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January 16, 2008: Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, filed a lawsuit Monday against its own heavyweight champion, Randy Couture. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, the lawsuit was brought with the idea that The Natural had caused irreparable damages to the UFC by indirectly participating with the International Fight League (IFL) and speaking out against the UFC in a public forum.
“I tried to resolve it by talking to this guy that I’ve had a relationship with for eight years and was unsuccessful,” UFC President Dana White said in the Review-Journal report. “Now this thing’s in the hands of the justice system.”
Xtreme Couture—Randy Couture’s camp— was named as one of the teams for the 2008 IFL season (with Shawn Tompkins at the helm). At present, Couture’s current UFC contact was signed in December 2006 and will end in October of 2008. He has gone on record as saying that he is waiting for it to expire so that he can fight Fedor Emelianenko of M-1 Global. That said, the UFC is arguing that Couture hasn’t yet fulfilled the four fights designated in his contract and can’t get out of the contract without doing that unless he retires.
Thus, Zuffa is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be decided in the courts. Also, Zuffa is asking for an injunction that would prevent Couture from getting involved with any competitor of the UFC.
So the battle lines are drawn.
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