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.â€
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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i think randy is a kinda fighter that has some pull with fighters ,they respect him , and that means for me if randy is going somewhere else and hes a champ why cant eye if im not being treated wright.The ufc better be careful.i heard this story about coca cola that it had a chance to buy pepsi and it didnt now there the number one competitor,and if ur thinking what the hell is he talking about there is a lot of smaller promotions that are coming up
[...] Original post by MMA HQ - Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis [...]
the fighters need to establish a union so they can stop Dana from ******** them. Lets make Tito the president of the union and let Dana and him go at it. I’d pay just to watch the contract negotiations between the two of them.
***screw-ing***
the only real problem with a union, is a fighters union will be able to make things happen that WE dont want to see i.e. getting sh*tty fighters on main cards based on contract stipulation and prolonging burnt out fighters careers (no one want to see a Frank Mir lose 7 or 8 fights in a row) and also the biggest issue for me would be strikes. if all fighter were in a union and they decided they want more money and the orgs. say no MMA will be gone till they fix it.
and i really dont know what to say about this Randy thing…….
I agree. Randy never say retire. He said resign!! This is two completely different thing. Dana is just putting words in randy’s mouth. Dana is very smart (as ******* as he is, u have to admit that man is smart) and randy is also very smart. It will be very interesting to see how this two’s war is going to pan out. The only person in MMA that is smart enough and charismatic enough to take on Dana is randy. Let’s keep an eye on this.
I think there is a good possiblility that the fight of the decade will be in M-1 promotion when Fedor will face off Randy in 2008. Dana foreseen this and that’s why he keep saying that randy retired rather than resigned. He also purposely stressed that randy is still under contract with him and he is willing to promote randy again should randy decide to come out of ‘retirement’ again. I’m not surprise if randy already have offers from M-1 or other organisation because if they get randy to be their embassador, randy could really promote their promotion and possible become competitive with the ufc. I believe randy actually have enough followers to ’shake up’ ufc ’s power grip in the world of MMA. It will be very intersting now to see which promotion dare to step up their game.
1.All unions are bad. I worked in a Union shop once. It wasn’t a Union Shop before I got the job, only after. I did not want to join the Union but I was forced to. Forcing someone to do something against their will is “communist” and wrong. I would only be in support of a Fighters Union if the Fighters could determine if they wanted to join the Union or not.
2. UFC will survive this
3. Either Forrest or Jardine should move up in weight and take that title eventually.
4. Short term, Nog will be your next UFC Heavyweight Champ, which will not only please me but the Pride fan boys as well.
[quote comment="10157"]1.All unions are bad. I worked in a Union shop once. It wasn’t a Union Shop before I got the job, only after. I did not want to join the Union but I was forced to. Forcing someone to do something against their will is “communist” and wrong.
[/quote]
oh man….. are you not in politics? you should know how this stuff works, a union does NOT just come in and take over your job on you they are VOTED in by the MAJORITY. that is nothing like communism, you always have a choice if you didnt want to work at a unionized job you can find a new job. if it wasnt for a union the factory i work at would still be making minimum wage and getting no benefits, but thanks to my union i can more easily put food on my table and when my kids get sick i dont have to use rent money to get them medicine. unions are not ALWAYS bad.
As much as I like to watch all this drama about the UFC getting kicked in the nuts and criticised for something so big, I know that in a few weeks this will all be forgotten and the little guys who are coming up in the fight game are still going to get low-balled. A lot of the guys that train under Randy don’t have his pull in the business and have no choice but to fight in the UFC for Dana White. Also, the UFC still has the majority of the best fighters in the world. At any time, they can pull the trigger (Liddell/Wandi), and make the public forget about a mess like this…I know for sure, most of us will still be buying the PPVs.
Wrong…
The union pressured those of us who wouldn’t vote the union in with threats that we would lose their jobs otherwise.There were also threats made against families of those who wouldn’t vote the union in. Unions are corrupt. You should have the CHOICE whether or not you wish to belong to a union.
@Gatties
I agree.. Unions are.. and people should.. and govt should just stay the heck out of the way brotha…
@RJ
A person doing a manual labor job should NOT get the same wage as a person with a degree, but because of unions that is the case. Some dumb arse gets paid more than I do because of the mafia///sorry I meant the union which basically holds a workplace hostage… I think minimum wage is ridiculous for hard hard work, so heres an incentive…. don’t be a dumb arse…go to school and get a job using your brain.. that is the ticket, not joining a union which by the way has to generally vote democrat… unions are basically a voting base for dems along with welfare recipients, gaays, ect… sounds like a group I want to be a part of …. not so much..
@Chad
[quote comment="10179"]good riddance…vera will be champ shortly[/quote]
idiot……. really douche bag….. you think so huh….. lets see you do what Couture did at 43 years of age… people like you who just drop a note here an there trolling around proclaiming someone like Vera being the new champ soon… lol yeah Vera has to get thru some pretty stiff competition first… to talk like that regarding Couture… thats just ignorant….
