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UFC to Randy Couture -- Pants on Fire!

Posted Jan 16th 2008 11:45AM by TMZ Staff

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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31. Dana White doe snot own the UFC, it is owned by Zuffa. He was a VP of Zuffa then President. He was Chuck Liddell's original manager, gee and you wonder why Chuck gets promoted so heavy and makes a ton more money the Randy. They lies about it.

Born in Manchester, Conn., White is a fierce Boston Red Sox fan. During an often troubled youth, he bounced back and forth between Las Vegas and Maine. He tried college for two years in Boston but didn't finish. He got himself on track there, however, by launching a boxing program for inner-city kids. Back in Las Vegas, he founded the sports management firm Dana White Enterprises in 1992 and still owns three boxing gyms.

As a manager and trainer for pro boxers and UFC fighters such as Chuck Liddell, White often found himself negotiating with the freewheeling original owners of UFC, which they founded in 1993. When they were ready to sell, White enlisted friends and Las Vegas-based Station Casinos executives Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III to buy UFC in January 2001. They would not disclose the price for the league, which now is privately held by Zuffa (Italian for a "scrap"). White owns 10%; the Fertittas hold the rest.

Posted at 1:32PM on Jan 17th 2008 by Todd

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