Although UFC is publicly and internally denying the rumors of a sale, UFC Hall Of Famer Randy Couture seems to be hearing the same rumors as everyone else.
The UFC legend appeared on ESPN 1100 on Friday, a few days before the Flo Combat report that the sale has been agreed upon for a bid of $4.2 billion, and spoke about the rumors of a UFC sale.
“I’ve heard a strong rumor that it is sold. It’s done. It was done a day or two ago. Lorenzo’s [Fertitta] out. Dana [White] is still in. Four billion dollar price tag, somewhere thereabouts. I heard from fairly reliable sources that that’s happening.”
Regarding the $4.2 billion figure for the sale of the UFC, Couture stated the following.
“That’s a crazy number. We were doing the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. They were forty mil down and spent another eleven to get that show on the air. We were very concerned they were going to sell the company or the sport, under that brand, would die for sure.”
As far as the rumors that if sold, the new owners would be looking to retain Dana White as the president of the UFC, Couture had a very definitive opinion.
“I hear the company that bought it is keeping him on as the president. If the UFC has a problem right now as a brand, it’s an image problem. How they act and how they treat the fighters and the things that they do with their fighters that are in their stable and lot of that trickles down from him – his attitude. His attitude when he does interviews. His attitude when he deals with the media. His attitude when he deals with his fighters.
“So I don’t understand. If I bought the company and wanted to change that or take it to the next level, I’m thinking you need a change of face, you need a change of image. You address the class action lawsuit and all the other stuff that’s gone on in the tenure that they’ve been in charge.
“Now you’ve [become mainstream]. You’ve kicked down the doors. You’re on Fox television. You’re in all these countries. You’re everywhere. Where aren’t you? So do you need to keep kicking down doors and keep maintaining that particular attitude?”
H/T to MMAFighting.com for transcribing the above Randy Couture quotes.
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