More Randy Couture Post Press Conference Anaylsis

On one of the MMA Yahoo groups I belong to, Extreme Fighting Fan the group moderator Kensei Neiko posted some nice analysis of the fighter contract data that was released to the press:

Okay, so reading over a "standard UFC Contract for top guys" Randy is
screwed!!! Here is why:

First off we have that Retirement clause that some are saying is a
pain for Randy but more just a word challenge for him to over come:

Quote:
"If at any time during the Term, Fighter decides to retire from mixed
martial arts or other professional fighting competition," the clause
begins, "then ZUFFA may, at its election, (i) suspend the Term for
the period of such retirement; (ii) declare that ZUFFA has satisfied
its obligation to promote all future Bouts to be promoted by ZUFFA
hereunder, without any compensation due to Fighter therefore; or (ii)
elect to provide Fighter with notice of an Acceleration."
For all practical purposes, sub clause (i) allows Zuffa to retain the
rights to a retired fighter in perpetuity. Sherdog.com has confirmed
that this clause does not appear in every Zuffa contract; it is
believed to be reserved for top fighters.


In laymens terms if he "retires" Zuffa can extend the contract till
he comes back....No shocker here so lets move along!

Read more...

Couture "Grossly Misrepresents" Contract Figures says UFC's Dana White

At a UFC press conference this afternoon to address remarks made by Randy Couture, Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta flatly refute the claims made by the Heavyweight champ. The details are certainly interesting for example the signing bonus.

Randy wanted a half mil signing bonus which the UFC wasn't ready to give up front in case of injury or something like that. Randy stated that he didn't get that bonus when in fact what Dana agreed to do was front 250k right then and the balance after the Sylvia fight which he got, that all works out to 500k. So it is indeed strange that he would claim not getting the bonus when he clearly did.

The press conference goes into a bunch more detail about the contract, meetings they had etc. There were also a number of interesting nuggets about the UFC like PPV buy numbers, fighter contract details, and fighter pay. I was surprised to hear that they pay discretionary bonuses to fighters also for excellent performance, great fights and the like.

Like Dana says, only time can tell how this one will turn out but for now he considers the matter settled and promises not to speak on it again after this press conference.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)