Hemdoz

Despite a battle in the courts and a less-than-amicable split in October, Dana White isn’t giving up on Randy Couture and said he recently offered the estranged UFC heavyweight champion a fight with interim champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

White made the comments in Saturday’s post-UFC 82 press conference, which is now widely available on the web. MMAjunkie.com (UFC News & Rumors - MMA News - UFC Fighters - UFC Event Recaps and Previews - MMAjunkie.com) has further news from the conference available in the UFC 82 archives.

Back in October, Couture resigned from the organization over what he perceived to be a lack of respect from UFC officials, issues over his pay, and the UFC’s inability to sign then-top free agent Fedor Emelianenko. White has continually asserted that it was, in fact, a retirement because “you can’t resign in the middle of a contract.“

Regardless, White said that the UFC hall-of-famer isn’t being ignored and has been offered fights since the resignation/retirement. Couture, meanwhile, has said he’s willing to come back — but only if the UFC can arrange a fight with Emelianenko, who signed a non-exclusive deal with the recently restructured M-1 Global organization in late 2007.

White, though, has other intentions and wants Couture to fight Nogueira, who won the UFC’s interim title by defeating Tim Sylvia in February at UFC 81.

“We offered (Couture) the fight last week, and we’re waiting to hear back from him,” White said.

He didn’t mention a possible date or venue for the event.

White also confirmed that he had offered Couture the fight with Nogueira once before. However, Nogueira wasn’t the interim champ at the time, and he hopes that may be enough to sway Couture into returning to the ring.

The 44-year old Couture signed a four-fight, 18-month contract with the UFC in January 2007. In addition to the fight contract, Couture had previously signed an employment contract with the organization. He resigned from the UFC in October 2007, and as part of the deal, he can’t work for a rival promotion for a full year from that date.

Couture has already signed a deal with HDNet Fights that kicks into effect when his deal with the UFC retires, according to Adam Swift of Sherdog.com. Mark Cuban, the owner of HDNet Fights, filed suit against the UFC in Dallas district court last month to get a declaratory judgment concerning the contractual status of Couture.

Additionally, late last week, the UFC successfully acquired a preliminary injunction in Las Vegas District Court halting Couture’s involvement in this weekend’s IFL event. The UFC contended that it would violate a non-compete clause in Couture’s contract.

An Xtreme Couture team comprised of fighters who train at his gym were instead lead by Xtreme Couture coach Sean Tompkins and fought under the “Team Tompkins” name.

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takenover

Randy, Just fight Nog. Give Dana another good payday, and settle a conflict with the home you was raised in.
I'm sure if you give alittle, Dana will pack you a lunch when you leave.

Mickey Finn

i just wanna see a fight, whether it be against fedor or against nog

if he fights nog though and loses i think something would be taken away slightly from a fight with fedor, though i think everyone would still be eager to see it

Jenkins83

The smartest thing for Randy to do is to just take the fight with Nog, then fight that one last fight on his contract then he will be free and clear to go fight Fedor if he so desires without worrying about fighting the UFC in court over contract issues.

giguer

I think the same thing like you

CapAmericaFTW

Though it does beg the question...where does the HW title fit into all this?

If Randy fights Nog, will it be for the title, or will Nog automatically be named the HW champ, regardless of the fight's outcome?

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milhouse7

Unfortunately I think its far too late for Randy to fight for the UFC now. Assuming the offer is under the contract terms, the dispute has gone too far to be settled now under the same terms. If he gives in now, then his grievance has been for not.

Mickey Finn

i think it would still be conisdered an official title fight. its just that the title would then be vacated immediately if randy won, and a fight between the two top contenders (one probably being big nog) would fight another title fight

Jasp

Well its the smartest thing if he wins the two fights yes. But if he loses one of the two or even both then the matchup against Fedor would drop alot in value.
Randy knows that as long as he is not fighting, he is considered by alot of fans as the number 2 guy in the world and a fight between number 1 and 2 is what will give him the huge payday.
Also in a fight against Fedor he wouldnt be risking anything, if he loses people would say that well it was against the number 1 guy in the world, Randy is still number 2.

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HellRazor

Disagree. If Couture never fights again, he goes down as one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport, and wil have retired as champion. That's quite valuable, both monetarily and reputation-wise. Arguably, he's the greatest fighter in the history of the sport. His only competition for that title is Fedor. And right now, it's not his fault he can't fight Fedor.


Fighting Noguiera is good for Noguiera, but does nothing for Couture. Providing he's financially sound, there's only one guy for Couture to fight. Sucks for us as fans, but if I were Couture, I wouldn't fight Nog. No gain in it for me.

Saskabush

I disagree with your entire post.

Randy is nowhere near the greatest fighter in the history of the sport, not even close. He may be one of the most popular but popularity does not equal skill or a better record than Randy currently has.

How does fighting Nogueira do nothing for Randy? Nog is easily the #2 HW in the world behind Fedor. Beating Nog would move Randy up in the rankings and prove to me that he actually deserves a shot at Fedor. I don't understand where Randy is coming from. He has had 2 wins at HW in the last several years and now he thinks he deserves a shot at Fedor? It is disrespectful imo to brush off Nog when he is clearly the superior fighter.

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subgenius

Nogueira is the #1 heavyweight in the world, and he has the most prestigious world title belt in MMA to prove it. So, I don't care what anybody else says. Fedor is not the number one HW. He hasn't been for two years, IMO.

Couture should take this fight and one more afterwards and then walk away to whatever he wants to do next, be it Fedor or movies or toilet paper TV commercials (I don't really care anymore).

I just want him to finish his contract, champion or not. If he beats Nog, then Couture is the champ. Defend it one more time, and then he's free. His contract is done. He can then tell Zuffa and crew that Couture wants Fedor, and refuse any contract that does not place Fedor across the octagon.

of course, should Couture lose to Big Nog, as I fully expect (just a hunch), then Couture will ride off into the sunset.

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Chris0

Guess what?

I disagree with you, I agree with HellRazor

Isnt posting in a forum great ;-)

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T-Bone

Nog is the #1 HW in the UFC, not the world.

If he faced Fedor, he'd likely lose for the third time.

Malf

Randy, please sign for the fight so Nog can break your s**t like we all know he would. Randy won't take the fight because if he loses (and he would) his worth to Fedor M-1, and anyone else wanting the "UFC HW Champion" would diminish immensely.

Let's face it, we're talking about a 44 year old guy who's beaten Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga since having his clock cleaned by Chuck Liddell.... twice. Oh no, I forgot, he beat Mike Van Arsdale somewhere in there too, my bad. Randy fears Noguera. He's not afraid of the loss, or the pain that would be inflicted. He's afraid of the long term hit his bankroll would take from his loss of "MMA God" status.

Run Randy, run. Go get that big payday, and huge loss of braincells that Fedor will surely give you. I for one, am sick of the Couture chase, and am over you.

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Saskabush

That's the beauty of the interwebz!!

My opinion is more based on facts imo, I am still right.

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kev0

So in your mind, who "deserves" to fight Fedor?

takenover

I think it's Fedor who needs to prove something. He was getting handled by Lindland until the rope grabbing.
I want to see Fedor prove something since he holds the best pound for pound in the world.
But I have to agree with bush on this one.

takenover

I wonder if they'll remove him from their hall of fame?

opsy

you can find a good list here.

In my opinion he is disrespecting other fighters as well as the sport. I hope Fedor subs him in 10 seconds personally.