TG – There have been reports that Couture’s fight contract with the UFC will expire in nine months; is there truth to those reports? DW – Absolutely not.

TG – Were you hurt by some of the comments Couture has made regarding a perceived lack of respect from the organization? DW – Of course we’re hurt by that. Randy Couture is a guy who I’ve said publicly a million times and I’ll say publicly right now who I feel is one of the guys who helped us get here. If you want to call me a liar, people think a lot of bad stuff about me anyway, but to call Lorenzo Fertitta a liar, the reason the sport exists right now is because of him and his brother (Frank). They’ve done nothing but good things for this sport, and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him and his brother. You ask anybody in Las Vegas about the reputation of the Fertitta family; they aren’t liars, they are great people. So for him to say that about Lorenzo, it’s not like Randy Couture. It’s not like him.

TG – Had he brought some of his concerns to your attention before, or was today the first time you had heard them? DW – We had a breakfast a few weeks ago and he told me that he was upset about things and he felt like other fighters were getting paid more than he was and that he didn’t have the best contract in the UFC. And I assured him that he had the second best contract in the UFC with Chuck Liddell having the best.