Randy Couture in 2006: 'UFC Fighters Make a Lot More Money Than They Could Elsewhere'

Doing a bit of research today I came upon this Kevin Iole article in the August 20, 2006 edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The article examines why UFC fighters make less money than boxers, and it concludes with Randy Couture, of all people, defending the UFC and saying it pays fighters quite well, thank you.

Here are the last three paragraphs:

Couture, who retired after losing to Liddell and is going to work for the UFC on regulatory issues under Marc Ratner, said that while some dissatisfaction might arise, he doesn't expect any type of revolt.

"I guess there's potential for an issue there," Couture said. "But let's be honest: Their marquee fighters are well taken care of. They make a lot more money than they could possibly make anywhere else.

"The top guys, the ones who are selling the pay-per-views, may feel a little slighted when they see a guy like (boxer) Oscar De La Hoya making $10 million a fight when we did numbers as good or better, but it will happen one day.''

Couture, of course, came out of retirement about six months after making those comments, won the UFC heavyweight title, and then quit the UFC about six months after that in a contract dispute.

Now he's back, and although it's not true in all cases that fighters make more in UFC than they can make anywhere else (it sure wasn't true for Tim Sylvia), it does seem that Randy is back in a place where he thinks fighters are better off fighting for the UFC than fighting against it.