Brian Knapp at TheFightNetwork is reporting that that current UFC Heavyweight champion has resigned from the promotion with two fights left on his current contract. Couture is walking away from the UFC, his position has reigning UFC champion and on-air analyst.
Couture made the announcement official in a letter to UFC president Dana White. The UFC’s inability to land PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko played a prominent role in the decision to walk away, according to Couture.
“I appreciate this opportunity the sport of MMA and the UFC has given me,” the UFC Hall-of-Famer said. “However, I’m tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC. 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.”
His abrupt departure deals a significant blow to the world’s most visible MMA organization. Couture was not only a beloved competitor – White once called him “the greatest fighter in UFC history” – but also a revered spokesman for a company that had long struggled to gain mainstream acceptance.
“Randy’s contract was on a fight-by-fight basis, and that’s the way he said he was always going to take it – fight by fight,” said Matt Walker, Couture’s agent at The Gersh Agency. “His acting career is accelerating at an astronomical rate, and without the support he felt some of his peers were receiving in the fight business, this was the logical choice.”
I, for one, don’t know how to take this news. As of right now, I feel pretty upset and almost cheated by Randy leaving. Randy’s comeback to prominence in the heavyweight division was an inspiration to fans and proved to many that, in the world of MMA, anything is possible. Now, I don’t know who to be more upset with. Randy for just up and walking away or Dana White and Zuffa for letting it happen by not signing Fedor over a few Sambo matches.
Of course, I don’t know the exact details of his contract with Zuffa, but I have to believe that by leaving the promotion with fights still left on his deal that he won’t be able to fight with any other promotion. A possible matchup with Fedor in M-1 doesn’t seem likely, unless his contract was more lenient that I can fathom or perhaps if the contract and fight all take place in Russia outside of the jurisdiction of the US court system.
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Tags: UFC, MMA, Randy Couture, Fedor Emalianenko, Dana White
(via MMA HQ - Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis)