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Couture, Arlovski make splash at HDNet Fights
Monday, December 17, 2007
DALLAS — Mark Cuban's upstart HDNet Fights MMA promotion hosted its second successful show on Saturday, but the event garnered as much buzz for what happened outside the cage as it did inside it.
The 10-fight card, which aired live on HDNet, was capped off by a thrilling main event between Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Tim Kennedy. However, the presence of two UFC heavyweights at the event garnered about as much publicity as Miller's come-from-behind win.
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Estranged heavyweight Randy Couture, who resigned from the organization in October over what he perceived to be a lack of respect from UFC officials, and Andrei Arlovski, a former champ who hasn't fought since a conservative victory in April, both made a splash in Dallas over the weekend.
Couture was on hand to corner Xtreme Couture fighters who competed at the event, and Arlovski was simply in town to enjoy the fights.
While the futures of both fighters have been murky at best, each shed some light on his individual situation.
Couture, for example, reiterated that his resignation was just that — and not a retirement as UFC President Dana White argued. However, the two sides have very different interpretations of Couture's contract. Couture feels it expires in July; White thinks it's valid until Couture fulfills the terms of the deal.
Once it expires, Couture wants to get back into the cage. And the 44-year-old UFC hall-of-famer wants to take on Fedor Emelianenko, a legendary Russian heavyweight fighter.
Couture wants an October fight date, but he expects the UFC's lawyers to put up a fight of their own.
As for Arlovski, the 28-year-old former champ confirmed that he's unlikely to fight again for the UFC. The organization won't schedule a fight until he signs a new deal (he has just one fight on his current deal), and rather than do that, Arlovski plans to sit out until the deal's April expiration date.
So is it a coincidence that all of this news came out during a rival organization's weekend of festivities? Could HDNet Fights be a future home for the two fighters?
Couture isn't ruling it out.
"The way they treat their fighters speaks volumes," Couture said of the Dallas-based organization. "They're going to attract a lot of the top guys that want to come and be treated that way ... I think it could be a great place."
Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of MMAjunkie.com, a content partner site of Yahoo! Sports. Visit www.mmajunkie.com for all the news from Saturday's HDNet Fights event.
