26.10.2007, 09:10
Randy Couture gab heute in seinem Xtreme Couture Gym in Las Vegas, Nevada eine Pressekonferenz um seinen Ruecktritt aus der UFC zu erklaeren.
Randy fing an:“I'm saying I simply left the UFC. It would be silly for me to say I'm going to retire again. Nobody's going to buy that anyway.”
Auf die Frage ob er nochmal antritt:”I don't have a crystal ball. I certainly have fights left in me. There's only really one fight that makes a lot of sense and would have hoped that could have happened in the UFC with Fedor Emelianenko. I don't think that's going to happen. I believe I'm the best fighter I've ever been right now. I also don't operate under the impression that that's going to last forever. Whether or not I fight again is certainly up in the air at this point.”
Zu seinem UFC Vertrag:”I'm under UFC contract for a minimum of nine more months. I signed an 18-month contract with the UFC, so unless that fight happens in the UFC, it's not going to happen anywhere else for at least nine more months.”
Ob er nach 9 Monaten irgendwo anders antretten wird:”It's not really about leaving and going and fighting somewhere else. My loyalty has always been with the UFC. I was offered to fight Fedor over a year ago when I wanted to come out of retirement for thee million dollars in Bodog. It's more than I've ever been paid for a fight. What did I do? I went to Dana and Lorenzo and said, ‘hey this is what these guys are offering for me to fight Fedor in their show. I would be interested in fighting again.’ They said, ‘if you're fighting again, we need someone to Tim Sylvia. Fight for the heavyweight championship with us,’ and that's what I did.”
Warum er zuruecktrat:”The UFC has stated time and again that I'm the number two athlete on their books as far as my contract, what my base pay says on that bout agreement, but what happens is they pay you a visit in your locker room after your fight and give you a bonus check. It's not on the books anywhere. I think it's an organizational decision to distribute money that way because it is at their discretion, because then there is monetary value that's put out there that other people don't know about and other organizations don't know about. If somebody wants to go buy Matt Hughes out of his contract, they don't really know what he's being compensated to make that happen. They look at what the public record says, so they make an offer there, but he's being paid a lot more than that.”
Das UFC Angebot an Fedor:”They offered him more in a signing bonus than I had ever been paid in a fight. That was like the final slap in the face. I handed in my resignation after having a meeting with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta where I laid all this out in person two-and-a-half weeks before I left for South Africa.They were given every opportunity. I expressed fact-to-face how I felt with them. And it's not about bashing. I'm not going to get into a war of words with Dana. He said some other things, 'he controls me' and everything else. It doesn't really matter. It's not about that.”
Ueber seine Beziehung zur UFC:”I have no hard feelings towards Lorenzo and Frank (Fertitta), certainly not. They've done a masterful job of using their connections and their influence to build this sport back up. Dana, although he's misunderstood and I don't agree with some of the things that he does, I don't think he's a bad guy. I think he wields a lot of power and a big stick, and he doesn't do that with objective conscience all the time. But it's not about bashing Dana. It's just about how I feel as an athlete that's represented this organization for eleven years and done my very best to represent this sport and feeling unappreciated for that.”
Randy fing an:“I'm saying I simply left the UFC. It would be silly for me to say I'm going to retire again. Nobody's going to buy that anyway.”
Auf die Frage ob er nochmal antritt:”I don't have a crystal ball. I certainly have fights left in me. There's only really one fight that makes a lot of sense and would have hoped that could have happened in the UFC with Fedor Emelianenko. I don't think that's going to happen. I believe I'm the best fighter I've ever been right now. I also don't operate under the impression that that's going to last forever. Whether or not I fight again is certainly up in the air at this point.”
Zu seinem UFC Vertrag:”I'm under UFC contract for a minimum of nine more months. I signed an 18-month contract with the UFC, so unless that fight happens in the UFC, it's not going to happen anywhere else for at least nine more months.”
Ob er nach 9 Monaten irgendwo anders antretten wird:”It's not really about leaving and going and fighting somewhere else. My loyalty has always been with the UFC. I was offered to fight Fedor over a year ago when I wanted to come out of retirement for thee million dollars in Bodog. It's more than I've ever been paid for a fight. What did I do? I went to Dana and Lorenzo and said, ‘hey this is what these guys are offering for me to fight Fedor in their show. I would be interested in fighting again.’ They said, ‘if you're fighting again, we need someone to Tim Sylvia. Fight for the heavyweight championship with us,’ and that's what I did.”
Warum er zuruecktrat:”The UFC has stated time and again that I'm the number two athlete on their books as far as my contract, what my base pay says on that bout agreement, but what happens is they pay you a visit in your locker room after your fight and give you a bonus check. It's not on the books anywhere. I think it's an organizational decision to distribute money that way because it is at their discretion, because then there is monetary value that's put out there that other people don't know about and other organizations don't know about. If somebody wants to go buy Matt Hughes out of his contract, they don't really know what he's being compensated to make that happen. They look at what the public record says, so they make an offer there, but he's being paid a lot more than that.”
Das UFC Angebot an Fedor:”They offered him more in a signing bonus than I had ever been paid in a fight. That was like the final slap in the face. I handed in my resignation after having a meeting with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta where I laid all this out in person two-and-a-half weeks before I left for South Africa.They were given every opportunity. I expressed fact-to-face how I felt with them. And it's not about bashing. I'm not going to get into a war of words with Dana. He said some other things, 'he controls me' and everything else. It doesn't really matter. It's not about that.”
Ueber seine Beziehung zur UFC:”I have no hard feelings towards Lorenzo and Frank (Fertitta), certainly not. They've done a masterful job of using their connections and their influence to build this sport back up. Dana, although he's misunderstood and I don't agree with some of the things that he does, I don't think he's a bad guy. I think he wields a lot of power and a big stick, and he doesn't do that with objective conscience all the time. But it's not about bashing Dana. It's just about how I feel as an athlete that's represented this organization for eleven years and done my very best to represent this sport and feeling unappreciated for that.”