Sports of all kind are played by millions of young boys and girls around the world. Whether its baseball, cricket, hockey, or martial arts, many of these kids start as soon as they learn to walk.
Even rarer still than being a "mere" professional athlete, are those who are able to parlay their fame and name recognition into successful ventures that will keep them involved in their chosen sport long after they hang up their cleats, skates, or 4-oz. gloves.
Magic Johnson is part-owner of the L.A. Lakers; Wayne Gretzky is part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes; and John Elway is co-owner of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush.
Being a relatively new sport, mixed martial arts hasn't yet had an athlete who fits that bill -- until perhaps now.
Current UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture (Pictures) seems to have the universal respect and admiration of every single person involved in the fight game. Promoters, fighters, and fans alike -- everyone holds him in high esteem. Not even the opponents he has beaten in the octagon have anything bad to say about him.
But as wonderful as it is to have that respect, it won't put food on his table after he's retired. So over the past few years Couture has taken steps, such as opening his popular Xtreme Couture MMA training facilities, to ensure that he'll be able to keep his fingers in the pie for as long as he wants.
In an exclusive interview to Sherdog.com, "The Natural" talks about his future business endeavors, as well as why Canada, where he recently opened a 13,000-sq. foot training center in Toronto, will play a big part.
Sherdog: Are you franchising Xtreme Couture, or is it a licensing agreement?
Randy Couture (Pictures): Well we've started franchising the gym here in the States. We're open in Wellington, Florida, and Vancouver, Washington. We're going to be opening in Chicago and San Diego here in September, so it's only a matter of time until we found somebody who was interested in Canada, and Canada's huge for MMA.
Sherdog: Who will be running Xtreme Couture in Toronto?
RC: A gentleman named Doug Urch is the franchise owner there. I've got Shawn Geris helping me find instructors and locate the staff to run and teach the classes. There's a nice big Russian fighter there named Misha that's going to teach some of the classes and train out of there. We're putting together a good crew there I think. Shawn's spearheading that piece of it, and Doug knows the business side of it -- running the memberships and running a club, he's got a very successful athletic club up in Toronto.
Sherdog: Xtreme Couture Toronto isn't the only thing you have going on in Canada though, is it?
RC: We've also started a booking agency for fighters called Fight Lab. I kinda teamed up with Adrianne [Fekete] and some guys from the big ad agency/marketing company called "Pressure," Damon and Barron Lau, and I saw a need as a fighter kind of struggling to juggle booking appearances, booking speaking engagements, seminars, all those sorts of things. We started Fight Lab in the hopes to kind of help fighters do that. We're real excited. We're talking to a lot of the top fighters now like Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) and Rich Franklin (Pictures) and a whole host of the top fighters, and hoping to not only be able to book them appearances and speaking engagements, which could then turn into endorsements and a lot of other good things for the fighters in Canada, but we'll also create some distribution outlets and things like that for the Xtreme Couture line and some of the other MMA lines of clothes and shorts and things like Sprawl, and Full Contact Fighter, and Throwdown equipment and gear.
Sherdog: So is Fight Lab targeting more established fighters, or will it be for newcomers as well?
RC: Well definitely straight across the board -- we're not going to discriminate. We're going to try and work with fighters at all the various stages and levels in their fight careers, and I think there's a market for all those guys.
Sherdog: Whose idea was Fight Lab?
RC: The Lau brothers kind of approached me about the idea and if I thought that it would work, and kind of having a handle on a fighter's perspective on all that I thought it was a great idea. So we kind of teamed up and formed the businesses. Obviously Xtreme Couture was started down here in Vegas, and we're progressing very quickly with all of the training centers, so I'm excited about the way that's exploded, and I think we've got several big things happening with Fight Lab too that's going to be great.
Sherdog: Why is Fight Lab necessary?
RC: Being a fighter and kind of understanding the business for the last 10 years, and seeing what it is that I struggled with as a fighter, and the things I had trouble juggling, and all those sorts of things, it kind of spawned this idea of creating the Fight Lab, and creating a of place for fighters to get the kind of support and some professional help with booking contracts -- making sure they're taken care of. Getting paid what they're supposed to get paid, flight arrangements, hotel accommodations, all of these things that fighters are now getting the opportunity to do.
Sherdog: Isn't that what the fighter's manager is for?
RC: A lot of time we end up relying on managers and agents to do those sorts of things, and a lot of things fall through the cracks -- I know that's how it has been with me. I want my manager focused on my fight contracts and endorsements. But seminars and speaking engagements and all those sorts of things fall outside of their realm of expertise, and there's a big opportunity to make some extra money and help build your brand and establish you in the marketplace for fighting.
Sherdog: So just to be clear, Fight Lab will be strictly for bookings, and not managing?
RC: I'm not interested in really being an agent and a manager -- I think there's other people that are better suited for that. I'm at the time still competing and handling all this other stuff myself, I don't really have the time to manage fighters or be an agent. I have some of those connections and can help fighters do those sorts of things that I found myself doing.
I think we bring an integrity and understanding of the fight game. From my experience over the last 10 years there's a lot of managers out there and a lot people out there representing fighters that maybe just see a paycheck. I don't really need the money; I'm not interested in making a bunch of money off the fighters. I want to see the fighters do well and see them represented properly and see them be as successful and have all of the things that I have managed to carve out of this fight game in the last ten years.
Sherdog: Is Fight Lab strictly Canada-based, or will it be in the U.S. also?
RC: We're going to start with Canada because I think that's a wide open market. I think eventually we're going to do this right and we'll end up with contacts and things in the States as well. We're definitely looking at the UK, Australia, some of the other markets where Pressure and myself have connections and exposure as well. We're not going to limit ourselves to just Canada, but we're definitely going to start in Canada.
Sherdog: Phew! All this and training for a title defense too?
RC: [Laughs] We've also started a new association called MMA Worldwide, which is a kind of a fan based club if you will. You get a VIP card with my bright, shiny face on it that's going to create some discounts for gear, discounts for training. There'll be a Web site where you can go get training tips and training curriculums, all those sorts of things for the fan that I'm real excited about as well.
Sherdog: Does MMA Worldwide have a Web site?
RC: Yeah, mmaworldwide.com. With your membership you'll get Tapout and MMA Worldwide magazines year-long subscription, so it's actually a really, really good deal. Working with all of the major manufacturers to get discounts on gear, equipment, clothing, nutritional supplements, all the things that a lot of the fighters get. We wanted to create a fan based association that the fan can go and get some of those perks too.
Sherdog: With so much happening in your life, you must have some help.
RC: Absolutely. I've got the Gersh agency as my representation and Matt Walker from their sports department is my agent who kind of helps me juggle all of these balls. Between him and my wife, Kim, we keep everything up in the air. Kim runs the training center here in Vegas, and my staff there takes care of a lot of the business things that I can't keep up with. We've got the Lau brothers, Damon and Barron, and Adrianne in Canada kind of running Xtreme Couture Canada and Fight Lab up there, and they're keeping those balls in the air and moving forward very well and very quickly with all of that stuff.
Sherdog: You're 44 years old right now, and I think I'm probably safe in assuming that you won't be fighting for more than a few more years. All these endeavors of yours will be a good way to stay connected to the MMA world once you're retired.
RC: I'll always be around it I think. Through commentating and the Xtreme Couture training centers and the fighters that we work with; it's something that I love and have a passion for, so I'll always be around it. All the business stuff is icing on the cake, and so I'm having a great time.