(Go on. Ask him if he gives a f*ck.)
The odds of Randy Couture getting a cushy no-show desk job with the UFC have officially dropped to zero. In the wake of Couture accepting a position to be the new superstar face of Spike TV and Bellator, UFC president Dana White tore into the Natural, blasting his lack of loyalty and even questioning his character as a human being. Here’s what DW had to say about it yesterday:
“I’ll say my peace on Randy Couture, and after today, I’ll never mention him again. The bottom-line is this: When that whole thing went down with Randy years ago, we weren’t on the best of terms. Now, before that happened, Randy Couture was on the Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell deal. He was getting a salary, he was in with the company, he was one of those guys. Then he tries to do all this stuff, pull all this bullshit with Affliction, loses and comes back. So, it took me a long time to warm up to him. His lawyer, who I can’t stand, calling our lawyer every day, saying, ‘We want to come back, we want that job again, we want to work for the UFC,’ and all this stuff. Finally, I just say, ‘yes,’ and give him the FOX [commentary] deal…
He doesn’t even finish his contract — he’s got one more fight left — and he bails on the contract to go do this. Randy Couture has this ‘Captain America’ image and stuff like that, but he is not a good guy. He has never been a good guy. And I’m actually, and I mean this, I couldn’t mean it any more: I am happy that he went there. I’m happy he is there. I never have to deal with Randy Couture ever again…. Talk to 99 percent of the people who know him and you’ll see [he’s not what people perceive him to be].”
Yes, it’s easy to make Dana White out to be the bad guy when the UFC has disputes with fighters, but this Rampage-caliber public venting isn’t really helping Dana’s case either. The only slam on Couture’s character that we’ve ever heard is that he likes women — like really likes women — to the extent that it occasionally affects his judgment. (New theory: Randy Couture jumped ship to Bellator in an attempt to get into Jade Bryce‘s pants. Just throwing that out there.) Stay tuned, and we’ll see if this latest falling-out turns into something nastier…