Atencio on Couture Re-Signing

[snakerattle79]

http://www.mmarated.com/blogs/blog/2008 ... c-635.html

Since the news broke that Randy Couture was returning to the UFC all I could think of was how does Affliction's Tom Atencio feel about this? After all, one half of his dream match was now headed back to the competition.

I caught up with Atencio earlier today to briefly ask him about the Couture situation and, not surprisingly, he took it all in stride.

"Randy needs to do what he needs to do to handle his problems," Atencio said. "I'm happy for him."

Atencio later added that he doesn't feel Affliction lost the Fedor vs. Couture dream match because Couture never had a fight contract with his promotion.

"I think the biggest problem is people assume everything," Atencio said. "The bottom line is Randy is our partner with Xtreme Couture. Randy is sponsored by Affliction. He's been with us and we work with him. Randy needs to handle his legal problems with the UFC and he did so I am happy for him."

And what about Dana White's comments that Affliction wouldn't live to see January? Surely, that had to piss off Atencio, right? Think again.

"Dana has his right to his opinion and he is very open about it and that is completely fine," Atencio said calmly. "Since day one, I have always handled things this way. I don't need to bite my tongue because I don't need to talk s**t about people."