Steve Cofield over at Yahoo!Sports.com has the scoop:
“Dana White, President, Ultimate Fighting Championship® will hold a media conference call today to make a major UFC announcement. The conference call will take place today, Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 3pm ET/12Noon PT.”
Cofield suggests that after 11 months the UFC and Randy Couture will announce that a new deal has been struck under which “The Natural” will return to the promotion and fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 on November 15 and possibly Fedor Emelianenko some time in 2009 inside the Octagon.
This is crazy if indeed true. Stay glued to MMAmania.com for all the details later this afternoon — let’s just hope it has nothing to do with action figures.
UPDATE: THE CALL HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED UNTIL 4 P.M. ET. STAY TUNED.
124 Comments »
Has Randy Couture made a deal with the devil? How can a man lie, not honor a contract and still get a new deal, worth I’m assuming more money? I think he’ll beat Lesner, and hopefully Dana can land a deal for Fedor to fight at least once in the UFC. For those who say Lesner will beat Randy, his ring savvy will be too much! His wrestling experience along with the dirty boxing will be too much for Brock.
What if though? Nobody wants to see Brock/Fedor, it would end via arm bar in 30 seconds.
I’ll put money down that Tito ends up back with the UFC now too. Fertitta is making more decisions than before, and will negotiate a decent deal for Tito. Tito is very marketable, he just needs to be a fighter and let his business ventures run themselves.
Told u guys THIS WAS A REALITY and I told you that we would get an announcement out of Dana today. I wouldnt be surprised if today he will announce that he is making a special announcement on Saturday at UFC 88, either way Lesner will fight Couture.
Where’s the hate now mania? lol
Dude get over yourself, man.
gotta give it to u john, You often come up with cool news.
But I wanted more UFC action figures!!
jk
This is old news..John put me to this like 2 weeks ago. heheheheehee..He got Dana’s Phone tapped.
thank you!
You, and a LOT of other people have been saying this is a reality for quite some time, john. When a rumour like this one gets thrown around, but makes as much sense as this one does, it’s hard for it not to happen.
1. We find out Lesnar is fighting in November, no opponent determined yet though.
2. We find out news out of Xtreme Couture that Randy is training full-time for a fight, on pace for a November fight. Weird…can’t be Fedor, he’s still recovering, let alone training. Not Nog, he’s tied up with Mir.
3. Rumour surfaces that said fight is back in the UFC vs Brock Lesnar. Recent news (points 1 and 2), including Randy’s continuous loss in the legal battle vs the UFC, strengthens rumour.
4. The fight just makes sense. Great match-up. Randy losing to Brock would be a dream come true to Dana White. A fight with Fedor would have even less appeal than it already has. The UFC knows this. Not to mention, they’ll still make both fights happen, and reap the benefits.
You didn’t have to be a genius to figure it out.
WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I take a nice litte 5 day weekend and the first thing I read when coming to Mania is “Randy Couture vs Brock Lesnar” OMG!!!!!!! HUH???
I thought that it was now 12 months, not 11.
Was Randy officially stripped of the belt on August 25th once it was 1 year since his last fight or something? Usually the champ upon returning fights the interim champ. Too bad Big Nog is tied up with FRANK MIR!!!! That really blows. That’s what they get for giving a barely Top 20 HW a title shot AND tie it up on TUF. BUT Lesnar vs Couture was a fight that I thought for sure that we would never see. I really can’t believe what I’m reading!!!!!!
DRedge: Ask PhilQny, I placed a telephone to him about a full week before any of this news was found anywhere on the internet.
Guys like Kevin, BW and other veteran bloggers are my witnesses
vm: U know I dont have your # anymore?
John is the biggest MMA insider that absolutely has no involvement in the business whatsoever. Amazing!
Dredg : Good job playing ” Clue the MMA version.. ” I’m dumb so I would of not of been able to put all those clues together like you did. So for “John”.. our Maniac correspondent.. did inform more some time ago of this news.. of Courture.. not rumored.. but really is training for a fight..and his opponent would be Lesnar.. Thanks John.. for informing the uninformed.. such as myself.
