All of a sudden, Dana White seems very interested in booking a fantasy fight between Jon Jones and boxing champ Tyson Fury. Why?
UFC president [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] may be out on some crossover fantasy matchups, but there is one that he has recently shown a lot of interest in.
Just a few days removed from declaring “gimmick fights” are not a part of the UFC’s matchmaking playbook, White openly challenged boxing champ [autotag]Tyson Fury[/autotag] to step up for a fight against UFC heavyweight champ [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] in the octagon.
While White admitted he has a great relationship with Fury and knows he would easily win a fight against Jones in the boxing ring, the UFC boss believes things would be different in the cage – and rightfully so. Throughout the brief history of MMA fighters stepping into the boxing ring and vice versa, the victory typically goes the way of the fighter competing on his home turf.
[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] took on [autotag]Floyd Mayweather[/autotag] in the ring, and despite the box office smash, the result was no surprise as “Money” finished “The Notorious” Irishman in the 10th round. When boxing champ James Toney entered the octagon to face two-division champ [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag], things also went as expected: Couture quickly and easily took Toney down for the submission win.
So why is White so interested in this fantasy matchup for “the baddest man on the planet” instead of working with the PFL to create Jones vs. now-former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou? Is White’s interest in the fight with Fury genuine to create a potentially massive event, or is all of this a way to get the UFC audience to forget about Ngannou?
Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Farah Hannoun, Mike Bohn, and Danny Segura answer those questions with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their discussion in the video above and check out this week’s full episode below.
Former two-division UFC champ turned PFL commentator Randy Couture believes the two promotions could come together for a massive fight.
Although the chances are slim, [autotag]Randy Couture [/autotag] believes the UFC and PFL could find a way to make a massive cross-promotion fight between [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] and [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] happen.
Couture, a former two-division UFC champion turned PFL commentator, knows that creating a cross-promotional fight is about getting everyone on the same page. While one key piece is already in place, completing the entire puzzle would be a difficult challenge.
“The TV part of that, the network and exposure part of that is solved because both entities are on ESPN,” Couture told MMA Junkie Radio. “I think the landscape of our sport and the contracts, the restrictive contracts in our sport, are gonna prevent that.”
UFC and PFL have events that air live on ESPN channels and stream on ESPN+. The two promotions would have no problems when it comes to that aspect of the negotiations for a mega heavyweight fight like Jones vs. Ngannou. However, considering the UFC standing as the leader in MMA, it would be on Dana White and company to agree to terms with the PFL in order to make it all happen.
As we’ve seen in the past, the UFC knows their place in the market, and isn’t keen on sharing the marquee when it comes to promoting fights.
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When heavyweight great Fedor Emelianenko was in the prime of his career, negotiations between the two parties failed because the UFC’s unwillingness to work with Emelianeko’s promotion. The UFC has shown they will pass on promoting a major heavyweight bout if it means they have to share some of the promotional spotlight.
“The Fedor fight would have happened if the UFC would have agreed to a co-promotion with M-1 Global,” Couture said. “They had agreed on money. What they hadn’t agreed on was doing any co-promotion, and the UFC told them to take a hike.”
Considering White’s recent disparaging comments about Ngannou’s new contract with the PFL and Jones taking derogatory shots at Ngannou at seemingly every opportunity, there would likely have to be an earth-shattering, can’t-miss offer from the PFL in order to get the UFC to play ball. On the other side, Ngannou wants the fight, and Couture believes the PFL is in a prime position to work with the UFC to make it happen.
“I don’t think the PFL has an ego problem like that,” Couture said. “I think they would be happy to entertain a co-promotion between another promoter and themselves to make a big fight like that happen, certainly in the pay-per-view model they’re getting ready to roll out. So, I don’t think it’s out of the question there.”
Randy Couture thinks Ante Delija would make a great debut opponent for former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in the PFL.
[autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Ante Delija[/autotag] would make a great debut opponent for [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] in the PFL.
Ngannou signed with PFL and is expected to box first, then make his MMA return in mid-2024. The former UFC heavyweight champion has been unstoppable as of late – including a recent knockout win over the consensus greatest heavyweight of all time, Stipe Miocic.
But whom should Ngannou (17-3) face in his promotional debut? Couture says 2022 PFL heavyweight champ Delija (23-5) is a fight he’d definitely watch.
“Ante Delija won last year’s championship in stellar fashion and he was very highly touted when we signed him,” Couture told MMA Junkie Radio. “He struggled with the format early on, and I think he sorted it out.
“He figured out what he needed to do in his training, his preparation and his game planning to get through a whole regular season and make it to the playoffs and a championship, and that’s a fight I’d love to see. He’s a game fighter. He’s a solid, well-rounded fighter. Francis Ngannou and Ante Delija, that would be a great fight. I would watch that fight, and I would pay a pay-per-view to watch that fight.”
