As yet another sign that the full contact combat sport sometimes called “cagefighting,” has now truly hit the big time, MMA's first really ugly and high-profile contract dispute came to a close on Tuesday.
After a year-long court battle that pitted the Ultimate Fighting Championship against its own heavyweight champion, the two sides finally reconciled this week, agreeing to a settlement that will bring fan-favorite Randy Couture back to the company to fight former professional wrestler and NCAA champion Brock Lesnar on November 15.
The dispute quickly devolved into a game of he-said-he-said and dueling press conferences between Couture and UFC President Dana White. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban even jumped into the fray, representing Couture in a Texas lawsuit that sought to free him from his obligations to the UFC so Cuban's HDNet television company could score the rights to a potential Emelianenko fight.
It was the kind of big-money contract squabble you normally associate with baseball or football. It came loaded for bear with all the prerequisite name-calling, allegations of lying and sophomoric antics we've all come to expect from mainstream sports.
It was nasty, juvenile and mostly uncalled for. I took it to mean MMA had finally arrived.
Now that it's over, we've no choice but to chalk one up for management in the first big-time labor dispute in MMA history. The UFC is getting the better end of this deal.
The seemingly ageless Couture turned 45 in June and after an appeals court in the Lonestar State denied his motion for a declaratory judgment weeks later - effectively guaranteeing the battle would stretch on for months - he likely saw the writing on the wall. Making nice with the UFC was the only way for Couture to get back in action before he was too old to compete at the highest level anymore.
To be fair, the company gave a little bit too, signing Couture to a new contract that is presumably more to his liking than the one he bailed out on last year.
But whatever the UFC conceded, it'll likely get it back in spades from Couture vs. Lesnar, which is sure to be one of the biggest pay per view fights of the year.
Lesnar is a behemoth and began his career in MMA with a ton of built-in name recognition from his days as a WWE superstar. He quickly quelled any notion that he wasn't to be taken seriously as a legitimate fighter after a downright frightening domination of seasoned veteran Heath Herring last month, in what was just Lesnar's third professional bout.
Whether or not he's ready to fight somebody like Couture - one of the sport's most recognizable perennial champions - remains to be seen, but the match-up is sure to send the PPV buyrate through the roof.
The fight between the old lion and the young one will no doubt seize a lot of headlines, probably serving as yet another signpost on MMA's long road to mainstream acceptance.
Sports writer Chad Dundas can be reached at 523-5361 or at chad.dundas@missoulian.com.
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