
UFC 91 could end up having all of these fights:

It has been announced that on November 15th, 2008, the 45 year old champ Randy “The Natural” Couture will return to the UFC. Although Couture has had previous problems with his contract with the UFC, the champ will return at UFC 91 to face the rising UFC star Brock Lesnar. Lesnar is coming off a recent win at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy over Heath Herring and is looking to prove himself to the MMA world. Couture is confident he will be able to pin point the holes in Lesnar’s game since he has already made the transition from wrestler to MMA fighter and Lesnar is currently making the transition himself. More details to come. Stay tuned for the UFC 91 Results.
The Rumors have been flying around that Randy Couture (16-8 MMA, 8-5 UFC) could make his return to the UFC. These rumors recently continue to build momentum. It was recently reported that preliminary negotiations have begun between the UFC and Couture that would have Couture return for UFC 91 on Nov. 15 in Portland, Oregon. Additionally, reports claim that Couture’s next fight would be the UFC 91 main event against Brock Lesnar (2-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC). Of course with rumors none of this can be proven at the time of this article and should be taken with a grain of salt, however, this has not stopped the world of MMA from continuing to discuss this topic as if it were a reality.
Couture is currently waiting out the end of his contract with the UFC, which ends on October 11th. Naturally, waiting out the end of his contract with the UFC would allow leverage for Couture to re-negotiate a new contract with the UFC that perhaps might be more lucrative for him. More money, less fights or open up some new challenges Couture would like to accomplish. This of course would, if true, place the fight with Brock Lesnar under this new contract. It has been over a year since we last saw Couture fight in the octagon.

Just recently Zuffa has been informed that it has granted “Zuffa’s Motion to Compel Randy Couture to arbitrate in the District of Nevada”. This is big because HDNet was behind the claims against Zuffa and the UFC in Texas in support of Randy Couture. According to Zuffa’s Las Vegas counsel, Donald J. Campbell, Esq.:
“The practical effect of the Court’s decision is to allow Zuffa to continue its prosecution of claims against Mr. Couture in the Arbitration presently underway here in Nevada without any regard to the flaccid claims of HDNet and its management. Based upon evidence uncovered during the interrogation of Mr. Couture during his deposition, we have every confidence that Mr. Couture will be held accountable for the serious and ongoing breaches of his contractual obligations to Zuffa.”
This is big news and doesn’t bode well for Randy. This is a really bad day for the sport and we wish that both Randy Couture and the UFC could come to some sort of agreement without this public drama. Randy Couture has done so much for the sport of MMA and specifically the UFC, and the UFC has done a ton for the sport too. But now we have to stubborn groups that are going grind this out instead of trying to reach a more peaceful agreement. As much as we enjoy fighting this leaves a very sour taste in my mouth towards both parties.
What do you think?
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