UFC to Randy Couture -- Pants on Fire!

16. Ok, first off do any of you have a clue. Any MMA knowledge at all? First off, he is not a wrestler, secondly he would of murdered Brock Lesnar, no contest. The biggest reason is the stranglehold that the Fertittas and White have on the US MMA Market. The UFC was unable to come to terms with the man considered the best, Fedor. With Couture's age and everything involved, Fedor was the only fight left for Couture and when ego's and crap got in the way of making that fight he got pissed and started exposing some of the things that go on behind the scene. Was it right, who knows, but do us all a favor Dana, back off and let this fight happen, it will be history for sure.

Posted at 12:55PM on Jan 16th 2008 by ORANGEPITBULL

17. When your the Champ and they offer a fighter more money then you make to come to the UFC and fight you something is wrong. Dana is a spoiled brat who lucked up by having some rich friends, he don't care about the fighters , He cares about the dollar. Randy is First class as a fighter and person. All of ya'll who trust Dana you need to open your eyes.

Posted at 4:26PM on Jan 16th 2008 by Balfoe

18. I agree with most of the post, but also there's something Randy must understand; He is not the main attraction on the company!

There are at least 5 fighters who attract more fans and are better draws. Also, people bash Dana White, but he is the one responsible for us having an alternative for freaking pro wrestling and lame boxing.

Posted at 1:29PM on Jan 16th 2008 by El orgullo de Ancones

19. The UFC and Dana white have never “opened the Books” as claimed. They held a news conference and made outlandish claims about paying randy and other fighters. But to date no opening of the books. In fact the claims made have all but one shown to be false.

Dana White has issues, serious issues. What White hates for anyone to point out is that the UFC is not like any other sports authority. Not the NFL not the NBA not even Boxing. In those sports the teams are owned and players are owned by individual owners for themselves.

In the UFC everyone is owned by the UFC. They can “fix” matches and fights anyway they want to. Sources close to the UFC have made statement and changes that fights are fix to include who fights who there are serious ramifications.

When both fighters are owned by the same company, the company can do what ever they want to. Fight fixing, illegal betting on their own fighters is widely spoken of but never made public for fear of further investigation and scrutiny. For note it is illegal for betting to take place in this manner.

Think of the last 10 fights that you have watched and then think of the strange or unbelievable outcome.

Now pair this with Randy’s situation. The UFC would never allow anyone outside the UFC to fight in a regular match against their fighters. Such as boxing does. They have no control of the fight and no control of the outcome.

Dana White is a control freak and if he cannot have it his way he takes his ball and goes home. What Dana forgot or opened up with their latest civil action is now all the UFC financial records will be come public record. Why because they will be subpoenaed in discover. So no more control for Dana.

Posted at 1:36PM on Jan 16th 2008 by Todd

20. Dana White could not get Fedor for his next fight, that is when it all started to unravel.

Posted at 1:56PM on Jan 16th 2008 by The main event

21. Dana White is the Vince McMahon of MMA.

Posted at 3:43PM on Jan 16th 2008 by The main event

22. 1:29PM - "El orgullo de Ancones"

If you can name five fighters who attract more fans and are better draws than Couture, I'd love to hear them. Any fan with more than a passing knowledge in the business side of MMA knows that Chuck Liddell is the only more recognizeable fighter and bigger gate and buyrate draw than Randy. There are others that typically draw well, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hughes, Rich Franklin, but none of them approach the stratosphere of Liddell and Couture.

Posted at 8:12PM on Jan 16th 2008 by Greg G

23. Todd,

Where is all the proof bitch. You have to look at it from a business point of view. Dana will not allow his fighters to fight outside of the UFC because it is good for his business and fans. He wants the UFC to be the most exciting MMA organization out there. Why would he want the IFL to show matches with his fighters? If he did, it would improve the fan base for the IFL. Think about it from a business owners point of view. Also, where the hell are your facts about Dana not opening up the books. They made them public.

I like Randy Couture a lot. The fact of the matter is that he is under contract. You just can't decide to ignore that like Randy did. If that was legal there would be no meaning for a contract (If you could just break them). I wish people would stop talking crap and spreading lies that they have no proof for. Randy rules and I hope he will fight again in the UFC. But Rules are Rules and Randy violated his contract.

