana tried to work with Randy before things got to this level.

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14.

Bill Smoke:  1488 days ago

Randy was pissed some of the other "top" performers were getting more money then he was. He asked for a raise and they said no. So he wuit. He has every right to quit. They cant force him to fight. But he knew when he quit he had to honor the one year agreement not to fight or promote with any other league. Regardless of how he was treated by UFC, right or wrong, I have no idea. The only thing I know for sure is Randy knew the deal when he quit the UFC and violated it anyway. He could make a huge payday fighting the russian stiff who is managed by the shady russians in K1. UFC cant get the russian to come to the UFC, so Randy can get a huge payday going to them. We shall see how it unfolds.

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15.

jody:  1488 days ago

11:52AM i have yo correct you,

Randy Couture is NOT a wrestler.

and this sucks big time. i just saw him on 12/29/07 at Mohegan for an IFL GRAND PRIX FINALS pay-per view and he didn't give any interviews.

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