Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com breaks the news, which happened at the UFC 91 teleconference. If any audio or video comes available I will post it.
From Thomas Gerbasi
If we’ve learned one thing in combat sports, it’s to never say never. This old adage was solidified once again today, as UFC President Dana White announced the November 15th return to the Octagon of heavyweight champion Randy Couture to face Brock Lesnar in the main event of UFC 91 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The announcement comes after nearly a year of contentious relations between the organization and Couture, who walked away from the UFC in October of 2007 with two fights remaining on his contract. But in August, the heavyweight champion and the organization worked on a renegotiation of his contract that will enable ‘The Natural’ to finish his Hall of Fame career with the UFC.
In addition BloodyElbow has many details of the announcement.
- Dana White: Brock vs. Couture will be "the biggest fight in UFC history".
- Dana White on competitors and co-promotion: ": These guys are dying on the vine. You’re not under contract if the company’s not in business anymore.
- Dana White: "I would be horrified if Affliction's still in business in January."
- Couture: would rather fight Fedor, but fight with Brock "a step in the right direction"
- Couture says UFC and he have "cleared the air"; "comfortable with way things stand right now"
- Couture says he'll weigh approximately 225lbs for this fight.
- Dana White says he doesn't know if Couture is the richest fighter in the UFC.
- Dana White: Nogueira is probably thrilled Couture is back.
- Dana White: research was done and proves Brock vs. Couture will be biggest fight in UFC history.
- Couture: re-signing with the UFC to get Fedor is "path of least resistance"
- Dana White: the heavyweight division "is looking pretty damn good now"
- Couture: MMA is the combative sport for this generation
- Couture: how can you overlook a guy [Brock Lesnar] that size?
- Dana White: over the next year we are going to see some really great heavyweight fights.
- Randy and Dana: feels good to have this problem resolved; "to see a little sunshine for a change is pretty nice"
- Dana White: "I like fighting with Tito"
- Dana White suggests Fedor might have to be not under contract for the UFC to sign a fight with him. He didn't say it was required, but he alluded to it.
- Dana White: Affliction is losing "shitloads" of money.
- Couture: biggest part of my decision was communicating with Lorenzo and Dana that I was feeling. Second was frustration with legal system. Tired of throwing money with lawyers with no end in sight. Best place for me to fight is a cage, not a court room.
- Dana White: "I'm like a giddy little girl right now"
- Dana White: "It drives me insane when Fedor is called the best p4p fighter in the world." If Fedor is the best, he has to come to the UFC eventually.
- Dana White: people don't know this, but there was bad blood between Brock and Herring. Herring was insulted he had to fight him.
- Brock Lesnar: "not a lot of people get this opportunity".
- Brock Lesnar: "who gives a shit about Fedor Emelianenko?" I'm sick and tired of sitting on the phone listening about Fedor. "Who fucking gives a shit?"
- Dana White: "UFC Countdown" for this fight could be two or three part series.
- Dana White: this is where all the best heavyweights are. Randy Couture is relevant; Fedor is not.
- Couture: I can't spend any time worrying about losing to Lesnar and losing luster on a fight with Fedor.
- Dana White: rivals can have whichever fighters we cut.
- Dana White: Werdum is still in the mix.
- Dana White: expecting 1million to 1.5 million PPV buys for this fight. It's a new deal: 3-fight deal.
- Dana White: I would not sign a one-fight deal with Fedor.
- Dana White: all court action is dead.
- Dana White: Randy Couture is the guy everyone wants to fight. Fedor is completely irrelevant.
- Couture: Mark Cuban wants what's best for me. He just wanted to facilitate what I wanted. Now the best path is to make the fight with Fedor happen in the UFC.
Some amazing news for MMA fans, hopefully they are serious about making the Fedor fight happen. Does this willingness to work with Couture and possibly Fedor come from Lorenzo Fertitta now working full-time with UFC or did Dana White finally come to his senses?
15 comments:
From above:
- Dana White: Randy Couture is the guy everyone wants to fight. Fedor is completely irrelevant.
No, and no. Sorry Dana, you have the second most interesting heavyweight... Couture; the crown will be on Fedor's head until someone actually beats him. The problem with quoting Dana is that anybody that is a MMA fan realizes how shallow/inaccurate his comments are. He may be doing well, (and I hope he and the UFC are doing well), but he is not a tell of truth- he is a UFC promoter who has no regard for accuracy only more PPVs.
It's kind of sad that Nog should have the fight against Couture but Lesnar gets 1 win in the UFC and gets to fight the champ.
I realize why they have to do this though. This fight is all about the promotion aspect of WWE vs. UFC. I'm sure the fight will rake in money for the UFC.
Also i dont think that Couture would have accepted the fight against Nog right away without this Lesnar fight. I think we all still really want to see Couture vs. Nog.
Also i think its obvious Dana is trying to kill affliction so he can get Fedor to join the UFC. It just might work.
fedor aint irrelevant what dana says about fedor is irrelevant
First and foremost...I, like everyone else, am ecstatic that this fight is going to take place...however, some things are kinda bothering me...
first, why is this a title fight??? Didn't Joe Silva learn his lesson the last time he put a quickly rising star in a title fight too early (reference Nate Quarry v Rich Franklin)??? Granted, I am fully convinced that Brock will one day hold a title in the UFC, I just feel that he is being fast-tracked ahead of other "proven" fighters (let's be honest, Brock is still 1-1 in the UFC)...which brings me to point...
