Couture stuns MMA world with retirement:
With little interest at age 44 of fighting anyone other than the man regarded as the best mixed martial artist in the world, UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture announced his retirement Thursday.Couture, a five-time champion and UFC Hall of Famer, had hoped to land a bout with Fedor Emelianenko, the top-rated fighter in the Yahoo! Sports MMA poll of the world’s best fighters.
But when reports surfaced Wednesday that Emelianenko had spurned the UFC to sign with the Russian-based M-1 Mix Fight organization, Couture opted to retire. The story was broken by Brian Knapp of The Fight Network, which has a business relationship with Couture.
“I’m tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC,” Couture told Knapp. “It only makes sense at this point in my career to fight Fedor Emelianenko, and since he’s now signed with another organization, I feel like it’s time to resign and focus on my other endeavors.”
Now, Dana White’s reaction could determine MMA’s future:
White blamed what’s becoming his personal whipping boy – MMA web sites and forums – for spreading phony rumors about fighter pay. Couture, who is in South Africa filming a movie and couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, released a statement in which he said he was retiring because the UFC didn’t sign Fedor Emelianenko and no other fight mattered to him.He also said he was upset with UFC management for what he believed was low pay. He made that point in a breakfast meeting last month with White and UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta.
“He felt he was not getting paid as much as Mirko Cro Cop, as much as this guy and as much as that guy,” White said. “We told him he was our second-highest paid fighter, but he didn’t believe us. Chuck’s the only guy who makes more, but he kept hearing all these rumors and he wouldn’t believe us.”
White then launched into a tirade against what he called “the rumor mongerers on the Internet,” whom he said are, “the lowest of the low.”
He said fighters read those sites and believe them to be true, causing friction at the negotiating table.
“This business is like a beauty salon,” he said. “These guys are all the toughest guys in the world, but they’re like (expletives) in a beauty salon. They pass along rumors and gossip, which has no basis in reality and they believe all the (rumors) they hear. The Internet is very powerful and one of the best promotional tools we have, but it’s a crazy place.
“They hear these rumors and they believe them and then they get insulted like (expletives) after we try to talk reality with them. They’ll say, ‘Well, this guy is getting this much,’ but when I ask where they heard it, it’s never a contract, it’s always, ‘I read it on the Internet.’ It’s crazy.”
Of course, to me, the real story is still that MMA [mixed martial arts] is getting MSM [mainstream media] coverage.
Addendum: On that note, ESPN has an interview with Randy, who’s in South Africa, filming on location, right now.