“Well I had hoped to entice you into taking a personal interest in things.”
“That’s an insult to both of us. It makes me stupid, and you a whore.”
While that might sound like the negotiations between Randy Couture and Dana White, it’s actually dialog from a movie about a martial arts warrior trying to bring down an evil syndicate known as “The Octagon.”
Talk about life imitating art.
Randy Couture is back in the UFC … and on Dana’s terms. For those of you who are furiously typing your dissent, don’t bother. Anything less than Couture vs. Emelianenko should be seen as a total failure for “The Natural” and all of his crusaders.
That’s not to say that Couture doesn’t benefit because he obviously does. I’m sure the financials of his three-fight contract are quite lucrative and he now gets to participate in the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) of all time.
Those aren’t my words, they’re Dana’s.
From Tuesday’s phone conference:
“Mark my words on this one, Couture vs Lesnar will be the biggest fight in UFC history.”
Yes, Randy Couture is fighting Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 15. Yes, the same Brock Lesnar who is a mere 2-1 and greener than Larry the Cucumber.
Why, you ask? Well, why not?
We all wanted Randy back. Any fan or journalist who has any real grasp on the current MMA scene knows that fighting Emelianenko just wasn’t going to happen before Randy’s 50th birthday unless he lived under Dana’s roof.
So now that we have him, what’s with all the complaining?
“Brock wasn’t the number one contender prior to Randy’s return. Why is he now?”
No disrespect, but I didn’t wait 11 months for Randy to come back and fight Cheick Kongo. Besides, the UFC’s three top heavyweights: Antonio Nogueira, Frank Mir (both UFC 92) and Fabricio Werdum (UFC 90) are all spoken for.
Without going into a whole dissertation on Father Time let’s just say that Randy has three fights to get to, isn’t getting any younger and has already missed a year of fighting.
The time is NOW.
But even if Couture had his pick of the litter, I’m not sure if competing against any of the fighters mentioned makes sense for the UFC.
Personally, I would much rather see Couture face Nogueira than Lesnar, but a pre-TUF Nogueira isn’t going to sell PPV’s like the pasty-faced goliath will.
“Minotauro” doesn’t have mainstream appeal — yet, but neither does Fedor Emelianenko. Randy may have wanted Fedor first, but from a business perspective you can’t ignore the impact the TUF generation has on PPV buys.
And don’t forget those WWE fans.
Couture will always draw, but his PPV value is at it’s peak for as long as he keeps winning. And that’s why Dana had no choice but to pair him with Lesnar: Get the most value for your investment while the market is up.
It works in stocks, real estate and yes, even mixed martial arts.
Sure, it’s all about the money, but did anyone really think otherwise when they shelled out 50 bucks last month for another UFC pay-per-view?
30 Comments »
im honestly more interested in the arlovski / barnett fight to be honest… i think those two are much better competitors and will make a much more exciting, technical fight. this one will be either a super quick sub or tko, or a long drawn out, boring decision.
Doesn’t any fight have that potential?
Brock may have only three fights but I none of them have been boring. Arlovski on the other hand has thrown some serious stinkers in his carreer. and the Pedro Izzo Barnett fight was a snooze fest for most of it anyway.
battle of the titans…..lesnar may actually out wrestle the champ. can lesnar do it for 5 rounds though?
nope.
Good point. In Lesnars 4th MMA fight, he will be expected to go a full 5 rounds assuming that they don’t finish each other. With the adrenaline rush, Brock could easily run out of gas. He had better train to the fullest if he wants a chance. I could see him suffering in the clinch and from GnP. The same could happen to Randy as well though.
Lesnar is a physical freak, not just because of his other-worldy strength and speed, but also his cardio and endurance. If this fight goes five rounds, and that’s a very big if, he won’t have any problems.
He better train at Big Bear CA to get Tito “Jacob” Ortiz’s cardio…
you know werdum is feeling passed up, two fight win streak over top guys and now hes a fighting a nobody, and wont have a shot at the title for at least a year… poor fabricio
I’m sure Werdum likes where he’s sitting. He just needs to win his next fight and he fights the winner of the tourney.