#2 Frank Mir was the #1 contender to Minotauro's interim title, which is why they are coaching season 8 of TUF...now he is #3...follow with me...Minotauro holding the interim title immediately made him the #1 contender upon Randy's return, which would have made Mir #2...but now that Brock has a title shot...Mir has been pretty nearly cast aside...which brings me to...
#3 Frank Mir is now ranked 2 spots below a fighter (who is going into a title shot in November) that he fought and beat recently...how does it make sense that a fighter (Mir) is ranked 2 spots below another fighter (Lesnar) he tapped out only 7 months ago...moreover, Mir has not lost a match, nor has he fought a match since due to the pending interim title fight...while Lesnar was given yet another tune-up fight against the last man Minotauro beat before his title shot...meaning that Lesnar did win (impressively) against a guy coming off a loss...
Like I said...I'm excited that this fight is gonna happen and I have no problems with it happening, but I just very much take issue with it being a title fight...
Thoughts???
HOLY SHIT!
i cant believe they wont py fedor his respect.....i guess he's gonna have to show lesnar whats up.....and lesnar is one to talk....he wins 1 fight and gets a title shot???? he couldnt even beat mir. dominant the whole fight or not he is wet behind the ears
Dana knows Fedor is the best, all hardcore fans know that. Ignorent UFC fans d'ont (know shit), thus Dana's statements will get the UFC more money.
Randy Couture has no chance against Fedor, he (could not take Tim Sylvia in 5 rounds) is not number 2, but 6, after Fedor, Nogueria, Barnett, Arlovsky, Werdum. People want to fight Couture inded, only because he is famous and beateble.
They want Lesnar to win, because they feel he is the only threat to Fedor. Because of his Speed/Strenght/wresling combination, which sadly is true.
lb ben-
While I totally understand your concerns, and they were my exact thoughts when I first found out. I dont believe that Mir is behind Lesnar, it is just a matter of timing.
The Noguerra/Mir fight has to go down still, and Mir has his chance to go at Couture(or Lesnar) depending on how he does against Noguerra.
At the same time, Couture has to fight soon, it has been obviously way too long, and there is no way he could wait until after Mir and Noguerra took thier shots at each other.
This way both fights can still go down, and then the belt can be unified.
I like Brock, I think he has great potential, but I do not feel that he is ready for this big of a fight. At the same time, I am totally stoked to watch it. Lesnar is a total wildcard. He can be overpowering with brute force, he imposed his will on both Mir and the Crazyhorse. The difference was he made a mistake against Mir which was to be expected.
I still want to see Mir/Lesnar 2. While I think the outcome will likely be the same, it would be interesting to see if Lesnar has learned how to protect himself against the submissions.
dana is full of shit as always. affliction has probably the best hw-division in the world right now. if ufc wouldn't have nog, they would be boring as hell. lesnar will be great one day, true, but right now he shouldn't be a title-contender. anyway, it's an interesting match-up.
Poor Mir and Nog got screwed hardcore. To say that Fedor is irrelevant is the most ignorant statement Ive ever heard in MMA. White is ruining the sport. I hate that fool with all my soul. Please God.. kill him and let him be gang-raped in hell.
If this is a title fight which title is up for grabs? I though Nogueria was the heavy weight champ.. and also how does Dana White or anyone for that matter say Anderson Syliva is the best pound for pound when the only real opponet he has had was Rich Franklin ..Fedor has defeated so many top guys already... Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Nogueria, CroCop, fujita, Mark Hunt, Babalu and also cant forget how he easily beat Tim Sylvia ..Fedor has fought guys like 2 feet taller then him and easily 100 pounds heavier ..Why cant Fedor fight Anderson Sylvia who weighs like 225 when not fighting ..Fedor fights much bigger people why cant this fight happen? Ufc dont wanna see Anderson get his ass beat, so he gets easy people to fight.
acctually in reality alot more ppl would like to see randy fight instead of fedor. In my opinion fedor is a better fighter but alot of the casual fans could not pick fedor out of a line-up. Alot of people just dont really know who he is unfortunatly. Randy couture however is very well known, even my friends who dont watch mma know who randy is. In the end Dana is right, people want to see randy fight more and they dont really care who it is. hardcore fans want it to be fedor, but think how many WWE fans are going to tune in to see an ex pro wrestler fight the ufc champ.. In the end Dana wants to make money, and having randy vs brock is going to make him a rediculous amount of it
It makes me laugh to read these comments. You idiots all forget it's a business. And sometimes fights are put together for the biss and for the fans. Sure Mir should get the fight. But as a fan I think any fan would say they would want to see Randy fight Brock. Plus it's a good test for both of them. If Brock wins nobody can question if he's a real fighter. And if Randy wins I'm sure Fedor's people will Make it happen!
First to the moron saying silva and fedor should happn yer retarted, Anderson is the middleweight champ meaning 185,who said he walks around at 225.He hasnt fought game opponents cmon he beat every person who deserved a shot so far.yea eventually sum1 will give more a challenge but to say he hasnt fought game opponents is ignorant.Next Lesnarvs couture? WTF how is this a title shot lesnar is 1-1 who gets a title shot with that record unless your in the wec and even then.Yea its goin to sell ppvs but not do anything good for the sport.Many others are more deserving of a shot.And lesnar talking shit on fedor what a a lil bitch,someone whos 1-1 talking trash on sum1 thast 29-1 are u for real,reality check lesnar u need to shut the fuck up and watch your mouth talking trash like that will make ppl despise you forever and see you as a low class fuck that shouldn even b a fighter, go take some steriods and go back to the WWE u fucking pathetic big bitch
uhh anderson silva is 225 off-season? Where do you get this information...sounds like made-up bullshit to me
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