Randy Couture is one of the all-time greats. ‘The Natural’ became UFC heavyweight champion back in the pre-Zuffa, pre-Dana White days when the UFC was a tournament and fighters had to fight multiple times a night. Back when MMA wasn’t even a proper well-developed sport. Couture was one of the most significant stars who contributed to the UFC (and thus the sport) becoming mainstream popular.

The one thing that was very problematic back in those days (and even today to some extent) is the UFC contracts. Speaking to Quentin ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Bear Degidio on their ‘JAXXON’ podcast, the UFC hall of fame revealed what the issue with UFC contracts was back in his day, and raised questions about the perennial issue of fighter pay.

“Horrible contracts, very restrictive, no transparency in our sport. Does anybody know how much any of these promoters are making off any single event? I can tell you what the fighters are making off any single event, it’s under 20%. Show me another professional sport in our society where that’s the case, it’s ridiculous,” Couture said.

This made Degidio curious about what exactly made him realize that his UFC contract was almost exploitative. “What was it originally? Was it the pay that struck you?” he asked.

To which Couture revealed that his main issue with the UFC contract was regarding the ancillary rights. Ancillary rights relate to things like an athlete’s likeness, merchandising rights, film rights, and such. Owning these means that the promotion can monetize the athlete without needing to pay them any part of the proceeds.

“Originally it was the ancillary rights. They basically would own my ancillary rights in every single category in perpetuity forever. And my management at that time… educated me on what that was worth and what that meant. That meant I was going to ask have to ask Dana White’s permission to do a movie to write a book to to be in a video game any of these things,” the former heavyweight champion added.

These shady contract practices, of course, ultimately backfired for the UFC as it is now paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in damages because of it.

Dana White and co. offer to settle lawsuit brought by former fighters

The UFC recently reached a settlement in two lawsuits brought by former fighters. Colloquially called the anti-trust lawsuits, the Dana White-led promotion has offered to pay $375 million to fighters in the Johnson vs. Zuffa suit. It has yet to settle the other class-action lawsuit, namely the Le vs. Zuffa case.

These lawsuits echoed what Couture (who himself is part of one of the suits) revealed in the ‘JAXXON’ interview, and accused the Las Vegas-based promotion of explorative contracts and using monopolistic practices to suppress fighters’ wages. The UFC initially tried to drag its feet on that case, using stalling tactics to try and play for time.

However, in the end, the promotion decided to settle with the parties, which some have taken to mean that the UFC felt the lawsuits had merit. After all, if the case had gone to trial, and the promotion had lost, it would have had to pay out around a billion dollars in damages. But the UFC has chosen not to go that route and has chosen to settle instead. Which is good for Couture, who will also see a check out of it. What do you think about Randy Couture’s revelations about the UFC’s contracts?