When Randy Couture walked to the cage behind Xtreme Couture fighter Mike Pyle last Friday, he may have thrown more gas on a legal fire that flared up last month.
Couture cornered Pyle, a welterweight in the inner circle of his Las Vegas gym, for “Destiny,” a promotion of Canada’s Hardcore Championship Fighting. According to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, that’s one of the places he crossed the line.
Amongst other charges, a lawsuit filed against Couture on Jan. 11 accuses him of breaching a series of clauses in his employment contract. By supporting Pyle, he was violating an agreement that prevented him from “promoting or producing events or programming related to unarmed combat, developing products or services related to unarmed combat, or otherwise conducting any business relating to unarmed combat.”
“It’s unfortunate that things have kind of degraded to that point,” Couture told MMAWeekly.com backstage at the Calgary, Alberta, Canada show.
The suit seeks damages “in excess of $10,000” for these infractions, but if the proceeding drags out in court, lawyers will ultimately win in Couture’s battle with Zuffa, LLC.
“I’m sure that’s part of their ploy, to force me to spend enough money that I’ll have to come back and fight for them, which isn’t the case,” Couture said as throngs of fans and officials clamored for his photo.
Couture signed his contract with Zuffa in Las Vegas on or around Dec. 11, 2006 and resigned from the promotion on Oct. 11 of last year. He’s repeatedly stated that he believes the fight contract is up in July, and may use local government to bolster his case.
“I’ve got a very good team of lawyers. I think we’ll basically have to get a declaration from the state of Nevada on what they interpret the contract as, but the way I see it, the contract is up in July,” he said.
Zuffa also alleges that Couture’s statements on HDNet’s Dec. 15 broadcast of “Reckless” were in breach of his contract, and meant to “maximize the harm inflicted” on the company. Not surprisingly, Couture disagrees.
“They didn’t force me to breach of contract in any way,” he said. “I simply stated the position I’m in as far as fighting, which is to wait my fight contract out, find a way to make the Fedor fight happen myself.”
Meanwhile, Couture said the UFC has tried to retaliate against him and his fighters.
“Like trying to ban my clothing line, and things like that that don’t really hurt me, they just hurt the athletes that we sponsor,” Couture said. “We sponsor some 35 athletes with that clothing line, and give back to the sport in every way we can. We’re already in Nordstrom’s and Macy’s and all the big outlets, so it just takes away from money that the athletes are getting from their sponsorships. It’s kind of stupid.”
No court date has been set for the proceeding, but Couture will soon have to commute by phone with his legal team. In April, he begins principal photography for his next film project, “Mandrake,” in China.
“I’m not worried about clearing my name, I haven’t done anything wrong,” he stated. “I’m simply wanting to pursue the profession that I’m in, which is fighting. And they’re trying to prevent me from doing that, so you tell me who’s wrong or right?”