Posted at 3:07PM on Jan 16th 2008 by Todd is full of it

24. Here are your 5 names that I think draws as much attention as Courture. 1. Chuck Liddell 2.Forrest Griffith 3. Matt Hues 4. Matt Serra 5. Tito Ortiz 6. George St. Pierre 7. Rampage Jackson.

Posted at 3:40PM on Jan 16th 2008 by Emo

25. hey steveo

before you start posting NON-FACTUAL comments you might want to do your research.

1. randy couture is an OLYMPIC wrestler.. he would DESTROY lesnar!!!!
2. randy has been looking for a fight with fedor ever since coming out of his retirement. dana has been UNABLE to sign fedar with the UFC and that is when all of the problems started--- when fedor signed with m1.

SO GET YOUR F*CI

Posted at 4:03PM on Jan 16th 2008 by STEPH1127

26. I love Randy Couture, he is the reason along with Matt, Forest, and a few others that my wife and I even watch the UFC. He is a great guy and a GREAT great fighter. I think this all has gotten way out of hand. He and Dana need to sit back and let all this blow over and start from scratch. I really have no use for the UFC without him, He is like the father of the UFC. Dana is trying to be big headed and in this business you cant do that. He has had a bad attitude lately!!. And with Matt also probaly done that is 2 great fighters gone. UFC not looking so good. and I pay for EVRY pay per view that comes on and we were going to attend 2 fights this year, I guess we will have to see what happens.

Posted at 11:26AM on Jan 17th 2008 by MKJ

27. My previous comments struck a nerve with Dana. Looking at it simply, a boxer has their own management, they can fight for any sanctioned governing body. IBF, IBC WBC etc. They may sign with a management company that pays them to fight or for the purse.

In boxing no one entity owns the promotion company, the management company, the governing body, the fighters and schedules and makes the matches. The only group that does that is the UFC.

So Dana White wants to be the supreme authority in MMA, his little man complex drives his actions.

All other MMA Organizations (and that’s what they are organizations) promote fighters have their own styles and belts. But the big differences are their fighters can fight against other organizations fighters and in other tournaments .

Fact: The only other sport that runs like the UFC was the Professional Jai alai League. It ran in Florida and Las Vegas. And guess what happened. Since the same owners owned the fighters, made the matches, promoted the contests and ran everything they ended in a big betting scandal. If you own both sides in a contest and also own the refs and running it what’s to stop you.

Has there been talk of fight fixing in the UFC, of course. Does Dana White control everything, yes he doe sin the UFC. So next time you go to place a bet on the UFC you may want to think twice.

And Dana is like Vince of the WWE except the WWE wrestler get paid as sports performers and UFC fighters are pimped out for amounts that dana sets. Do what Dana says or you family does not eat.

Posted at 6:22PM on Jan 16th 2008 by Todd

28. I agree with 15, no matter what happens this will be history in the making on many levels for MMA fans and those who are catching on to the sport. Fedor signed the right kind of contract which allows him to fight representing his crew in any contest, unlike UFC which locks their fighters in without wiggle room.

UFC should come to terms that Randy deserves to fight Fedor for the fans and forget the MONEY issues already. The UFC will make their money back off that fight and Randy and the WORLD will get what they want.

COME ON DANA, DROP THE MACHO BALD HEAD ATTITUDE ALREADY! YOUR ONLY MAKING YOURSELF SEEM LIKE THE JERK YOU TELL PEOPLE YOUR NOT!

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THEN WORDS AND YOU ARE TALKING TOO MUCH THESE DAYS

Posted at 7:34PM on Jan 16th 2008 by jay

29. Hey STEPH1127

Couture was a wrestler in college but never made it to the Olympics. So I think the term "Olympic wrestler" is pushing it a bit.

Posted at 8:01PM on Jan 16th 2008 by Fightfan2010

30. El orgullo de Ancones,

Dana White is not the creator of the UFC, by any means. It was around a long time before he bought it, and many of us have been watching since back when Ultimate Fighting meant just that: no holds barred, no stopping unless someone was tapping or dying, ass-kicking fights.

Dana has done good things, but also bad, for the sport. And Randy Couture has made him a hell of a lot more money than he's been paid. That said, if he has a contract, he can't go with the competition for a year. That seems pretty clear-cut.

Posted at 9:27AM on Jan 17th 2008 by LongTimeFan