Randy Couture
leaves the UFC, retires at age 44
The UFC heavyweight champion
Randy Couture (The Natural) announced today his immediate
retirement.
The
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter and UFC heavyweight champion
Randy Couture announced on Thursday that he is retiring. Some
reports indicate that Couture's decision was based on the
inability of UFC to sign the Russian heavyweight Fedor
Emelianenko for a fight with The Natural. According to a
spokesman for Randy Couture, Emelianenko was the last big
challenge for the UFC heavyweight champion and since the outlook
for a fight between the two was grim, Couture felt as he had
accomplished everything he could ever accomplish with MMA and
UFC. The Fight Network reports that Randy Couture notified the
UFC president Dana White of his decision to retire via a letter
sent from South Africa, where The Natural is taking part in the
filming of "The Scorpion King — Rise of the Akkadian".
"I appreciate this opportunity the sport of MMA and the
UFC has given me. However, I'm tired of swimming upstream at
this stage with the management of the UFC. It only makes sense
at this point in my career to fight Fedor Emelianenko, and since
he's now signed with another organization, I feel like it's time
to resign and focus on my other endeavors," read the letter
according to The Fight Network.
A statement from Dana White read:
"I'm not surprised at all by Randy's decision. I talked to Randy
several weeks ago and he said that if he couldn't fight Fedor,
then he has nothing left to prove in the sport of mixed martial
arts. He has been doing a lot of acting, and I know he is in
South Africa right now filming a movie. I think it's a great
move for Randy's acting career to retire from fighting while he
is on top. As we all know, Randy retired before. The landscape
in MMA changes every day. So when he is ready to come out of
retirement again, he is still under contract with me, and I'm
ready to promote him."
Published on
10/11/2007
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