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Couture Returns to UFC; Fights Lesnar in Nov.

Sep 2, 2008 4:29 PM John Chandler


Randy Couture. Photo property of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Randy Couture has returned to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

After a year-long feud between Couture and the UFC saw both sides battle it out in court and in the media, UFC President Dana White announced today that the promotion has inked Couture to a new multi-fight deal that will have him take on former professional wrestler and upstart contender Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 on November 15.

The mega-fight will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas instead of Portland, Oregon’s Rose Garden as previously expected and will be for Couture’s UFC heavyweight title.

“We’ve had problems with Randy over the last few months, but we’ve resolved them all,” White said on a media conference call this afternoon. “Randy has always been our heavyweight champion. We can basically put on fights that fans want to see now. Mark my words, Couture vs. Lesnar will be the biggest fight in UFC history.”

“I never hated Randy. I never said anything really bad about Randy. I called him confused I think, which is pretty mild for me. All I right about is Randy being back and fighting”

Couture’s fight with Lesnar will now be part of a “heavyweight tournament” according to White. Either Couture or Lesnar will fight the winner of a planned interim championship bout between current interim title holder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former champion Frank Mir on December 27.

Despite Lesnar’s lack of experience, Couture still believes that he will be a dangerous opponent and is taking the fight very seriously.

“I haven’t looked at the tape yet on him,” Couture said. I’ve been off [fighting for a long time] before and I’ve been very active the last nine, ten months [training-wise]. I can’t overlook someone as big as Brock. I’m going to take this fight very, very seriously.”

As part of the UFC’s new agreement with Couture, they will also attempt to have him fight perennial heavyweight king Fedor Emelianenko at some point next year.

Emelianenko is currently under contract to Affliction Entertainment, a popular clothing company turned promotional company that the UFC has waged an unofficial war with since their inception earlier this year. However White remains optimistic that he may be able to work out a compromise to fulfill Couture’s dream.

“We’re going do everything in our power to make that fight happen,” White said. “Fedor is under another contract right now to another promotion [Affliction] and if we can work it out with them, we will. But we’re not going to screw around with another contract.”

“We’ll offer him a fair deal, but his current contract is going to be the biggest obstacle”

White added though that he didn’t expect Affliction to survive another year, potentially fueling speculation that the UFC may instead wait for Emelianenko’s contract with the company to expire before attempting to sign him.

“These guys are dying on the vine,” White said. “I’ll be horrified if they survive until January. They are losing loads of money. When you’re losing the kind of money Affliction is losing, you’re going to have to sell a lot of t-shirts.”

As part of their new deal, the UFC has agreed to drop all remaining lawsuits against Couture. However the UFC’s current legal battle with HDNet Fights founder Mark Cuban may continue.

Cuban requested a declaratory judgment concerning Couture’s contract with the UFC after the two reportedly entered into an agreement together. However the UFC was able to have the request denied.

The UFC also filed a defamation suit against Couture in January, citing a breach of contract due to negative comments made about the promotion after the International Fight League attempted to use the name of Couture’s training facility as a league team this past winter.

Couture resigned from the UFC last October, citing irreparable differences between the two sides and dissatisfaction with his salary and treatment.

Couture believed that his promotional contract with the company ended on July 19 and his employment contract, of which Couture did television commentary and promotional appearances, was to expire on October 11. The UFC contended that Couture’s interpretation was wrong and that he still owed the organization two more fights.

“I think a lot of compromises were made on both sides,” Couture said, “We’re both ready to try and move forward. We’ve cleared the air and we’re both in different places than we were a year ago. Sitting [out] last year in legal fights was not something I enjoyed. I’d rather fight in the Octagon than anywhere else.”

Couture became the UFC’s first multi-division champion when he defeated Chuck Liddell and then Tito Ortiz in consecutive fights to claim the UFC light heavyweight title in 2003.

After briefly retiring following two straight knockout losses to Liddell, Couture returned to active competiton last year and won a unanimous decision over Tim Sylvia to once again claim the UFC heavyweight title.

Personalities • Dana White • Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira • Brock Lesnar • Fedor Emelianenko • Frank Mir • Randy Couture • Affliction • UFC • Heavyweight

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Comments:

1. Jamie Fitzgerald
Sep 2, 2008 4:34 PM

Lesnar for the title… /vomit

2. John Chandler
from Philadelphia, PA
Sep 2, 2008 4:46 PM

Shame that they couldn’t fix things with Randy before setting up Nog vs. Mir.

3. Bill Reger
from New York
Sep 2, 2008 4:54 PM

Agreed.  There’s little argument for Lesnar deserving a title shot.  But we have to look at this way.  If he’s not good enough to be champ, he won’t get by Randy and Nog/Mir. 

I personally would have made it a non title affair.  Make the claim that Randy needs to shake off the rust.  Randy then fights the winner of Nog/Mir for the title.  And if Lesnar beat Randy to begin with and Randy wins the championship from Nog/Mir, it sets up a rematch for the belt.  Sorta like when Gomi was choked out by Aurelio.

4. favod
Sep 2, 2008 4:54 PM

go LESNAR!!!, make wwe prod, and yourself!!!
brock 4 da title!

5. John Chandler
from Philadelphia, PA
Sep 2, 2008 5:13 PM

The old PRIDE way of mixing championship defenses with non-title bouts is practical in keeping champions active while developing contenders, but I don’t think it would go well with fans on this side of the world. Lesnar beating the champion but not getting the title is kind of lame, even though I don’t want to see him with the belt at all.

