Couture stuns MMA world with retirement Heavyweight champion Randy Couture has severed ties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, his Las Vegas spokesman said on Thursday. Spokesman Sean O'Heir of Couture's Xtreme Couture MMA said Thursday that the UFC Hall of Famer had vacated his championship and resigned as an analyst on UFC television broadcasts. O'Heir said Couture was hoping for a fight to be made against Fedor Emelianenko, who is the top-ranked mixed martial artist in the Yahoo! Sports poll. Reports surfaced Tuesday that Emelianenko had signed with a new promoter, M-1. "He was disappointed when he couldn't get a fight with Fedor," O'Heir said. "That would have been his legacy fight." The story was first reported by Brian Knapp of The Fight Network, which has a business relationship with Couture. Loretta Hunt, its managing editor of MMA news content, is writing Couture’s biography, and Couture frequently appears on the network. UFC president Dana White released a statement Thursday in which he said he was not surprised by Couture's announcement. He left the door open for Couture to fight again in the UFC as he remains under contract. “I’m not surprised at all by Randy’s decision," White said. "I talked to Randy several weeks ago and he said that if he couldn’t fight Fedor, then he has nothing left to prove in the sport of mixed martial arts. He has been doing a lot of acting, and I know he is in South Africa right now filming a movie. I think it’s a great move for Randy’s acting career to retire from fighting while he is on top. As we all know, Randy retired before. The landscape in MMA changes every day. So when he is ready to come out of retirement again, he is still under contract with me, and I’m ready to promote him.” The UFC will go before the Nevada Athletic Commisison next week to formally request permission to stage a pay-per-view show in Las Vegas on Feb. 2. White had said publicly numerous times that he planned to have Couture defend the title as the main event of that card. "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." Couture is in South Africa filming a movie and couldn't be reached for comment. O'Heir said he expected to speak to him later Thursday. O'Heir was uncertain if Couture would fight for another organization if that organization could arrange a fight with Emelianenko. "He's retired as a fighter," O'Heir said. "I'm not sure how that would affect things. He's retired right now." Couture, 44, who is in his third reign as heavyweight champion, retired once before. After he was knocked out in the second round of his rubber match for the light heavyweight title with Chuck Liddell on Feb. 4, 2006, Couture announced his retirement. But after Sylvia's successful heavyweight title defense against Jeff Monson at UFC 65 in Sacramento, Calif., on Nov. 18, Couture called White and asked if he could return to fight Sylvia for the title. Couture then dominated Sylvia and scored a stunning upset win at UFC 68 before the largest live MMA crowd in North American history in Columbus, Ohio. Couture successfully defended the title at UFC 74 when he stopped Gabriel Gonzaga in the third round on Aug. 25 in Las Vegas. Couture broke his left arm in the first round of that fight blocking a kick and said he would be unable to fight for the remainder of the year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sounds Like Couture is pissed off at Dana White.. I know I am for letting Fedor go to M-1 ERRRRRR
Nice time to retire. He really doesn't have much else to prove since he can't fight Fedor. At least he's going out on top. I think Brandon Vera will be the next heavyweight champ.
I really like Brandon Vera. The guy has so much energy and looks like a smart fighter. I forgot his coaches name, but he called this a long time ago.
Anybody here who thinks he managed to stay that good, and in that good condition for so long, without any serious injuries (aside from the flukey eye thing a few years back), without the use of roids or GH in a largely unregulated, roid-riven sport like MMA please raise your hand....... ... ... ...
damn, couture/fedor was one of the dream fights i was hoping would come out the ufc buying PRIDE debacle. gomi/sherk kid/faber i only have two fights i really wanna see
This really does suck. I really wanted to see Randy/Fedor. And we can now drop Fedor from the HW rankings since he won't be fighting anyone near Top 10 status.
...as if the UFC HW division is loaded with new superstars in its own right. The top guys (Filipovic - who sucks under UFC rules, Nogueira, Herring) are guys that Emilianenko has beaten like rented mules repeatedly in PRIDE. Other than that, what Tim Sylvia? Come on.
Yeah I thought with the merger of Pride I thought they would at least pick up on some of the Pride rules? What gives? Maybe the FCC doesn't allow it?
Yeah but has he ever faced Kongo, Sylvia, Arlovski, Couture, who are all Top 10 ranked HW's??? The answer is no. Fact is that the UFC has the best HW's in the world. It would be like Mike Tyson back when everyone thought he was unbeatable getting the HW belt and facing a bunch of amateur fighters for the rest of his career and everyone thinking he was the greatest to ever live. If you are not fighting the best in the world you can't be ranked as one of the best in the world. It's pretty simple.
The NSAC won't allow stomps and kicks to a downed opponent. They won't regulate the sport if it includes those rules. Hawaii does however, but almost all the states do not allow it at all. That is the reason they are not in the UFC.
Not FCC but NSAC. Yeah but he has never faced me or you either -what does that mean? With the exception of Randy -in my opinion all of the guys you mentioned have not even proven themselves to be even close to the class of some of the guys Fedor has beaten (Nog, J. Barnett, etc) - let alone Fedor himself. I mean, Kongo? COme on. Yeah he beat Mirko - but so did Kevin Randleman, who dropped Fedor on his head, before Fedor submittted him. Quite seriously, Tim Sylvia is a roid pumping chump. He could kick my ass obviously but with him vs. Fedor I am betting the farm on Fedor.
Top fighters ducking each other -- all the major players locked into contracts with rival owners that won't allow them to fight. Hmmm, sounds a lot like pro boxing...
