We still don't know the contractual status of Randy Couture, whose fights are outside the cage while he tries to free himself of his contract with UFC, but Couture says in this interview that he expects a resolution soon:
"We should hear something this month, in April, early May," Couture said. "UFC is trying to do everything they can to drag me down and force me to spend money on lawyers."
Getting a definitive answer this month to whether Couture can fight in an organization other than UFC would be great, but I have a feeling that all those lawyers are going to make it take longer than that.
There's also the little matter of who Couture's first fight would be against. The fight everyone wants to see, Couture against Fedor Emelianenko, can't happen for a while if Emelianenko is fighting Tim Sylvia first. He also talked about fighting former Olympic and WWE wrestler Kurt Angle in some type of exhibition, but that wouldn't be an MMA fight and wouldn't be very interesting.
What was interesting to me, however, is what Couture said about Kimbo Slice, the onetime street fighter who is now fighting legitimate, sanctioned MMA fights. Couture said that the attention paid to Slice's background in street fighting is "not really great for our sport."
But then Couture added of Slice, "He has the potential to be a very good fighter." That surprised me a bit because so many people within the MMA world dismiss Slice as a freak show. I tend to agree with Couture, though; if he keeps training to be a complete fighter, and if EliteXC brings him along properly, he could start to fight and win against legitimate opposition.
"We should hear something this month, in April, early May," Couture said. "UFC is trying to do everything they can to drag me down and force me to spend money on lawyers."
Getting a definitive answer this month to whether Couture can fight in an organization other than UFC would be great, but I have a feeling that all those lawyers are going to make it take longer than that.
There's also the little matter of who Couture's first fight would be against. The fight everyone wants to see, Couture against Fedor Emelianenko, can't happen for a while if Emelianenko is fighting Tim Sylvia first. He also talked about fighting former Olympic and WWE wrestler Kurt Angle in some type of exhibition, but that wouldn't be an MMA fight and wouldn't be very interesting.
What was interesting to me, however, is what Couture said about Kimbo Slice, the onetime street fighter who is now fighting legitimate, sanctioned MMA fights. Couture said that the attention paid to Slice's background in street fighting is "not really great for our sport."
But then Couture added of Slice, "He has the potential to be a very good fighter." That surprised me a bit because so many people within the MMA world dismiss Slice as a freak show. I tend to agree with Couture, though; if he keeps training to be a complete fighter, and if EliteXC brings him along properly, he could start to fight and win against legitimate opposition.
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