Not So Fast: Arlovski's Next Fight Will Be In The UFC

by Michael Rome on Dec 17, 2007 3:22 PM EST in MMA News

The people over at MMA Weekly do a great job generally, but a lot of their reporting out of the HD Net show was either misleading or wrong.

First, their story about Randy Couture falsely gave people the impression that Randy was claiming he could just wait until the end of the contract and then fight Fedor. They quoted portions of what he said accurately, but also left things out. Randy is very clear on the legal situation and knows that he owes his next 2 fights to the UFC. Getting out of that is going to take a legal struggle or settlement of some kind.

Second, although they claimed in the piece above that Arlovski is waiting out his contract to fight with another organization, a representative of his says the story "was absolutely not true." The MMA Junkie story sounds more accurate to me. UFC brass has made it clear they'll be offering him a fight soon, and unless Arlovski takes it he'd be in the same situation Randy is in. Arlovski will probably fight again by March.

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Re: Not So Fast: Arlovski's

Hmm, I did not notice that being said, but I guess I assumed some sites weren't stupid.

It has already been reported that Arlovski has to fight out his contract. He knows that, we know that, everyone should know that. I assumed that the news was simply that he would not be pursuing the UFC any longer AFTER the fight happens. Apparently people thought that his next fight would not be in the UFC??? Is that the case?

I didn't take it that way at all. Of course, I knew that Arlovski was going to just fight his last fight and leave most likely.

by Leland Roling on Dec 17, 2007 3:58 PM EST reply actions

Re: Not So Fast: Arlovski's Next Fight Will Be In

"Randy is very clear on the legal situation and knows that he owes his next 2 fights to the UFC. Getting out of that is going to take a legal struggle or settlement of some kind."

Is he? It seems clear from Couture's comments that he takes the position that once the contract ends in July and the employment ends in October, he's free to fight. I've never seen Couture agree that he owes 2 fights regardless how long it takes.

But, you're right, I'm sure the UFC will try every tactic available, including lawsuits, to stop Couture from fighting Fedor outside of the UFC.

by whaledog on Dec 17, 2007 9:26 PM EST reply actions