Mex, I will be working for Zuffa by this time next year! So u have 1 year left to hate on me, then I will be living the good life in Vegas, Laughing at you when you beg me for some inside news! LMAO!
Hate on!
How are you going to work for Zuffa? I want to do that too. haha. What will you be doing?
JOHN, I’ll email you.
Me 2.. buddy.
thanks, Vm.
I am in school grooming myself for Zuffa job! No doubt in my mind that I will accomplish it, nothing else will do!
Marketing!
“Some people DO, others Hate”
anytime phil
John, this isn’t hating because I appreciate a true KNOWLEDGEABLE mma fan, but you do realize that while you like to pat yourself on the back for breaking news, Mania still has to verify certain things and substantiate rumors before creating a thread and reporting ‘news’. Otherwise we would be over-run with 50 rumor threads a day and this site wouldn’t be worth visiting because of complete lack of credibility.
That said, good job on all early news-breaking. Just take it with a grain of salt. Otherwise we may be around the corner from “Tuesday Morning Conversation with John”. Do we really want that? Hell, do you really want that!?
This kid John has pipe dreams and delusions that are even bigger than Tito’s head! No way I’m going to hire this roundmouth!
Dont listen to Dana, John. Sure you can come work for us, kid. I always need someone to make my coffee and we do need a new janitor for our new building.
Don’t listen to Lorenzo, john. After seeing what kind of insider info you are able to gather and how hard a worker you are, I’m want to groom you to take over Dana White’s position when the time is right. Don’t tell anyone though.
Frank
I hope you don’t overly strain your arm – you know, pattin’ yourself on the back and all…
heres another one for you, my hating frined:
UFC 91:
Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks
wow making mania eat his own words….BURN!!!
UMMM no!
WOW…..full of yourself much? Not like your cured disease or ended war? You ,along with MANY others said this would happen and that many others said Dana would have news by Tuesday.
@kevin doesn’t know shit
I’ve been a critic Randy’s weird “resignation” from day one. However, I don’t believe Randy has lied about anything. Acting on misinformation is not the same as lying. I think Randy really believed what he was purporting. However, I think he also had somebody in his ear making things sound a lot worse than they ever were. The UFC proved his accusations wrong, and we know the rest of the story. But I don’t believe Randy is a liar. He just acted on bad info, made some stupid choices based on that, and here we are.
huhh??
randy is not a lier??
yeah right!!
what about the half million signing bonus randy said he never got??
oh yeah, he must have forgot about that and was misinformed.
QUICK QUESTION: What do you see the odds to this fight being, Lesnar/Couture? If you don’t bet or understand the odds, simply say who you think would be favored to win this fight.
Of course, Randy deserves to be the significant favorite in this fight. Randy is a phenominal grappler. But, I haven’t seen him submit too many people from his back, but then again, how often is Randy on his back? At Randy’s age, I see Lesnar being too powerful for Randy to stop every single takedown. Randy will be put on his back, unlesss he comes out like he did against Timmy and drops and FINSHES Lesnar quickly.
The only question I got regarding my bet on this fight is this, is Brock too big and powerfull for Randy to control??? Randy could get Timmy to the ground, but Timmy wasn’t an all american wrestler.
This potential fight is just sooooooooooooo intersting!
Vm? Beats me? I have no Idea what the odds will be, but I think I will bet lesnar!
Remember, Randy does, or at least used to have a difficult time handling the larger HW’s…
Exactly! Ricco, Barnett….randy struggled with both of them and I really believe that Physically Brock has too much an advantage over most HW…I say it all the time that its going to take some serious Jits to beat Lesnar. Randy’s jits is solid, but not good enough to catch Brock off his back.
I like Lesnar. At Randy’s age, not fighting for over a year, should also play a roll in this fight.
I am very curious to learn what the odds will be, I have no idea what they will be
He certainly doesn’t have as much trouble with it anymore considering he beat two large heavyweights in Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga. He has evolved as a fighter in time, but I still think that ring rust could play a major role in this fight.
but tim and gonzaga are strikers.. so randy can deal with people with longer reach for striking. but can he deal with bigger faster and stronger wrestlers? at his age? i dont know anymore. Unless he breaks brock’s nose like gonzagas i dont know if randy can win this.
