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Dana White, President and Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC co-owner held a press conference Tuesday, October 30th, to address recent statements made by Randy Couture, and answer questions for the media.
John Mulkey, CFO discloses Randy's number's:
56K for commentating
$200,000 per an.
$936, 000 for his PPV bonus from 534, 000 UFC 68.
$1.186 million for UFC 68.
$250k for UFC 74, $35k discretionary bonus and 484, 000 PPV buy = $1.072 million
-UFC 68 through October 12th $924,000 received so far. All but $17, 000 cashed by Randy
-UFC 74, he will receive his check for that soon after Zuffa gets it
-They spoke about when Randy supposedly had his letter in hand 2 weeks before he did do the resignation
-Lorenzo is said Randy was stating to them that fighters are offered more money than Randy was, and the Fedor signing bonus issue
-Lorenzo feels they ended the discussion in a positive note, Randy said the only fight worth fighting was Fedor. If it weren't for that, he may consider retiring
-Lorenzo said they felt the meeting was positive, they shook hands and hugged and had no idea he was as upset as he seemed to be about things
-Dana doesn't feel it was a 2 week notice type thing, Randy didn't indicate them a timeline and they were going to sort it out with them when they could
-Asked if they would take legal action, they are saying Randy is still under contract and they will do what they need to do protect their rights
-Dana said Fedor is not 1 to him, they tried to make the fighter because Randy wanted it
-Fedor fights Zulu, fights Mark Hunt a kickboxer, fights 40+ Mark Coleman, and fought Matt Lindland who couldn't beat Quinton at 205
-Randy is number 1 not Fedor, Fedor is a farce (Dana quote)
-Dana said he knows Randy was pissed, but that day the discussion had nothing to do with fighting, he was mad about Pros Vs. Joes, etc.
-They are handing out cashed check pamphlets etc. Dana says he would not have paid Fedor more than Randy, Fedor is not top 5 and he isn't saying that because he didn't get him. He feels Randy would beat Fedor and tried to make the fight for him
-Asked about fighters from Xtreme Couture having a rift with the UFC
-Dana says Randy said things that weren't true, and are there to prove it
-If Tito and Dana can work it out, so can he and Randy
-Asked if there is a Breaking Point - where Randy wouldn't be welcomed back
-Dana said get all questions about it out today, no more discussions after today and you won't see Lorenzo for 10 years at a press conference. It is not he said, she said, they are handing out facts. They want Randy to defend the belt
-Dana said, when they bought the UFC they put together a 10 million dollar ad campaign, at the time the contract Randy had had his ancillary rights in it. If they don't have it in there, they can use the fight footage and etc. for the fighters.
-Randy wanted money from the ad campaign and Dana said we aren't paying you for that, it's to promote you and the sport. He thought Randy would lose to Pedro Rizzo, and then they thought he'd lose to chuck and he didn't. Dana said "I don't say who wins" Lorenzo says they gave him title shots after losses etc. and he shouldnt' feel that he's been slighted.
-Dana said Randy probably had more title shots than anyone, alwasy promoted as a big guy. Can you disagree with him being a marquee star?
-Asked about court
-Dana said he hopes not about it having to go to court. Lorenzo says it's up to Randy
-Dana said it's the "Puke" hollywood agent's fault. Dana said bullshit, first curse so far
-Dana said what's the endgame, what he said is false. He doesn't know where this is going, "we'll find out"
-Timetable to get something done for resolution with the HW title.
-Dana said, "We consider Randy the HW champ of the UFC, we are going to offer him a fight for the beginning of next year, probably Nogueira"
-Dana says no we will not make money public. Fighters do not want it either.
-The day everything started, Dana said Randy was pissed at him... he said he called him 44 times that day, he felt like a GF that got broken up that wasn't ready to be broken up
-He said I don't know what's wrong but talk to me about it. Randy called back, he felt they had a good convo. Then he did a press conf next day. Dana has tried to fix it but haven't sat down face to face yet
-Back to the contract (9 months or 2 fights) - Dana says he's not going to talk about it. They will do everything to have him honor his contract
-Randy makes under 3 million this year for fighting twice (2.9 million) and makes another 3 million outside of the octagon.
-"These guys live fight by fight" UFC is spending their money, 100+ employees, run like a business, spending money to move out to UK differnet business model than boxing.
-Lorenzo = multiple guys that make money close to Randy.
-Randy wanted a piece of the PPV(Dana) he said some guys get guaranteed money and some guys get more PPV buys than Randy did, and might have made more money.
-The 9 months vs 2 fights thing sounds like they aren't going to let him sit out and not fight. They said they'd offer him Nog for January earlier in the press conf.
-If Randy doesn't go through, is Tim Sylvia next for title?
-Dana said Randy is our champ and we will figure this thing out. Hasn't thought about if it doesn't work with Randy
-Meltzer- asks is there something in the contract where if Randy were not to take a fight would it freeze the time limit. Dana says we do not talk about this stuff, but there's no way they are going to talk about the contract at all. WE gave him $500k 8 months ago, we expect him to honor it
-He was still paid in 2006 though he was retired. He was paid 160, 000 for the year up to that point. Dana says "I can't believe I'm here doing this, I do not know what randy couture is thinking or doing. It doesn't make sense"
-Lorezno said he is confused becasue randy said he wasn't looking towards fighting another fight, but his press conf. said nobody would believe him if he said he retired
-Lorezno - "I read him wrong." "Would I think Randy would retire (by his meeting with him) No"
-Dana, back to losing twice to Chuck Liddell, reclaimed HW title, and if he wants to go acting and go out on top that makes sense
-Dana - "You'll never see Lorenzo at a press conf again get your questions out now!" "I'll never talk about money again"
-"What's your stance on legal betting" - I have no clue why this is being asked
-Lorenzo said if people want to bet on the UFC, that's fine. It's regulated, and overall a positive to bet on it. Once the sport was legalized in nevada, they held fights at the casinos, customers at the casinos said they wanted to bet so they started the books
-It is a real sport, you can bet on it
-Asked about Station Casinos - (Fertitta's own it) - personal decision not to take bets on UFC there
-Were there talks about sending Randy to M-1 to fight Fedor? Dana says no. Fedor does not affect anybody's business, so no. (Asked about situation similar to sending Chuck to Pride earlier to fight)
-Asked about going to Canada and Mexico, they are excited about doing it though.
-Back to Fedor signing bonus....what was the offer?
-Fedor would have never made more money than Randy - Dana
-Randy didn't know what Randy was gong to get, how would he know what Fedor was getting - Dana.
-Dana "I would never let Fedor come in and make more money than Randy Couture, never happen"
-Dana - "We've never had a problem with Randy Couture"
Dana said he doesnt like the agent, confident that's where its coming from, but that's his opinion
-Lorenzo - he's (Randy) never complained to him, very professional and cordial, shock the way everything came down
-Asked what is more disturbing, no hbo, no fedor, or Randy thing
-Dana - "We decided no HBO." "Fedor was for Randy, I could care less about Fedor. Randy is most disturbing thing by far"
-Takanori Gomi fight for UFC? - Dana said, this conference is only for Randy Couture
-Dana said, we've always dealt with this kind of stuff, but never this public.
-Lorenzo, when we bought company in 2001, we'd have a press conf. employees had to ask questions. Nobody was there, nobody cared.
-No checks ever bounced for fighters, they bankrolled everything to get to where they are today.
-More Lorenzo - told people that one of his goals was one day, I will know that we have succeeded at doing what we want to do when we can actually afford to pay a fighter 1 million dollars. Little did I know that was going to be the start of our problems.
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