Yep, the Couture hype wagon has lost its wheels since Randy declined the bout against who most forsee as the future Heavyweight Champion, Minotauro Nogueira.
Seriously folks, did you buy into the Couture hype thinking he was the best in the world because he won by Unanimous Decision against a crippled Tim Sylvia and TKO'ed a relative nobody who's claim to fame was a Right High Kick to the Left High Kick master in Mirko Cro Cop?
Fedor would have put Couture in a coma.
From MMAWeekly who broke this story about a 16-8 Can Who Quit.
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In a meeting with Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White last Tuesday, current heavyweight champion Randy Couture turned down a proposed title defense against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 81 on Feb. 2, 2008.
There was also some fence mending to be done at the meeting. Following Couture’s resignation from the UFC in October, the two went a couple of rounds through the media, disputing the basis of the resignation. With the meeting, Couture said he was able to air out the issues addressed in his decision and looks forward to a cooperative relationship with his employer of eleven years.
“We’ve cleared the air, and hopefully we’ll move forward with some sort of relationship,” Couture said. “I’ve got a lot of fighters and a lot of things that hinge around mixed martial arts and the UFC as well. I want to continue to work with them and I think that they want to continue to work with me, so we’ll figure out how that happens.”
The magnitude of response to his resignation shocked the five-time UFC champ.
“This whole resigning thing took on a life of its own,” he said. “There were 72 media outlets trying to get a hold of me. [I was] on the cover of Yahoo, it was just insane to me. I figured I’d go away quietly, maybe MMAWeekly would cover it, Full Contact Fighter or something like that would do a blurb on it, but it would be confined to the small niche… of mixed martial arts. Truly a testament to how big the sport has gotten by the reaction of me stepping down.”
Since then, Couture has been busy taking meetings for multiple film projects he is slated to begin work on in the next year. He still wants to fight No. 1 ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, but says his UFC contract makes it unlikely.
“Obviously I have a contractual obligation with the UFC. There’s been some haggling and things going on with all that, and Fedor signing with M-1 made the possibility of that fight very difficult because of that and because of those contracts,” he said.
The experience has underscored his need to take a step back from full-time fighting and focus on his personal life.
“I think more than anything at this stage of things I want to slow down a little bit,” Couture said. “I’ve been burning it for three or four years now … I want to take some time and go on a vacation, spend some time with my wife. We’ve been married a year now and we’ve been together very, very little in that year; it’s been crazy. It’s been difficult on us. I’ve got a nice house and I don’t even get to spend any time in it hardly, so take a little time now and just smell the roses so to speak.”
It appears that a fight for the now-vacant heavyweight title is in the works. It now appears that Nogueira will most likely face Tim Sylvia, who earned his contender slot with a win over Brandon Vera at UFC 77.
For Couture, the lesson lies in trusting his internal compass.
“I can’t focus on or account for other people and their motivations and their actions,” he said. “I have to focus on myself and just worry about that, and not let the other stuff in … it will drive you crazy.”
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Monday, December 3, 2007
Randy "The Can" Couture Officially Ducks Big Nog
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Randy has been a supreme representative of MMA. How can anyone with gall say that The Natural was hyped up. When he beat Silvia, everyone said he was too old. When he beat Gonzaga, that argument was used again, plus the fact that Gonzaga is a monster. Randy had his arm broken in that fight with Gonzaga, but it wasn't known until after the fight. So don't hate the playa, hate the game. I see where Randy is coming from. He wants to use his standards and not the ones given to him by Dana White. So if you want to hug on Dana's nutz, go right ahead, but don't put down Randy cause he doesn't want to!!!
ReplyDeleteI expect Randy to come out and sell a new line of 'Couture' grills a la Foreman.
ReplyDeleteCouture is a confirmed liar, a quitter and a disgrace to the Championship belt.
Now the age argument comes out when he quits...AGAIN!
I'm not buying it and neither are any others.
Disgrace the sport and the fans and you get the horns that Randy deserves.
Cry me a river when you are given the gift of a 500K signing bonus (to show) from coming out of a Chuck Liddell enforced retirement. Then go on to make a million/fight when lesser fighters suck it up and barely break even.
As far as nuthugging goes... I'll leave that with you because you're doing a fine job of it already.
Dana is responsible for making the Randy Couture that you know today.
Randy has had 14 title fights in the UFC. The most of any current or past UFC fighter.
More than Hughes if you can believe that.
Besides, Randy had a chance to fight Fedor for a potential purse of 3 million instead he chose to duck Fedor to fight a crippled champion from retirement couch to Championship bout.
Dana did that for Randy... understand that first before making a subjective emotional argument while unjustly accusing others of nuthugging.
Know the facts as they have been presented by Randy and the UFC.
I am happy that he's gone so we can have a real Champion who isn't going to disrespect the sport, the fans or the title like Randy has.