Definitely john. The “casual fan” money should pour in for Couture. But I think those of us in the know are going to take Lesnar, especially if he’s any kind of underdog. No disrespect but Kevin is definitely out to lunch on this one.
Nice scoop on this one john, by-the-way. I would be interested to know how you came across this info. After all, there is a chance that with the facts as they were (as pointed out above) you just made one hell of an educated guess. That said, either way, nice one.
weoweoweo- Gonzaga is a well rounded fighter. People consider him to be a great striker because of his knock out of Cro-Cop but without the takedown, and GnP that Gonzaga used, Cro Cop wouldn’t have been dazed enough to be hit with that head kick. GG even stated that himself. You also can’t count out the fact that Gonzaga is great with BJJ.
everyone seems like they’re hating on randy. i mean, i can see why, but when/if randy fights and beats lesnar and nog, everyone will be oozing for the couture/fedor fight all over again. im stayin with randy, i think he can stop nog in the later rounds or decision him, and decsion against brock too. i cant see him finishing him with subs or strikes.
honestly how the hell would fedor armbar brock lesnar if mir said he tried and couldn’t? i dont care if fedor is better brocks arms are HUGE he cant be armbarred, and his necks to big to be choked unless you have like 90 inch long arms..
i think brock will just take people down and hold them there for the rest of his carreer and noone will do shit about it, he’s just to big and strong and hes a smart wrestler, i dont wanna see him lay and pray his way through it but he probably will
Imagine its a new production model of the UFC dolls =/
Dana has how often called in “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS” ?
Remember “biggest announcement ever!” -> turned out Lorenzo joins UFC management, whoop, big deal
“Special announcement on TV!” -> showing off the collab with the doll company for UFC fighter dolls.
As usual, probably John is right on the money and this time its for real, but you just never know with Dana.
Im 100% sure that its Couture vs Lesnar
And if it is Couture/Lesnar at UFC 91, is it for the belt? What’s with Big Nog and Mir? I think Randy’s title should be stripped for holding out for so long and not honoring his contract.
I’d say couture get stripped of the belt, big nog vs mir will be for the undisputed title than the winner between couture_lesnar will be n°1 contender.
yeah I agree, if couture’s first fight is against lesner, than he needs to be striped of the title and become a regular contender.
No Worries, he will be stripped of the title
he was still the champ just to help zuffa in court anyway..
It has already been stated that the title would be stripped due to his lack of defenses and leaving the org’. They only labeled him as champ for the legal purposes.
this is either gonna be real good or something like a new line of ufc shower gel, haha. if its true im goin with lesnar tko win, can’t wait for this one
The announcment will be that he will be making an announcement at the PPV this Saturday, and that he wanted to announce Bike jock-straps as a new major sponsor.
Fedor has an EXCLUSIVE Contract with Affliction, in North American, this includes a non-compete with the UFC, in North America.
Fedor cannot fight Couture in the UFC in North America.
yeah I saw that too. Randy will never fight fedor, besides, he’ll end up loosing to big nog anyways and a fight with fedor is not going to be relevant.
But wouldn’t that leave a fight in England open though? There will be ways to work around this, although I don’t know the details of the contract. Watch, lol, Randy couldn’t fight Fedor b/c of his contract, now Fedor might not be able to fight Randy b/c of his.
that’s true chef, I never thought of that. Perhaps the UFC could make the fight happen in england and it wouldn’t breach fedor’s contract with affliction. Nice, maybe this will happen after all…
i think Fedor only signed an extension for 1 more fight with Afliction. Fedor will fight at Affliction 3 in january or Febuary which leve a fight with Couture not possible until after June at the very least
IDK John, I read that report of him siging a non-compete north america exclusive long deal contract with affliction as well. He’ll be with affliction for a long time.
LInx: I thought the extension was just for Affliction 3. TO my knowledge, affliction has not committed to more than 3 shows, so how could They sign Fedor to longer?
I don’t know, but it is what the report stated…
well the UFC has looong been promising expansion in other countries and they’ve had problems getting huge draws and ppv buys with guys like bisping headlining. So Randy vs Fedor in Europe or some other place could really jump start their goal of expanding and becoming mainstream to everyone.
