Breaking News: UFC Champion Randy Couture Retires

In a story that has shocked the mixed martial arts world, UFC Heavyweight Champion and commentator Randy "The Natural" Couture has announced his retirement, surrendered his championship title and several all ties with the company.

Here are the details from Yahoo! Sports columnist Kevin Iole:

- Sean O'Heir, the spokesman of Couture's company "Xtreme Couture MMA", said Thursday that the UFC Hall of Famer had vacated his championship and resigned as an analyst on UFC television broadcasts.

- O'Heir said Couture was hoping for a fight to be made against Fedor Emelianenko, who is the top-ranked mixed martial artist in the Yahoo! Sports poll. Reports surfaced Tuesday that Emelianenko had signed with a new promoter, M-1.

- Regarding the realization that Couture's dream match with Fedor is now more unlikely than ever, O'Heir said "[Randy] was disappointed when he couldn't get a fight with Fedor. That would have been his legacy fight."