Randy Couture isn’t surprised by the Ultimate Fighting Championship feud with Francis Ngannou, given his background in professional wrestling.
Ngannou retired as heavyweight champion in January 2023 due to a long-running contract dispute, while Couture was in a drawn-out legal battle with UFC in 2007 and even publicly stepped down at one point. Ngannou has been fighting for the right to fight alongside boxing, along with conditions such as health insurance for boxers and lawyers to represent boxers in contract meetings.
Ngannou has moved to rival organization Professional Fighters League and is scheduled to make his debut for the 2023 season against heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira on Oct. 18 in Saudi Arabia. Former UFC champion Israel Adesanya, who considers himself one of Africa’s first three UFC champions along with Ngannou and Kamaru Usman, recently accused the organization of trying to erase the legacy of “The Predator.”
Couture isn’t surprised, given how his accomplishments have been handled by UFC. The former heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer has few UFC-produced highlights on YouTube. Couture was at odds with Dana White from the beginning over ancillary rights. UFC essentially wanted fighters to give up their name and likeness rights in perpetuity, which Couture refused to do. Couture was successful in retaining his ancillary rights, but ultimately parted ways with UFC and gave up his analyst duties. Couture has previously said that while he was able to keep his ancillary rights, UFC made sure that no other fighter could ever retain them.
In regards to Ngannou, Couture reflected on his feuds with other former UFC stars, including Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Frank Shamrock. Ortiz left UFC in a contract dispute, while Liddell never got the lifetime tenure with the organization that White had promised him. White has consistently dismissed Shamrock as someone who dodged Ortiz. Couture claims it was UFC’s practices that led to a class-action lawsuit by more than 1,200 fighters.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Couture told Sportskeeda MMA. “They’ve done everything they can to get me off the roster. That’s how they treat anybody that doesn’t play along with their good ol’ man club. That’s how they operate, and if you’re in the house with Dana, that’s how you’re going to be treated. That’s the way it is. So I’m not surprised at all. And there’s a lot of other people out there who are going to be unwelcome, just like me, because I told them my ancillary rights contract and what those ancillary rights meant for me. I wasn’t going to let them have their way with me. If I had, I wouldn’t have been as successful, because they thought I was unmarketable as a 40-year-old heavyweight champion. And obviously I continued to prove them wrong and continued to win fights that they didn’t think I could win.”
“So you’re absolutely right. I’m not surprised that it happened. Chuck [Liddell] And many other warriors, Tito
[Ortiz]Frank Shamrock, there are a lot of guys who fought for the company and did their best to promote the company and the sport in a positive light, but in the end were completely betrayed. [modus operandi]”That’s why we have these massive class action lawsuits…because of the way that company does business and the lack of transparency in sports in general. The Ali Act and amendments to the Ali Act will create that transparency.”