Maybe this all came about with Fertita working on the international market. Chefdaddy, I’m gonna take it one further. Instead of England, what if they have Couture vs. Fedor in RUSSIA? Maybe that was the point of his new task, first and foremost. If they can get around the North America non-compete, entice Fedor by getting it in his home, and get to lure Couture back by showing they haven’t given up on getting this fight for him. Hmmmm?
If they went to Russia for this, that would truly be a Rock IV situation. The aging American legend comes back and beats the big champion and then releases his title to go fight the unstoppable Russian in Russia. I am just not so sure that it would have the same ending.
Yeah, plus Quarry already stole that speech. But it sure would be awesome to have happen.
I say Germany is a good place to hold a Fedor/Randy fight. Zuffa is, according to Dana, tryig to break into the German market. This sounds like a perfect time.
linx, how can you even ponder a coture loss to nog, nog is a paper champ who barley beat herring , uninformed statement,coture will smash nog.
sorry couture , its 530 am, spelling isnt high on my list
but the UFC wont promote, and the people wont watch NOG vs MIR in TUF8 for being just a number1 contenders match in the finale.
and couture lost his belt along with the respect of most fans for him ‘resigning’/bitching about money.
nog is a paper champ only to the untrained eye. If you haven’t followed his fighting history than you have no bases to state what you said. besides, they had to give the title to someone, or would you rather have no champions at HW since randy was crying for more money and leaving the UFC? Besides, I can tell you know nothing of MMA since you said he barely beat heath, the only thing heath did in that fight was that one kick that threw nog off his game, everything else in that fight was ALL NOG. Not to mention that this was their 3rd fight together, nog dominated heath in their first fight, finished him in their second fight, and dominated him again in their 3rd fight (with exception of one kick). Than he FINISHED timmey, something your previous champ could not accomplish. PAPER champ say you eh?
linx: why even respond to such an idiotic statement. Besides Fedor, Nogueira is the best Heavyweaight mma fighter to ever walk the planet earth!
Nog is the REAL UFC champion!
Randy has ducked Nog every chance he got.
I read an interview with Nog’s manager, Soars, and since the Couture news, they are calling Randy out already! When the UFC told Nog he was fighting for the title, he accepted thinking he would fight Couture….Nog has wanted that fight from the get go….Randy is the one that wants NO parts of that fight.
Nog is the real UFC champion!
Some True Shit right there.
I guess I don’t have to resond to daz now…
He thinks that since Nog “barely beat” Herring that that makes him a paper champ, and he just saw Brock demolish Herring. So he thinks that Lesnar would smach Nog and that Lesnar is the true champ.
WHY did I respond…
DAMMIT!! Daz you had to go and pull me into this one with your idiocy. Nog is a paper champ? Well this “paper champ” you speak of has a resume that is 10 times better than your Captain America’s. Nog is a much more technical and much more skilled fighter. Ive said it before and I’ll continue to say it until he beats someone that is a better than average fighter: Randy Couture is OVERRATED!! His record is 15-8! I have no idea how he got to be so famopus in the first place. He got all this credit for dominating Tim in 5 rounds. Big friggin deal! Nog finished him in less than 3! Fedor crushed him in 1 minute! Then he dominated Gonzaga after he broke Gonzaga’s nose with a headbutt during a takedown. Gonzaga has proven to be a one kick wonder anyway. Randy won’t get by Brock, so this will all be a moot point anyway.
Gonzaga ain’t no one-kick wonder! He’s still young and the guy has enormous potential. The only reason why he lost that fight was the fact that he had blood pouring all down his face and into his mouth due to a broken nose and couldn’t breathe at all. You try dealing with that and then still trying to fight Randy Couture.
…And Werdum?
His 15-8 record is much better than it seems on surface. First off a lot of his losses we’re early on in his career. And also if you look at all his fights in the UFC only 2 were non title fights, so he’s had some pretty stiff competition not to mention the guy was fighting better than ever at 45 years old. He also beat Tito, Vitor, and Chuck in their primes. So if you have no idea how he got famous there is your answer.
