UFC President Dana White and majority owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Lorenzo Fertitta, will today hold an online press conference at 1 p.m. to address the recent resignation of UFC Heavyweight Champion, Randy Couture.
Here’s the snip:
“Dana White, UFC President and Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC co-owner will hold a press conference Tuesday, October 30, to address recent statements made by Randy Couture, and answer questions for the media.”
The press conference will be streamed live at 4 p.m. ET via UFC.com.
Earlier this month “The Natural” abruptly faxed in his resignation from a movie set in South Africa. Since he has returned to the United States the bizarre situation has turned into mudslinging and muckraking.
Money, a perceived lack of respect and the failure to sign Fedor Emelianenko are all factors that contributed to the Couture resignation. In fact, he has even labeled the Fertittas and White as liars in regard to his compensation.
Just last week, White took the high road during a teleconference that coincided with a Couture press conference, refusing to criticize Couture for his decision and blaming it all on his “Hollywood agent.” He even claimed that Couture was still the division champ until he heard the news from Randy himself face-to-face.
Perhaps that discussion has taken place, which is the reason for the latest press conference later this afternoon. Or, the recent brouhaha that involved Couture and his wife on the X-Treme Couture MMA Blog was the final straw.
We’ll find out soon enough. But one thing is certain: The drama is far from over — especially since Couture still has two fights/nine months remaining on his contract.
Good times.
20 Comments »
They will re assure us of their chokehold on MMA!!
I assume Dana White will use the F word several times…. per minute.
This is very annoying. Randy Holds a Press Conference, UFC has to hold an another press conference. This is getting very annoying and it seems like UFC will have to get the final word in no matter what. They seem like Ken Shamrock on TUF 3, he always have to get the last word in.
Can we stop this and just move on? I want the UFC, not an another edition of the MTV show “The Real World.”
Geeze.
agreed. stop already and just get back to recruiting some fighters in the MW division. This is absurd.
Dana on the real contradicts himself..he works on improving the intergrity of the sport..and with him being the President of the NBA of the sport.. ” do you wanna be f#$%^ing figther “..”I bitch slapped him”..thats like Commisioner David Stern..” do wanna be a f$%^&ing Basketball Player..”
I bitch slapped Van Gundy..” like pratice what you preach..
He is full of himself..and sees himself as the posterboy of the ufc in his actions..I look at the good that he has done..but the bad is out shadowing the good. Zuffa needs to cork/ and check Dana..b4 the UFC starts to slip..and turns into the ABA.
Yikes. Can I hold a press conference too?
I believe Dana will announce that they have worked something out. The way this has played out leads me to believe that. The way the comments were erased off of extremecouture makes me think that they have reached an agreement and decided to stop the mudslinging. In the agreement I’m sure that Dana said he would be the one to make the announcement and patch things up. What choice does Couture really have? Either finish out his contract or never fight again. Couture not fighting again? C’mon.
i got a feeling that after all this very controversial issue,randy will end up deciding finishing his last 2 fights in in his contract..
(Just what i fell thought) lol!
i migh be wrong
Forget all these press conference’s!
I just want to see Randy fight Fedor……..
I thought this was all about business. This is not how you conduct business. I guess everyone wants to get in the last word. Sad thing is, we’re probably not going to see Randy fight for a while and the only one who loses are the fans. Dana’s not going to look good no matter how this get resolved.
I think that this situation is probably going to be the beginning of the scaling back of Dana White’s public persona. It’s increasingly looking like Dana’s attitude and “I smack you around” demeanor is whats hindering this situation. I’m sure he will not be publicly chastised but I do expect him to fall back alil bit after all this is done.
[quote comment="200977"]Dana on the real contradicts himself..he works on improving the intergrity of the sport..and with him being the President of the NBA of the sport.. ” do you wanna be f#$%^ing figther “..”I bitch slapped him”..thats like Commisioner David Stern..” do wanna be a f$%^&ing Basketball Player..”
I bitch slapped Van Gundy..” like pratice what you preach..
He is full of himself..and sees himself as the posterboy of the ufc in his actions..I look at the good that he has done..but the bad is out shadowing the good. Zuffa needs to cork/ and check Dana..b4 the UFC starts to slip..and turns into the ABA.[/quote]
Philqny: I agree completely with everything that u said. Fertitta’s need to put a muzzle on Dana because lately everytime he opens his mouth, he either contradictas himself or he says some completely unprofessional thing. The UFC is trying so hard to go m,ainstream, but I dont see how that can happen when u have a president that try’s to act like Vince Mcmahon. Dana white is becoming real pathetic in my oppinion.
i was looking at some dana white comments and old articles dana really think he’s high and mighty, if you look anyone who leaves his organization or any fighter who turns down ufc offer to fight in their organization gets nothing but rude comments like nick diaz for one
they cut him he goes to pride and beats gomi instead of dana congratulating the kid he goes on to say that he wasn’t good enough for ufc we cut him,
i believe in what lindland said the ufc wants to control your life, who you train, where, u can’t fight anywhere else, and with the new multi million dollar extension in spike tv where does all that money go?? i don’t see the fighters getting any more money?? if they are not gonna pay them anything at least pay for their health care,
[quote comment="200982"]i got a feeling that after all this very controversial issue,randy will end up deciding finishing his last 2 fights in in his contract..