@Gatties
Communism doesnt come into play here.. just because unions are corrupt, doesnt make it communist.
As an expert Jason, im sure you know that everything is corrupt, your trying to get somewhere in politics, but why? do you plan to make a difference and all that, or are you just out for the cash?
Why did the EPA allow 100,000 tons of nuclear waste to be sunk into a lake just a a few months back? AND THEYRE THE EPA!!!!! and thats just what we know about probably less than 1% of the underhanded sht that goes down. Theres just too much money out there to scoff at, then theres the power, look at Bush.. this great airforce and awesome navy, carriers and tomahawk cruise missiles, he just had to play with his toys.
Thats why communism, democracy or any other system of goverment doesnt work.. its the human factor. If you reached a high enough level you would be on the take too Jason… SO WOULD I! lol
ya Chad, i dont think Vera will even get past big Tim, let alone Big Nog lol. I personally havent been that impressed with Vera, because in my opinion hes yet to be really tested, he will have his chance tho. If Vera is ever the champ, it will be in a loooooong time from now.. maybe 3-4 years when hes more experienced and some of the older guys retire.
Anytime you are forced to do something against your wishes…that is communism. For a group to say you must belong…or else…thats communism.
All I’m saying is, NO ONE should have unions forced upon them. It should be up to the individual to decide if they want to join a union or not. Pro Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball athletes MUST join their respective unions. They have no choice. I do not want to see forced unionism in Mixed Martial Arts…period.
You think there is a drug problem now? Wait until unions get involved. That will be a mess.
Oh and if a union you belong to got you above minimum wage…good for you. I believe the market should decide your wage though. Unions help put through a higher minimum wage here in Michigan and guess what? The small business I help run is about to go out of business due to the costs involved with raising the minimum wage.
Thank you unions…Thank you democrats…Thank You republicans. Want to talk about unions? What about my boss who put his heart and soul into our small business for over 25 years. We are a year (and another minimum wage increase) away from going out of business.
@Gatties
theres definately a difference between Canadian and US unions. Me and RJ are in Ontario, here the unions are doing pretty good things, ive had only good experiences in regards to unions myself. Lets just say, its not the teamsters hehe, but the UFC is based out of the US so thats all that matters.
But why you keep saying communism??? LOL its NOT communism man! people are forced to do things against their wishes everyday in every country in the world, that doesnt make them communists. You know what communism is Jason.. dont front..
but enough about the politics.. it sickens me.. really..
[quote comment="10186"]@Gatties
theres definately a difference between Canadian and US unions. Me and RJ are in Ontario, here the unions are doing pretty good things, ive had only good experiences in regards to unions myself. Lets just say, its not the teamsters hehe, but the UFC is based out of the US so thats all that matters.[/quote]
you beat me to it….
[quote comment="10186"]
But why you keep saying communism??? LOL its NOT communism man! people are forced to do things against their wishes everyday in every country in the world, that doesnt make them communists. You know what communism is Jason.. dont front..[/quote]
again you beat me to it…….
[quote comment="10186"]but enough about the politics.. it sickens me.. really..[/quote]
cool….. now back to MMA….
@BV and RJ
You guys are both Canadians ehhh??? So DOC… assuming that you are not Canadian, (you might be for all I know) I guess you are probably from the North Eastern Coast… say …. Main, you a Patriots fan right?????? So your from New England right?
Guys by the way I lOVE politics… sorry for jumping in there.. lol … most people hate talking about politics religion and marriage.. I am actually educated and versed well in all 3 so I jump on that stuff, but I don’t blog it because most people think they know it all already, and you can’t convince them otherwise, so why waste the time… lol
Back to MMA…
[quote comment="10189"]@BV and RJ
You guys are both Canadians ehhh??? So DOC… assuming that you are not Canadian, (you might be for all I know) I guess you are probably from the North Eastern Coast… say …. Main, you a Patriots fan right?????? So your from New England right?[/quote]
Yeah, I’m from Boston, MA. The best place on earth
@DOC
I cheated… got all your info on the internet… yeah when you Google this site…. all your Wordpress info comes up.. or it did about a week ago, not anymore though.. you might want to check into that, it gives your full name, and there is only 3 people in the whole country with your name so .. yeah, you need to advise them to do a better job of keeping your personal stuff personal..
BOOOOOOO RED SOX!!!
What can I say… the sox are better than the Royals so yeah…. uhhh I will shut up now… lol
Actually K.C. teams suck so bad now.. I bet the Red Sox could beat the Kansas City “CHIEFS” football team at football we suck that bad.. yeah it’s that bad and nobody here is too thrilled this year, lol thats why I stick to MMA cause there are tons of great fighters and its not territorial or regional, MMA is global and more diverse in talent.. much better..