OK you want to use the logic that his big losses were early in his career. Well so were his big wins. He beat Chuck when Chuck was in his prime? Didn’t he get KTFO’d twice by Chuck after that?. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be famous. I’m just saying that I don’t see why he’s as famous as he is, except that he’s in great shape. People treat him like a god (especially many fans on this site), and I don’t think he deserves it. There’s a few HW’s out there that are much better IMO. Fedor, and Nog are the obvious ones. OK…flame away.
“With his U.S. promotional rights apparently owned by Affliction, which holds two more bouts with the heavyweight and is negotiating, but has not yet sealed, an extension through 2012, the odds of a dream fight between Couture and Emelianenko inside the UFC appear slim. Yet, Emelianenko’s contract with Affliction is said to contain an out that could allow the Russian a fight against Couture inside the UFC, a source said” SI.com
Apparently FEDOR has an out in his contract to fight Randy!!!
LETS GET THIS DONE!!
Couture has said he has been stripped of the title!
Its just for legal reason he is listed as champ!
Iam bang on again! and thank you for reading
If Couture is not stripped, then it’s spitting on Nog’s face. He would have a perfectly acceptable reason to act like princess couture did last year. But his warrior spirit won’t let him. Couture better do the right thing even though i don’t expect anything from Captain America.
To be honest I have become numb to any of Dana’s “big announcements” and I really could care less about Couture anymore… Only reason i’d like to see him back is to get whipped up on… I really hope he gets beat his last two… plus how would the UFC do him vs fedor? Doesn’t Couture want like 6 mill? No way they even pay him half that.. and that fight is only half as big as it was a year ago
with all the things happened this year he has really lost his aura, capitain america is dead, couture is just a fighter who like everybody else fights for money..
I am actually looking forward to seeing Couture fight again. Him trying to get more out of the UFC considering how much they made from him and other fighters didn’t bother me in the least, and neither did him wanting to only fight the best – Fedor. I was a lot more pissed on hearing that Mir was getting a title shot as quickly as he did. That was a joke. I would love to see Couture smack Lesner’s ass the same way he did Tito, but Lesners strength could be way too much for him. If he had the submission skills of Barnett or Nog, Lesner would have no chance, hopefully Randy’s experience will win it for him. There will probably be a whole load of selfish fans who will want him to lose just because he decided to think of No’1 for a change, I am not one of them.
yeees. that is why it’s called professional sports.. because it’s a job and they do it for the money! they would be stupid if they didn’t want more money..
I was actually looking forward to seeing Kongo unleash some K1 power strikes on Lesner to see how he well he could take them. It’s all about money at the end of the day as far as the UFC is concerned, this will definately pull in the bucks.
why the bejeepers would he fight lesnar!!?? thats my question.
this is Dana
I kinda agree with dana on a business stand point, lesner vs randy would be a huge draw. But the right thing to do would be nog vs randy, than have randy vs brock (once randy looses to nog of course
).
but tuf 8 is already set so its not right to do that businesswise.
this is Dana punishing Randy – Lesnar will over power him and maul him for 3 rounds
y would he do that if he’s got him for another 2 fights?
The major announcement is going to be Dana White and David Spade’s marriage.
The announcement is that Tito Ortiz is going to sing Michael Jackson’s “Bad” at the openning of UFC 91.
(He said he wanted a ‘record’ contract!)
(Anderson Silva is teaching him how to dance)
He is going to announce that he clean and jerked 300 lbs
Lesnar will murder him! Lesnar will be champion!
I’ll go ahead and guess that he’ll announce a personal preference for the new flavors of Gatorade like Rain, Frost, and Fierce over the boring old flavors like Orange and Lemon-Lime. That and the Tiger Woods bottle is totally awesome.
Such an announcement would be on par with previous bombshells.
Yeah, but have you tried the new G2 lemon-lime. Delish!
Everyone is speculating the return of Randy. How about a possible CBS deal since Elite is going down the crapper?
Or, comsidering the headlines he’s gotten recently…Rampage’s next fight !!!!!
BTW…Fedor will NOT fight for Dana “crazy Russians” White…in case you guys have forgotten.