(Just what i fell thought) lol!
i migh be wrong[/quote]
Mad drummer: I am also getting this feeling. Randy desperately wants to fight Fedor, and to do so he might very well have to finish his UFC contract. I am sure that the UFC can come up with 2 more interesting fights to put Randy in. 1st off Randy vs. Noguerra…. the next fight is hard to predict.
Tim Sylvia does not deserve to fight Randy again
Verra just lost
Arlovski doesnt deserve to fight Randy.
Kongo has been winning but will get sooo outclassed vs. randy
Cro Cop comming off of 2 losses in no way deserves a shot at Randy, either way randy would do to him what he would do to Kongo.
Brock Lesnar hasnt accomplished aNYTHING SO HE CANT FIGHT RANDY.
i DUNNO WHO THE HELL IS LEFT FOR rANDY TO FIGHT EXCEPT FOR nOGUERRA!
i hope time will come that the fighters will got salary they deserve,
for the newcomer fighter,yes they have low salary at first,& they need to build up reputation for them to get paid better,
but man $2000 for a fight is S*CKS!
they still earn?? image all those expenses from training,nutrition,transport fee traveling from anywhere to train,food,etc.. then they only got 2k?? whew!!
[quote post="3719"]i DUNNO WHO THE HELL IS LEFT FOR rANDY TO FIGHT EXCEPT FOR nOGUERRA! [/quote]
I wouldn’t mind seeing Randy fight Chuck agian.
I know Chuck KTFO of Randy 2times but I think Randy is a different fighter and would beat(imo smash) Chuck.
And i also know Chuck is on a losing skid and ths fight will never happen but, IMO other then Fedor, I would like to see Randy fight Minataro then avenge his loss to Chuck and beat Fedor..PERFECT end for Randy’s MMA/UFC career.
Another press conference…
This one better resolve something, or they are all just pointless attempts at getting the media’s attention. All I want to hear is one of 3 things:
1) We are bringing in Fedor to fight Randy in the UFC
2) We will allow Randy to resign since he has done so much for this sport, and company, and join M1 to fight Fedor.
3) Randy will be fulfilling his final 2 fight obligation, the first of which will be against Big Nog on Super Bowl Weekend.
If Dana does not say any of those 3 things above, I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT WHAT HE HAS TO SAY TODAY.
[quote comment="200983"]Forget all these press conference’s!
I just want to see Randy fight Fedor……..[/quote]
I have a feeling that Randy will fight Fedor this December in Moscow at bodog event…
[quote comment="201012"][quote comment="200977"]Dana on the real contradicts himself..he works on improving the intergrity of the sport..and with him being the President of the NBA of the sport.. ” do you wanna be f#$%^ing figther “..”I bitch slapped him”..thats like Commisioner David Stern..” do wanna be a f$%^&ing Basketball Player..”
I bitch slapped Van Gundy..” like pratice what you preach..
He is full of himself..and sees himself as the posterboy of the ufc in his actions..I look at the good that he has done..but the bad is out shadowing the good. Zuffa needs to cork/ and check Dana..b4 the UFC starts to slip..and turns into the ABA.[/quote]
Philqny: I agree completely with everything that u said. Fertitta’s need to put a muzzle on Dana because lately everytime he opens his mouth, he either contradictas himself or he says some completely unprofessional thing. The UFC is trying so hard to go m,ainstream, but I dont see how that can happen when u have a president that try’s to act like Vince Mcmahon. Dana white is becoming real pathetic in my oppinion.[/quote]
Dana doesn’t want to be the commissioner of the UFC like David Stern. David Stern tries to act “professional” and look at the state of the NBA right now (gambling scandal, overpaid whiney players, etc). Everytime David Stern walks into an arena to speak, he gets booed more than the opposing team. One of the UFC’s mottos is “As Real As it Gets.” Dana doesn’t act “professional” because that’s not real. Very few people (if any) truly act professional because it’s who they actually are.
And what bad has Dana done? What, he didn’t get Fedor? That’s Fedor’s own fault if he wants to ruin his legacy. Randy retired? Again, Randy signed his own contract, if he doesn’t like it its his own problem, not Dana’s. No HBO? Who cares?
One of the reasons I started watching UFC was because they DIDN’T have some shady “professional” commissioner type guy fronting the orginization. They had a guy who acts like a regular guy, is a regular fan of the sport, and doesn’t act fake to impress advertisers or whatever. As fight fans we hate to blame the fighters we love if something goes wrong, just like NBA fans won’t blame the players they love for being whiney overpaid girls. I was as big a Randy Couture fan as anybody else, and was as devastated as any other Randy Couture fan was after the news broke. But after reading the facts that have come out (as incomplete or accurate as they may be, which means my mind could change depending on what other information is given to us), I can’t blame Dana White for what happened to Randy. It’s too easy to make Dana the scapegoat if negotiations go wrong, but Randy didn’t even try to renegotiate! He just up and quit, which in my opinion sending a fax to announce you’re quitting is much more unprofessional than saying the f-word. I didn’t know fight fans were so sensitive to the f-word.
The integrity of the UFC is not about keeping up a proper image like other sports. Look at the NFL, the most watched sport in this country. They’ve tried to keep a good image, but nobody’s really buying it with all the Pacmans, Tanks, etc. Yet it’s still the most watched sport in the country. The fact of the matter is people don’t pay $40 a PPV for a good image, they pay for good fights. And as long as the UFC keeps delivering (and I know UFC 78 is not the best example, but 79 will be a redeemer), the integrity of the UFC will remain intact.
Anyone having luck getting the press conference to show up? I get a pop-up for the UFC Media Manager and just a blank box.