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Falls
Count Anywhere EXTRA
10-11-07
In a move that’s both shocking and
understandable, the Man of the Year in fighting, Randy Couture,
has announced that he’s quitting UFC. This is huge
because Chuck Liddell was the biggest name and looked the
most undefeatable until he lost his last two fights and
he’s no longer going to be the big draw that UFC can
rely on. Couture’s story was amazing and he was the
biggest draw for fighting fans and a great story for the
outside media to latch on to.
The
whole thing goes to the Fedor Emelianenko negotiations.
They were waving giant wads of cash in his face, much like
they did with Mirko Cro Cop.
Couture
felt that he and the guys who built the brand weren’t
getting that sort of treatment (they’re all making
big money, but most of it’s from big PPV numbers translating
to big share payoffs. Couture seemed to stay happy knowing
that he’d get a shot at Emelianenko if he signed,
but then UFC dropped the ball and that’s not happening.
UFC’s
now moving closer in with Brock Lesnar and if you have heard
Couture talk about Lesnar, you’ll know why that wouldn’t
make him happy.
So,
with the Emelianenko match out of the question now that
he’s signed with a Russia-based fighting group, Couture
was finally fed up and quit. This may be the end of his
fight career in total. The guy’s 44, has money, is
getting acting gigs left and right (and is presently filming
the new Scorpion King movie) and can just quit.
I think
that the group that signed Fedor will try and sign him and
put on the match. If they got a deal with Strike Force,
they could easily sell-out a big arena like the Shark Tank
with that fight and charge big money for tickets. They could
do it in Vegas and make even more in a plan that would actually
ride on the coattails of the popularity of UFC in that market.
What this means is that UFC will have to
crown a new Heavyweight champion and there’s no one
who looks very strong to take that title. Gonzaga just got
soundly beaten by Couture, but they could try him. Sylvia?
Sure. Crop Cop would be a joke, but they’re at a loss
for great heavyweights.
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