View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNclzeWHrHk
Randy Couture is still involved in mixed martial arts, but perhaps not in a role similar to the kind that made him famous.
'The Natural', now 52, doesn't have a role with inside the organization, but has been brought on as a brand ambassador. That means doing promotion, showing up to the Bellator FanFest, and working with WSOF.
As much nostalgia as there might be for Couture's past, there's also some detritus from it that he can't escape. Couture is already a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, but with the impending celebrations set for July's UFC 200 card - including, but not limited to, more Hall of Fame inductions, UFC Fan Expo and more - there is some longing on his part to be involved. An ugly and public split with the company in 2013, however, has not only kept him away from the organization, he isn't even allowed to attend events.
"It's certainly an irritation," Couture acknowledged. "I think that's the way it's meant to be. They're trying to get back at me and to be an irritation to me anyway that they can be. They don't like that I've pointed out some of the issues with their contracts and the way they treat fighters and they've never liked that from day one, holding them to the contracts and ancillary rights and all those sorts of things that me and my management fought with them over since the day they bought the company.
"Ultimately, holding out to try and get the fights that I wanted in Fedor for 13 months and all that stuff, I think that's all stuff they're not very forgiving about," Couture said in reference to his near retirement in 2007. "All the other stuff that I did to promote them, all the other money that I made them doesn't matter at the end of the day to them. Yeah, I would like to be included. It's a sport that I felt like I was involved in in seeing grow and become what it's become."
As Couture sees it, this isn't his call. He believes if given the opportunity to participate, he would. That, however, doesn't appear to be an option.
"It's not really my decision. It's on Zuffa. It's on the organization," he claimed. "The issue's really theirs, not mine. I've done the best I could to represent myself and the sport in a positive way and will continue to do that until I die. The issues really are Dana White's and Zuffa's.
"I'm here working with World Series [of Fighting] and Bellator, trying to promote the sport, trying to do right by the fighters that train at my gym," he said. "The rest of it's really on them."
LINK: Randy Couture: 'It's not really my decision' to be excluded from UFC 200 festivities
