Heavyweight champion Randy Couture has severed ties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, his Las Vegas spokesman said on Thursday.
Spokesman Sean O’Heir of Couture’s Xtreme Couture MMA said Thursday that the UFC Hall of Famer had vacated his championship and resigned as an analyst on UFC television broadcasts.
O’Heir said Couture was hoping for a fight to be made against Fedor Emelianenko, who is the top-ranked mixed martial artist in the Yahoo! Sports poll. Reports surfaced Tuesday that Emelianenko had signed with a new promoter, M-1.
“He was disappointed when he couldn’t get a fight with Fedor, “O’Heir said. “That would have been his legacy fight.”
The story was first reported by Brian Knapp of The Fight Network, which has a business relationship with Couture. Loretta Hunt, its managing editor of MMA news content, is writing Couture’s biography, and Couture frequently appears on the network.
UFC president Dana White released a statement Thursday in which he said he was not surprised by Couture’s announcement.
He left the door open for Couture to fight again in the UFC as he remains under contract.
“I’m not surprised at all by Randy’s decision, “White said. “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.”
The UFC will go before the Nevada Athletic Commisison next week to formally request permission to stage a pay-per-view show in Las Vegas on Feb. 2. White had said publicly numerous times that he planned to have Couture defend the title as the main event of that card.
“I’m tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC, “Couture told Knapp. “It only makes sense at this point in my career to fight Fedor Emelianenko, and since he’s now signed with another organization, I feel like it’s time to resign and focus on my other endeavors.”
Couture is in South Africa filming a movie and couldn’t be reached for comment. O’Heir said he expected to speak to him later Thursday.
O’Heir was uncertain if Couture would fight for another organization if that organization could arrange a fight with Emelianenko.
“He’s retired as a fighter, “O’Heir said. “I’m not sure how that would affect things. He’s retired right now.”
Couture, 44, who is in his third reign as heavyweight champion, retired once before. After he was knocked out in the second round of his rubber match for the light heavyweight title with Chuck Liddell on Feb. 4, 2006, Couture announced his retirement.
But after Sylvia’s successful heavyweight title defense against Jeff Monson at UFC 65 in Sacramento, Calif., on Nov. 18, Couture called White and asked if he could return to fight Sylvia for the title.
Couture then dominated Sylvia and scored a stunning upset win at UFC 68 before the largest live MMA crowd in North American history in Columbus, Ohio.
Couture successfully defended the title at UFC 74 when he stopped Gabriel Gonzaga in the third round on Aug. 25 in Las Vegas. Couture broke his left arm in the first round of that fight blocking a kick and said he would be unable to fight for the remainder of the year.
That’s what is going on with Randy Couture.
Kevin Iole covers boxing and mixed martial arts for Yahoo! Sports. Send Kevin a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
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