Ricco Rodriguez’s UFC 39 UFC Belt up for Auction

The UFC heavyweight championship belt awarded to Ricco Rodriguez after his UFC 39 victory over Randy Couture is up for auction.

That starting price? A cool $29,999.

The auction is being hosted by eBay and ends on Monday, Jan. 7 at 11 p.m. ET.

According to the item’s seller (who appears to be a business partner of Rodriguez’s), the 30-year-old former champ is selling the belt to raise money for a new MMA school he hopes to open in the South.

Rodriguez (26-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC), who’s competed professionally since 1999, made his UFC debut at UFC 32 in June 2001. After posting four consecutive knockout victories, he was slated to face Couture for the UFC’s vacant heavyweight belt at UFC 39 (the title was vacated when former champ Josh Barnett tested positive for anabolic steroids).

Rodriguez forced Couture to verbally submit at the 3:04 mark of the fifth round.

Rodriguez went on to lose the title to Tim Sylvia in his next bout, and after subsequent losses to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in PRIDE and Pedro Rizzo at UFC 45, he left the UFC for good. He most recently competed for the Plainum Fighting Productions and International Fight League organizations.

Starting Jan. 10, Rodriguez can be seen as a cast member on VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab.” VH1 will run eight one-hour episodes of the weekly reality series. Dr. Drew Pinsky, best known as a host on “Loveline,” is an addiction specialist and oversees the celebrities’ drug and alcohol rehabilitation during the show.

Rodriguez tested positive for cocaine and marijuana after a November 2006 event in California.

Source: http://mmajunkie.com/

he needs coke money

Yeah Ricco would make that 30 large turn into a cocaine nosejob QUICK!!!!!!!!!!!!

thats 2 kilo's!
$30,000 boogersugar party at ricco's!