Considered the new strong man of MMA in the world, UFC president, Dana White, spoke with our correspondent, Cristiane Ripari, in Las Vegas, right after UFC 76. On the occasion, Dana explained the controversy surrounding Pride, spoke about the misunderstanding with Randy Couture and about plans to hold events outside the United States. See the full interview below.
A few weeks ago, Randy Couture sent a fax to the UFC informing them that he was leaving the organization even though he had two fights left on his contract. What really happened between the UFC and him?
This is what really happened between him and the UFC. He is part of a film that is being filmed in South Africa at the moment and has let us know that he wants to retire. He sent us a letter announcing his retirement. I haven't talked to him yet. As soon as he returns to the States I assume we will have a conversation and see what the real story is behind all this.
Some media outlets published that in a conversation with you and Lorenzo Fertitta, Randy Couture said: “I heard that I'm the second highest paid fighter. This is not true! I asked Chuck, Tito, Mirko, Wanderlei Silva, and others. I also have Fedor's numbers. Including the option of a $250,000 PPV bonus.” According to Couture and the reporter for this article, this showed tremendous disrespect.
And truth. Randy Couture has the second best contract in the UFC after Chuck Liddell. All these other numbers with Tito, Mirko, Wanderlei Silva and the amount offered to Fedor represents less than Randy Couture's contract.
Couldn't the UFC pay Captain America better?
We renegotiated his contract 8 months ago. He signed this contract just 8 months ago. And now you're saying he's not satisfied? But if he had approached me and told me he wasn't happy, we would have worked it out. I would never say no to Randy Couture. This is very interesting…
Wasn't Randy planning to create a union with all the other athletes for an exclusive partnership with the UFC for better compensation and bonuses?
I have no idea what Randy Couture is up to.
By the way, Fedor, who the UFC has wanted for a long time, will fight for an American organization that bought M-1, probably next January or February. What do you know about this organization that is planning to create events in the United States, Russia and Japan? Who is the “almighty” of M-1 (Mix Fight Championship)? Do you know anything about who is behind M-1?
I don't know anything about M-1. I don't know who is behind this. Honestly, I think a lot at this point is just speculation. I think people are just assuming things.
In an interview, the Red Devil said: “Although we had accepted the exclusive contract with the UFC, there were problems with unexpected dismissal if he lost fights and also with sudden changes of athletes.” However, you announced in the media that the Red Devil was the one who refused the contract. Who is telling the truth?
I decided to do business with Fedor. Obviously the Red Devil didn't accept the contract or he would be in the UFC now. They intercepted the deal. These guys are crazy.
It appears that Randy Couture's Hollywood manager may have influenced his latest decision. And if Randy wanted to face Fedor in M-1, would the UFC ban him from fighting in that organization?
There's no doubt his manager is behind this. In my opinion the guy is a huge cheat. I don't like him at all. We don't get along at all.
Mark Cuban, the one who managed to get Fedor into M-1 Global, thinks there is a lot of money to be made in MMA. You know very well that this business is not that easy and that success does not happen overnight. What is your opinion on M-1? Do you think they will succeed?
I agree that Mark Cuban is getting involved in MMA. Many other people are trying to get into this business and have already lost millions of dollars. Mark Cuban will also lose a lot of money. Everyone has been following what the UFC is doing and they think it's easy. They think they will make a lot of money. But it's not easy and Mark will figure it out. We'll see if he's successful. Maybe he'll do well, I don't know... What I can tell you is that he better stop dancing on that show “Dance with the Stars” and pay more attention to business! (laughter).
The words Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, probably mean more to people than Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) these days. However, do you think it's possible that this marketing strategy is perhaps making athletes uncomfortable?
We started a fighting championship. We build athletes, discover stars and the brand has been growing along with all of this. And how it works. I don't care if people aren't happy with the way we run our businesses. Go fight somewhere else. Pay attention to all these other organizations that are failing. Pride was powerful and went bankrupt. K-1 isn't doing very well either. Are all these other companies not making a profit and people come to us and tell us that we're not running our business the right way? Go take care of your lives! That's my answer to that.
We were surprised to hear about the closing of the office and the dismissal of Pride's employees in Japan. According to Mr. Nobuyuki Sakakibara the agreement when he sold Pride was not to disband the organization. What happened?
Obviously we kept the office as long as we could. We have been paying employees' salaries for all this time. But how long would we maintain a business that isn't working? No Japanese television station wanted to be involved in the broadcast. Even TV stations here in the United States showed no interest in the business. We thought that once the previous owners were no longer involved we would be able to return to TV. It wasn't the case. So what's the point in keeping this business open if we can't reach an agreement with any broadcaster? We failed to get Pride working again. We lost a lot of money buying Pride. Mr. Sakakibara made millions and millions and millions of dollars. We invested a lot and were unable to make the business work again. That's why we decided to close.
One more thing, when Lorenzo showed interest in buying Pride, did Mr. Sakakibara confirm the agreement?
Yes, we said we would do everything we could to keep Pride alive. We wanted to do Pride x UFC. The problem is that the name was already worn out. We couldn't keep him alive. Nobody wanted to do business with Pride.
According to a release, due to lack of cooperation from Dream Stage Entertainment executives, further events were unable to be organized. Who exactly are these executives and what kind of problems did they cause?
I'm sorry, but I'm not going to talk about it.
Where does the UFC intend to hold future editions? Chicago, New York, Canada, Mexico, Germany?
We are going to Canada, Mexico and Germany next year.
What about Asia? We heard there might be an event in Japan next spring. With the purchase of Pride, wouldn't you have good connections in the country?
As we can't keep Pride alive, we would like to take UFC to Japan. In fact, we are already working on that.
Aside from a television station broadcasting the event, what else would be needed for UFC Japan to happen?
We need a good sponsor. An ideal place to hold the event and television.
Now that Pride is over, do you plan to open a UFC office in this country like you did in England?
No, we will not open an office in Japan.
And what about China?
We are planning a UFC in Macau probably in the next 5 years.
We heard that Takanori Gomi started negotiations with the UFC. If he closes the deal we will have a Gomi x rematch B.J. Penn?
We are interested in Gomi and we are trying to bring him to the UFC. There are some great fighters he could face in the 155-pound division, which is an awesome division. B.J. Penn would be one of them.
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