He wouldnt be fighting for DANA hed be fighting for the paper they call money and lots of it!
More than he’s making now?
I doubt it.
Isn’t Affliction cutting the pay that they are going to be giving fighters in their next shows? Fedor will be fighting in their 3rd show so it is unlikely that they will be paying as much as before. Dana said that Randy was a “fag” or something along those lines on a radio show. Randy is still coming back. Fists being thrown may break their bones but words don’t hurt a fighter.
Hearsay.
Nothing has been proven about the Affliction paycut rumour.
Seriously Randy fighting Brock will NOT happen, WOW Brock won 1 match and every1 thinks hes the new champ, MIR will snap his ankle again!!!! Hopefully Randy comes back to fight real fighters like nog and hopefully get his chance at fedor!
OK…Mir subbed Brock in a KNEE BAR…not an ankle lock. Brock fought a stupid fight and I don’t think he loses to Mir again. I don’t think a Fedor fight will ever happen because Randy would probably have to get through Brock AND Nog first, and I don’t see him beating either one of them. Read my response to Daz if you want my reasoning.
You said it right man. Brock might lose to Mir again, but he was dominating that fight and would do the same thing again easily.
I think Dana’s gonna announce that he wants Mandy Moore and feels like a little school boy when he’s around her.
I want Mandy Moore!! I feel like a school boy when I’m around her!!
Dana is trying a new brand of razor blades and is now sponsored……huge announcement.
hahahaha I’d be so pissed.
Yahoo Sports’ Steve Cofield is now reporting Couture has agreed to a new deal with the UFC. The agreement will be announced at 3 p.m. EST and Couture’s first match is expected to be against heavyweight sensation Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 in November, according to Yahoo Sports. Couture-Lesnar would be a very intriguing fight but I have to believe the UFC made some sort of promise to get Fedor so they can make the super fight happen under the UFC banner.
Members of the media received an e-mail from the UFC this morning advising of a conference call at 3 p.m. where president Dana White will make a “major UFC announcement.” This will be his second straight “major announcement” that actually lives up to the hype.
Fedor-Couture would’ve been the biggest fight Affliction or any other competing promotion could’ve put together. If the UFC has taken that away, it’s is a major coup for White and company.
The details of Couture’s new deal aren’t out there yet but it will be interesting to see what he has to say.
Stay tuned. Also, check back tomorrow for an interesting Q&A with UFC 88 competitor Rich Franklin about his celebrity status (and the problems it can present), moving to light heavyweight, and his thoughts on the match with Matt Hamill.
what ever happened to Mark Cuban. ha!
Cuban gets tea-bagged
Looks like the UFC webmasters got a little excited and already added The Natural to their roster of active fighters on the UFC website…
He’s always been on their roster. He’s still under contract.
That has been that way for sometime now. It never changed.
Hey guys, the post never said Dana White was going to announce the return of Randy Couture. I do believe that’s the new he will break on tonight but let’s wait and see. If it’s not the announcement of Randy’s return, than tomorrow a lot of you will have to feel kinda silly
The big news is that they will restart PRIDE organization under UFC .
the big news is that he will have big news on Saturday at the pay per view lol
The big news is that he saved a bunch of money switching to Geico.
delayed until 4pm eastern as reported by ufc.com.
I’d be surprised if it’s Lesnar v Couture unless Couture has some guarantee that he’ll get Fedor in 2009 or a $#@%load of cash.
The big news is………….
“The Ultimate Fighting Championship and Spike TV are working toward a military-themed event that would likely take place Dec. 10 — on a U.S. military base — as a fundraiser for the Fisher House charity.”
Yeeeee Haaaaaaw
I bet the big news is that Dana has bought Affliction, EliteXC, the IFL, PrideFC (again, just because he can), the rights to Jenna Jameson’s boobs (just to piss Tito off), and the colors blue and green. He also bought the phrase “Do you wanna be a f*ckin fighter?!”.
The announcement it that Randy Couture is going to have his own action figure, not just Brock Lesnar.
where the hell did everyone go??? i dont get online for like a month and no one gets on anymore.
Randy is shown as the current title holder for the HW. Not Nogueira as it was before