6. Bill Reger
from New York
Sep 2, 2008 7:21 PM

I agree that fans would not take well to a non-title bout.  But they are going to be just as pissed (already are in the forums) that Lesnar is getting a shot at the title with just 3 pro fights and a 2-1 record.

7. John Chandler
from Philadelphia, PA
Sep 2, 2008 8:03 PM

Agreed. It’s a shitty situation. It would make more sense to have Randy wait for the winner of Mir/Nogueira but I highly doubt he wants to sit on the sidelines any longer after being out of action for an entire year.

8. craig o
Sep 2, 2008 8:04 PM

well i don’t like lesnar at all but buisness wise it makes alot of sense, $$$$.  Nobody but Fedor would draw more $$.

well it’s just good to have Randy back where he belongs.

9. Anon
from USA
Sep 2, 2008 8:07 PM

I’m trying to think of it like a 4-man tournament for the title. If Lesnar unifies the belts, can you honestly say he doesn’t deserve it? Going through Couture and likely Nog is no mean feat. You can argue all day that Werdum might deserve the SHOT more than Lesnar, but IF Lesnar wins he definitely deserves it. If Lesnar loses, shit happens. When it’s all said and done, the person that deserves the belt is going to be standing on top and nobody else, so I see no reason to be upset about it.

10. John Chandler
from Philadelphia, PA
Sep 2, 2008 8:11 PM

Craig - You really think that Fedor would draw more money than Lesnar? I don’t to be honest. Sure, it’s a matchup that many have heard about and want, but he still doesn’t have as much drawing power as Lesnar does.

Anon - Dana White referred to it as a tournament as well. If Lesnar somehow beats Couture and then Mir or Nogueira, there’s no doubt that everyone will have to give him respect. I actually forgot all about Werdum when thinking about who could have fought in Lesnar’s place, but I’m assuming that this fight is being put together for a couple of reasons - to get back in Randy’s good graces and because Randy wants to get paid.

11. craig o
Sep 3, 2008 12:31 PM

yeah John actually i don’t belive my sentce either…lol.  Lesnar would out draw Fedor, but more true fans would want to see fedor.  i think what i meant to say was; the only fight that would out draw fedor/randy would be lesnar/randy… well, that’s what i belived at least…

12. Mark Foster
from Alberta, Canada
Sep 3, 2008 1:51 PM

Hopefully Randy destroys this Brock guy, yes he was an all time wrestler but he’s no MMA fighter. Judging by his last fights, yes he’s big but that’s it a champion fight already please? This guy does not deserve to be in the same ring with Randy. Does Brock realize who he’s up against, WWE is not UFC it’ll be interesting to see when Brock gets punched how he reacts to a broken nose. That’s my two cents.

13. TimL
Sep 3, 2008 5:50 PM

I honestly like Brock.  He is unpolished but a physically amazing specimen.  With some good coaching and a few more fights the guy has the potential to reign as the champ for quite a few years/fights.

Yes he lost to Frank… but that was obviously due to his lack of experience.  He had Mir on his back getting smashed in the face.  When the fight was done if you asked some guy who didn’t watch the fight “Who do you think won?” they would point at Lesner.

The fight I am really sad did not happen is Arlovski vs Fedor… I really think Arlovski would have crushed him.

14. ChadS
from Michigan
Sep 4, 2008 12:29 AM

I wish Randy would of just stuck it out for 1 more fight with Nogueira so we wouldnt have all this circle jerk controversy, but I guess it builds more debates which in turn may help cash flow. But I think bringing Randy back in and making this Randy / Lesnar fight so big is a slap in Nogs face and I know it will be Nog facing 1 of those 2 no doubt and i hope its Randy. Lets see how Randy pairs against Nog before even bringing Fedor into play since Nog is one of the few people that stood with Fedor until a judges decision aside from crocop and Nog arm barred him…Nogs is dismissed entirely too much when Randy is spoke of, he should be getting much more credit then what he is.

15. Anon
from USA
Sep 4, 2008 10:03 AM

Nothing really changes for Nog. No matter what happened, he would have fought Mir for the interm belt. Regardless of what Couture did, his next match would still be a unification bout. Nog wins either way if he makes it past Mir. He either gets his match with Couture, or Lesnar wins and, in my opinion, Nog gets to fight someone he’s more likely to beat. Either way, if Nog wins, he’s definitely going to be recognized for knocking either one off.
Like I said, whoever deserves to come out on top will be in the end.

16. Bert
from Alberta, Canada
Sep 4, 2008 3:48 PM

I have to say that I am a bit worried about the b.s. that I am seeing with the UFC….

For starters, Lesnar should not get a title shot at this point in his MMA career…period…he hasn’t earned it! Being in the WWE is actually a bad thing and doesn’t count for squat in MMA! He should have to fight at least two or three more times to earn his place in the pecking order.

Next, I thought Randy was trying to stop the bullshit…to help the up and comers in the UFC….now he is part of the problem! As long as he got his contract upgraded, all is well again?

Third….if I was Nogueira, I would be pissed!!! He is currently the “Interim” champ, so he should get the first shot at Randy….not that big slab of meat!!
If Randy needs a tune up match, then fighting Lesnar should be a non-title match.

I have to say that the current scenario stinks….there is something very rotten in the UFC….I’m sure that I am not the only one who smells it!!

17. Guest
Sep 10, 2008 4:36 PM

Crap! Hopefully there still will be worthy organizations around once he’s done with his UFC contract and will get around to fighting Fedor. And, hopefully, we won’t grow old waiting for it to happen :(

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