mma / News
Randy Couture Says He Thinks Georges St-Pierre Will Have A Tough Legal Battle Against The UFC
In an interview with MMA Junkie, Randy Couture spoke about his own legal problems with the UFC in the past and how that could mean Georges St-Pierre won’t have an easy time against them in court. Here are highlights:
On why he settled against the UFC: “I settled because I was 45 years old. They were going to drag it out as long as they could and basically try to bankrupt me. I’d already spent $500,000 of my own money to pursue getting away and being able to make the biggest fight of that time happen.”
On the UFC’s legal battles with fighters: “At the end of the day, it still boils down to the same issues. This company has been signing fighters to coercive and literally awful contracts for years. It’s been one of the things that I’ve fought with them over since day one, since they bought the company, over ancillary rights, over (right to match) and retirement clauses, and having a little bit of leverage as their heavyweight champion when they bought the company, we fought over all these things. It’s one of the reasons I’m persona non grata with the company now.”
On his GSP’s contract battle will go: “I never heard him say the words, ‘I’m going to retire,’ which obviously can affect how they handle the contract. Generally, when you announce a retirement like that, it freezes your contract, so if you announce you’re going to retire and you have two fights left on that contract, then that’s going to freeze that contract, and you still owe the company those two fights if you decide to come out of retirement. Most contracts have a clock on them – in 18 months, we’ll give you six fights. Obviously, if he retired, then that clock freezes, and that time doesn’t tick away. I don’t see that was the case with Georges, but then how do you rule then if he wants to take a hiatus? He’s obviously not active and not going to fulfill the fights that are on the contract.”