Fabricio Werdum and Ben Rothwell already bid to fight Ngannou, and Couture expects plenty of other heavyweights to put their hands up after “The Predator” negotiated a guaranteed $1 million purse for his opponents.
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With PFL striking a mega deal with Ngannou and its continuously running season format, Couture sees PFL impacting all the other promotions.
“There’s certainly a lot of heavyweights coming up in free agency that realize if they’re good enough and have the credentials to get into a fight with Francis, they’re guaranteed a better purse than anybody else is probably ever gonna offer them,” Couture said. “Which is a really, really unique and interesting thing that Francis negotiated for in his contract for sure. I think there’s a ripple effect. We already got the attention of a lot of the other promotions.
“Why did shortly after we started giving away million-dollar purses for our championship final every year did all of a sudden the grand prix launch in Bellator, all with million-dollar purses through their format? Obviously we’ve got guys like Jake Paul, certainly Jon Jones is still chirping about Francis and wanting to fight Francis. Whether or not that fight is going to happen, I think there’s a ripple effect.”
Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”
Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.
On Episode 3,363, the boys bring on guest [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] to discuss the PFL and its addition of Francis Ngannou. The fellas also discuss UFC Fight Night 224, which went down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and much more. Tune in!
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture reveals the advice he gave Francis Ngannou amid his UFC contract dispute.
[autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] is no stranger to dealing with the UFC on a contractual basis. That’s why he was consulted when [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] was struggling to reach terms with the UFC brass.
Couture, a UFC Hall of Famer and former two-division champion, infamously clashed with the UFC brass in the early 2000s as he tried to get free from his contract to take a fight with Fedor Emelianenko. He was one of the first big stars that had long, public conflicts with the promotion over things like pay and contract restrictions.
There were some parallels with his situation and that of Ngannou, the former UFC heavyweight titleholder who parted ways with the organization earlier this month after failing to finalize a new contract.
“The Natural” revealed during an interview with MMA Junkie Radio that he was asked for advice on Ngannou’s situation through Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick.
“My only input to Francis was to stick to his guns,” Couture said. “If this is something for his well-being, his family, his career, he wants to stand up for, then by all means stand up.
“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of fighters who are going to get in line and support him in that. I felt the same way when I stood up in 2001 and fought over my rights, and then again in 2006 over being misled about what was going on and where I stood in the sport at that time too.
“I don’t even know who Francis’ manager is. My engagement is in a training environment with Eric Nicksick, who’s one of his coaches, his main coach. They asked me how I felt about this, what was going on. Obviously, Francis isn’t the only one chirping about fighter pay and all this stuff, and Dana (White) is certainly getting an earful from Jake Paul on this regard with the difference between boxing and MMA. I just told him to be true to himself. If this is what he wants, then he needs to hold their feet to the fire and get what he wants.”
Couture believes the UFC actually gave Ngannou a fair offer in terms of what’s possible for fighters to make in MMA. Ngannou recently hinted he was offered around $8 million to defend his title against Jon Jones at UFC 285 in March.
However, Ngannou has made it clear he wanted more than just money, because he had other demands that pertained to his contract as well as for the rest of the fighters on the roster. This lead to Ngannou walking away from the promotion as a free agent and being stripped of his UFC belt.
Couture thinks that despite the price tag being solid from UFC, Ngannou could still find bigger paydays in boxing. But personally, as commentator and brand ambassador for PFL, he’d like to see Ngannou join the PFL roster, because he argue there are favorable conditions he can find there.
“The money that they came back with was pretty reasonable if you gauge where everyone else is at in the sport of mixed martial arts,” Couture explained. “Is it boxing money? Nowhere near. Ask Tyron Woodley, ask Ben Askren, ask Anderson Silva how much they made in those crossover fights. Ask Conor McGregor how much he made for those cross over fights.
“It’s not out of the question to see that Francis may end up in the boxing world. There was some talk about that. I hope that he ends up in the PFL. I know that Ray (Sefo, PFL president) is talking to him. We’ll see where he ends up. He’ll be a great addition to the heavyweight division in PFL. And if you want pay-per-view, that’s a model that the PFL is starting now. Man, put him vs. Ante Delija. I would pay to see that fight. That’s a great fight.”
Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”
Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.
On Episode 3,330, the guys discuss the latest legal issue surrounding [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] after a woman accused him of attacking and threatening to kill her on his yacht this past summer. Plus, they welcome UFC bantamweight contender [autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag] and UFC Hall of Famer/PFL commentator [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] as guests of the show. Tune in!
Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.
When Randy Couture fought Lyoto Machida nearly a dozen years ago, he already had decided it would be his last fight.
When [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] fought Lyoto Machida nearly a dozen years ago, he already had decided it would be his last fight.