Agree with everything in there Jesse, and now I don’t need to type anything, except for what I just did.
i hate how you made that make sense. id much rather be pissed about it all
With a three fight contract for Randy….lets take a look and underestimate Randy…..if in fact he does lose….with 2 fights left who does he fight? Will he even be relevant for the UFC to keep? Or will he even have the drive to fight at all….or does he suck it up like he should have a year ago and take the last fights of his contract and wither into retirement? Wutever does unfold in the following months will forever go down in mma history….the end of an era? or the beginning of a new one….(Brock)
I really want Fedor to fight in the UFC. I have a feeling that it will never happen and that pisses me off. I guess that he has a few fights out there, but if he went to the UFC, then other top heavyweights would be sure to follow.
I have this gut feeling it’ll happen within the next year Ryan. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope that Lorenzo can somehow make this happen…cause we sure as heck know that Dana couldn’t.
BTW, that was a really good piece of writing, Jesse.
Agreed. There’s really nothing left to say.
“Minotauro” doesn’t have mainstream appeal — yet, but neither does Fedor Emelianenko.
whahahahaha get thje fuck outta here 2 of the best hw fighters ever and you say they dont have mainstream appeal????
Fedor is the best and will be forever cause non of your so called ufc champs couldnt stop him and he destroyd like what 5/6? hahahhahah
usa is losing big time….
Do you know what mainstream appeal is? You clearly don’t. Ask 20 random people who Fedor is. Then ask 20 random people who Chuck is. You’ll be surprised at who is more well known, and by a large margin.
Well saidP Pat, my uncle watches UFC’s and WEC’s and he has no clue who Fedor is, but if you say Chuck or Randy, or Faber…he knows who they are
Clearly, you ain’t American. Pat just laid it out for you. Try to get into context first before laughing, hahaha!!
Oh, BTW, I ain’t from the US either, but we know what mainstram appeal is here definitely, lol!
Well, if they ever want that mainstream appeal, they had better quit worrying about anything but making fights happen with guys like randy! They are letting their managers and others keep them from fighting the right people because of things like “More money!” If they would take less to make the fight happen, they would gain the mainstream appeal that would get them more money soon afterwards if they have a strong showing or win. I think they expect to be considered “mainstream” already, but they’re not quite there! If they would bend alittle, they’d grow alot!
i realy think couture should be fighting werdum let lesnar pound on some guys for a year then have the fight next year late
Randy vs Brock is the fight I want to see. Hope Randy beats him. All the other heavyweights will get their chance. Look how patient Chuck had to be back in the day of Ken and Tito.
I think couture wants regains the respect he used to have before. maybe thats one of the reasons he decided to comeback.. a three fight contract, weather re retires on top or not,he regains respect anyway..
I think couture wants regains the respect he used to have before. maybe thats one of the reasons he decided to comeback.. a three fight contract, weather he retires on top or not,he regains respect anyway..
yea, i agree with Jesse Holland’s whole article. Good move by UFC. The time is now. I don’t know why everybody’s pissed. Everybody wins with this deal. Randy gets paid, UFC shatters records, & the Captain America fans get to see Randy back in action. Nog is still in the picture. Theres only 4 HWs in the UFC that matter right now. Mir, Nog, Brock, Randy! They will fight eventually. Its inevitable. Don’t worry about it. And the people who say Brock sucks don’t know what they’re talking about. The Timmy/Fedor fight only raked in 100,000 PPVs (a crappy day for UFC). Barnett/Arlofski will be lucky to do 100,000 lol! For this 1, they’re talking 1 MILLION! taking mma as mainstream as it gets. Fedor will see Randy getting paid and be on his way, as the grass is truly greener in the UFC. Personally, I think that Couture has no chance against Brock, but if he does win, this sh*t is gonna go through the roof in some orbital high space sh*t.
BROCK LESNAR WILL BE THE UFC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP WITHIN A YEAR AND A HALF!!! That’s a fact! He may lose again before then, but, he wants to fight as often as possible. That means he’ll work his way up real quikly. And he’s learning fast!
Randy’s the man. plain and simple.
MMA should be about who DESERVES a title shot, not what fight would make the most money. By your logic we could forget BJ Penn and bring in Jean-Claude Van Damme to fight GSP. Alot of people like the movie Bloodsport. I want to see Kimbo Slice fight an elephant, but is that good for MMA? I’m not saying Brock shouldn’t be in title contention at some point, but it should be because of merit, not fame. This whole thing smacks of Don King. Give your head a shake.