Everyone's seen the story now where Randy claims that the UFC turned down an offer to co-promote the fight. However, he didn't really give any details, and for all we know they offered to do it on a M-1 show while mentioning UFC a few times. However, if you assume it is a legitimate offer, I think the narrative saying that there is no upside for the UFC in doing this is wrong.
Imagine this: 10 minutes into Sportscenter, the anchor interviews former UFC champion Randy Couture, who has succeeded in court against the UFC, and has now signed a 4 fight contract with a new startup organization. He will fight Fedor Emelianenko, who many consider the best fighter in the world. Randy goes on to put over the new group, and it is all over the news.
This is the only event that can really hurt the UFC at this point. A co-promoted UFC show where M-1 is mentioned in the main event, Fedor is announced as a M-1 fighter, etc, really will do nothing for a company with no TV. The only thing that can get them a meaningful deal is a contract with a big star like Randy Couture.
The first half of UFC's 2008 looks pretty barren in terms of big main events, and the second half will be disastrous for them if Randy is able to leave and turn a small organization into a big one.
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