Couture fought Machida at UFC 129 in April 2011 at Rogers Centre in Toronto. Their fight was part of what at the time was the largest attendance and largest live gate in UFC history.
Machida landed a front kick to Couture’s face in the second round for an all-time highlight-reel knockout. But going into the fight, Couture had won three straight on the heels of a loss to Brock Lesnar, in which he lost the heavyweight title, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. And there was a legitimate question of wether if Couture beat Machida, would he get a light heavyweight title shot?
After all, that’s what happened for Machida. It put him back in the win column and he got a shot at Jon Jones later that year. But Couture said even if he had beaten Machida, he knew his time was up.
“It was around the time I was doing a lot of self-analyzation about whether I should be grinding out another camp and continuing to train and fight in this sport at 47 years old,” Couture recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “The truth is, I don’t think anyone wanted to fight Jon Jones at that stretch. He was pretty much kicking the hell out of everyone, including Lyoto Machida, in that fight.
“I was already having long, hard conversations with myself: Was this the best thing for me? Did I need to be grinding out another camp? (I was) having an honest conversation with myself: Am I going to be the best guy in my weight class? If not, then why am I grinding out another camp and fighting?
“The honest answer to that question was, no, I probably wasn’t going to be the best guy in my weight class. So why? I ultimately decided that Lyoto camp was going to be my last – win, lose or draw. It was time to move on. That internal dialogue was already going on. Even if I had beat Lyoto, I was done. I was walking away from the sport after that fight.”
Couture, a UFC Hall of Famer, ended his career with a 19-11 overall record, including 16-8 in the UFC. He won both the heavyweight title and light heavyweight belt, which made him the first fighter to have UFC titles in two different weight classes.
His resume includes arguably the most famous trilogy in MMA history, in which he went 1-2 against Chuck Liddell, as well as wins over Vitor Belfort, Tito Ortiz and Mark Coleman.
Six $1 million title fights will go down at the 2022 PFL Championship event, and MMA Junkie Radio has a preview with analyst Randy Couture.
The 2022 PFL Championships take place Friday at Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York, with a main card that streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+.
Six $1 million title fights will go down, including the women’s lightweight headliner between two-time champion [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] and [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag]. The other championship bouts consist of Bubba Jenkins vs. Brendan Loughnane (featherweight), Ante Delija vs. Matheus Scheffel (heavyweight), Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Stevie Ray (lightweight), Sadibou Sy vs. Dilano Taylor (welterweight), and Omari Akhmedov vs. Rob Wilkinson (light heavyweight).
In the video above, you can watch an MMA Junkie Radio preview of the event with UFC Hall of Famer and current PFL analyst [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag].
Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.
Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.
On Episode 3,312, the guys chat with [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] about his anniversary of beating Kevin Randleman for the title and the PFL PPV coming up. They also talk about [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] having some problems at the airport, UFC signing [autotag]Gaston Bolanos[/autotag], what kind of shelf life will [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] have, and much more.
Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.
What started as a joke for Randy Couture has some truthful sentiments in the day and age of celebrity boxing.
What started as a joke for [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] now might have actual appeal to the UFC Hall of Famer.
In the day and age of celebrity vs. MMA fighter boxing matches, Couture doesn’t necessarily have the itch to return and make some extra cash. However, if he were to step inside the boxing ring, Couture knows which celebrity he’d want to face.
Couture’s “beef” with master Steven Seagal stemmed from a joking conversation with Jay Glazer at a UFC event years ago, when a few journalists misconstrued comments as serious.
“Jay, jokingly said, ‘Hey, we were just talking about you. Who would you come out of retirement to fight?,'” Couture recalled when speaking to MMA Junkie Radio. “I said, ‘Well, if Steven Seagal would sign the contract, I would come out to fight him.’
“Obviously, I was joking. Jay was joking. But the other three journalists that were standing there took that seriously. They went to Seagal and said, ‘Oh, Couture said he’d come out of retirement if you’d fight him.’ He, of course, had a very entertaining response to that.”
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Though it was a joke at the time, Couture thinks the sentiment holds some truth today. An actor himself, Couture is somewhat rubbed the wrong way by rumors of Seagal’s mistreatment of stuntmen.
“That would be the guy,” Couture said. “Everybody knows the rumors and all that stuff regarding stuntmen getting injured doing scenes and stuff with him, which does happen on occasion but is not the norm. It seemed like he went out of his way to make it a point of putting a little extra on those situations where you could hurt somebody to make himself look better and prove he was legitimate. That’s where I got started. I got started in stunts. I was lucky enough to get some real acting gigs. For all the stuntmen out there, I will stick to my guns and say Seagal would be that guy.”
Check out MMA Junkie Radio’s full interview with Randy Couture below:
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.