Mission: Impossible

There was much excitement surrounding yesterday’s announcement that UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture and the UFC had reconciled. MMA fans get their beloved champion back, the UFC gets their heavyweight champion back, and Couture gets…put right back in the same situation that he was in 11 months ago?

Last October, Couture resigned from his role as UFC heavyweight champion, stating that there was only one fight out there that “made sense” to him at this point in his career. Couture had accomplished ALMOST everything there was to accomplish as a MMA fighter.

The last thing on his to-do list was to challenge the consensus #1 raked heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko, to a mega fight to end all mega fights. He was determined to put on an epic battle to unify the world title, turning the MMA world upside down before he hung up his gloves.

“[Couture] has made it very clear how bad he wants to fight Fedor,” UFC President Dana White said. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make a Fedor fight happen.”

As encouraging as that may sound to the many MMA fans that are dying to see this fight happen, it seems to just be more pillow talk from the “Modern Day Don King.” What makes me sense that he is just teasing us?

“We’re not going to mess with anybody’s contract,” White said about Emelianenko’s availability. “[Emelianenko] is under contract right now to another promotion. If he becomes available or something can be worked out with that other promotion — obviously everybody knows how crazy we are about protecting our contracts; we would never do that to somebody else.”

But that’s just it, no other organization out there “protects” their contracts like the UFC. Emelianenko is signed under the M-1 Global promotion, however as everyone recalls, he just fought in a co-promotion with Affliction Entertainment in July.

Was Affliction interfering with Emelianenko’s contract with M-1, or did they just decide to work together to make a fight happen?

“If the Fedor fight can be made, if he becomes available or whatever, then absolutely we would love to make the Fedor fight,” White stated.

Well Dana, that’s just it. The Fedor fight is available! If Affliction was able to do it in their first ever MMA promotion, you’re telling me that the UFC CAN’T?

Actually, you and the UFC WON’T.

White made it perfectly clear during yesterday’s conference call that neither he, nor the UFC, are interested in a co-promotion of any sort, with any other organization.

So that means that Couture has now come full circle, except he didn’t gain a thing except a longer and bigger contract than he had last year. That pushes a possible fight with Emelianenko out even further, at least another year and a half, with the 45-year old Couture staring an inevitable losing battle with Father Time dead in the eyes.

However, imagine if Couture never said a thing last October and fought the remaining two fights on his UFC deal. He would be a free agent right now, training for a fight against Emelianenko on New Year’s Eve, instead of Brock Lesnar in November.

Sure the fight wouldn’t have been for the UFC, but it would be for MMA fans across the world. The event would break all previous MMA Pay-Per-View records, earning Couture incentives that would surely dwarf whatever increase the UFC just gave him.

But, perhaps Couture felt all along that the fight would never happen. Maybe Couture knew that he was stuck in the UFC, but wanted more money all along, all the while enjoying an 11-month sabbatical.

The year long vacation seems to have calmed Couture’s desire to take on Emelianenko. It is possible that he knows that the fight will never happen, and if it does it will be too late. So Couture sent one final message to him stating, “Fedor needs to come and fight me.”

If one were to read between the lines, Fedor has to come to the UFC, like Randy did…again.