Employment, Not Promotional, Contract at Center of Zuffa v. Couture

When Randy Couture (Pictures) announced his resignation from the UFC on Oct. 11, 2007, it seemed inevitable that the matter would be settled in court. The inevitable became official on Monday as Zuffa, parent company of the UFC, filed a complaint against Couture and yet to be named co-conspirators in Nevada's Clark County District Court.

Perhaps to the surprise of many observers, the complaint makes no mention of Couture's promotional (fight) contract with Zuffa. Instead the company's breach of contract action is predicated on its employment contract with Couture.

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Very interesting to see the direction that Zuffa is coming at Randy here.

I say couture should pay atleast 10 million $ to compensate every false statements and all the prejudise cause to the UFC.

Hope the court will make an example with this case.

It take a life to build a reputation and 1 min to destroy it, couture have destroyed his own reputation by attempting to destroy the UFC's reputation.

Also, i think the UFC are starting with this kind of dispute because their chance of winning are very high, after that, maybe Couture will realize that he can no longer play the STAR and he should finish his contract before anything else.

i think the UFC will poursuit Couture on the remaining fights side later this year.

Damn, they came back at him like freaking jackals, smart though. He's gonna have to paaaaaaay up.

I guess it was obvious that they weren't gonna let him off with nothing. He'll just have to deal with it and pay up.

Nobody will ever get to the bottom of this, and I have no idea what broke the camel's back for Couture. The bottom line is the UFC is correct in this case, because he agreed to fight under their terms, good or bad.

I doubt it will, but I really hope that all this stuff about Couture doesn't affect other fighters who train with him's attitudes towards the UFC, like Forrest Griffin. That would suck.

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Posted by Boo_Radley21

I doubt it will, but I really hope that all this stuff about Couture doesn't affect other fighters who train with him's attitudes towards the UFC, like Forrest Griffin. That would suck.

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I could see it. According to Couture(grain of salt) the UFC doesn't want any extreme couture ensignia on the UFC fighters. Who knows whats going to happen but I could see this having major backlash and perhaps Couture starting up his own promotion(I see alot of smaller orgs partnering up). I just want to know if the UFC hopes to force him to come back in fight, what they expect, because I don't see Randy being the type of guy who will give his all when baisically he will be a slave, there against his will.

I think that the best course of action for both sides is to settle the issue out of court.. this is bad publicity for both parties and in the end wont help anyone. Its seems like the ufc is trying to impose the "its my ball, and if i cant play with it, nobody can".. but at the same time, an example might need to be made in order to prevent further contract breaches and other fighters thinking that there's a backdoor out of their contract if an opportunity comes along

Randy Randy Randy, Quit while your (Kinda) ahead. The UFC made you, And now they will ruin you.

Dont get me wrong, I love Randy's work and he is a Warrior for sure, But he messed up.
He signed a contact, Thats it.

I hate going there, But the Sylvia fight was won with the first punch, Which is awsome and not a fluke or anything. But If he never rocked Sylvia like that in the 1st, Sorry but Sylvia would of probally picked him off.
With the Gonzaga fight, He won it with a killer slam, Braking Gonzaga's nose with his head. If that never happened Gonzaga would still be able to breath proper and would of finished Randy, Even more so with his Broken arm.

They where both legit win's but I cant see why he complained about his pay.
Maybe if he Knocked out cold both of them guy's in 1 round each, Fair enough.

Farewell Randy, I hope you killer clothes get cheap now, So I can buy some more!

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Posted by ufcboss

Randy Randy Randy, Quit while your (Kinda) ahead. The UFC made you, And now they will ruin you.

Dont get me wrong, I love Randy's work and he is a Warrior for sure, But he messed up.
He signed a contact, Thats it.

I hate going there, But the Sylvia fight was won with the first punch, Which is awsome and not a fluke or anything. But If he never rocked Sylvia like that in the 1st, Sorry but Sylvia would of probally picked him off.
With the Gonzaga fight, He won it with a killer slam, Braking Gonzaga's nose with his head. If that never happened Gonzaga would still be able to breath proper and would of finished Randy, Even more so with his Broken arm.

They where both legit win's but I cant see why he complained about his pay.
Maybe if he Knocked out cold both of them guy's in 1 round each, Fair enough.

Farewell Randy, I hope you killer clothes get cheap now, So I can buy some more!

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Posted by tuvok500

I say couture should pay atleast 10 million $ to compensate every false statements and all the prejudise cause to the UFC.

Hope the court will make an example with this case.

It take a life to build a reputation and 1 min to destroy it, couture have destroyed his own reputation by attempting to destroy the UFC's reputation.

Also, i think the UFC are starting with this kind of dispute because their chance of winning are very high, after that, maybe Couture will realize that he can no longer play the STAR and he should finish his contract before anything else.

i think the UFC will poursuit Couture on the remaining fights side later this year.

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I am quite sure Couture has some sort of a angle
we will see how it turns up
Remember UFC is fighting to keep there monopoly over MMA
all Couture has to do is prove his contract is inadequate
hell pro sports players hold out on there contracts all the time
when there contract is up ( all contracts have termination dates )
they either get traded or become free market

when your trade and commerce are people you are already at a diadvantage
Even if Couture gets slapped with some sort of fine Mark Cuban will happily pay Randy a large helping amount for this fight with Fedor

the only thing Zuffa wins is that they tie it up in court until Randy is too old to compete ( I wouldn't think that should be too much longer )

I really don't care what happens as long as he gets to fight Fedor.I think the fans deserve to at least see that fight,despite who's right or wrong.