Zuffa President, Dana White released a statement this afternoon via UFC.com regarding the sudden resignation of current UFC champion Randy Couture:
“I’m not surprised at all by Randy’s decision. 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.”
Interesting choice of words Dana used in his statement. Not once has Randy stated that he is retiring as Dana’s statement notes. Randy said he is resigning, not retiring, from his positions with the UFC. As much as Dana White and Zuffa want to, and need to implement some spin control over Randy’s departure, this is not the way to do it.
I don’t think Randy is done with fighting and until the words come out of Randy’s mouth, let’s not consider him retired. Retirement and resignation mean two totally different things.
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Tags: UFC, MMA, Randy Couture, Dana White
(via MMA HQ - Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis)