Randy Couture Leaning Towards Light Heavyweight Return, Next Fight Likely for Early-2010
Five-time UFC champion and hall of famer Randy Couture today told Sherdog that he’s likely to return to the 205-pound light heavyweight division for his next fight following back-to-back losses at heavyweight to Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and is likely to fight again early next year:
“Maybe this year, or maybe the first of next year,” said Couture of his next bout. “I haven’t really looked at the cards and the shows that they have. What’s on the schedule, I don’t know, but I’m especially leaning towards dropping down. I’m pushing in weight. It would be easy for me to make 205 and there’s more interesting fights there right now.”
At Saturday’s post-UFC 102 press conference following Couture’s unanimous decision loss to Nogueira in the evening’s headliner, UFC President Dana White announced that “The Natural” had signed a six-fight extension with the promotion, and that it was up to Couture in what division he’d fight next.
Couture, who weighed in at just 220-pounds for his matchup with Nogueira, said he’s under consideration for several acting gigs, which would prevent him from fighting until early next year.
Click here for more UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira coverage.
Tags: Randy Couture
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he is gunna win a belt before he retires! Fo Sho
imo
you can’t be serious … couture going to win the / any belt again?
if anything the LW division is more stacked than the HW division.
don’t get me wrong, I’m a randy fan fo shizzle … but to think he’d win a LW fight against a contender is ridiculous.
Rashad – too fast
Quinton – too strong (sorry, but Randy’s chin is weakening)
Shogun – his muay thai would be devastating
Spider – pull-eeze … he’d make Randy look worse than James Irvin
Machida – he wouldn’t even need to ‘lean back’ to beat Couture.
I agree, he will win a belt before he retired. =) He aint gonna win another one before he retires though. The ones hes already won will be his last.
UFC 108
Spider vs Couture
Hendo vs Nate the Great
HOW DO YOU HONESTLY THINK COUTURE WOULD DO AGAINST SPIDER… THAT MIGHT BE AN INTERESTING MATCHUP… I WOULDN’T MIND IT
IM NOT SAYING RANDY WOULD WIN EITHER IM JUST CURIOUS…
“It would be easy for me to make 205″?!
Really?
Last I heard, Couture was glad to be back at HW because he was tired of cutting down to his “high school weight” as he put it after the third Liddell fight.
Hendo has also been balking at making 185 as he gets older, although I’m willing to bet that if Anderson Silva drops his MW title in order to pursue other super-fight opportunities, Hendo will be in his plastics and back on Diet Pepsi quick as a lick.
As a lifelong Couturian, I only want whats best for the man. However, in true heroic fashion I think Couture is also considering whats good for the UFC, and the sport. The longer he fights, the more people tune in to see some crazy old man their dad’s age throwdown with a legend like BigNog or a Neanderthal like Brock Lesnar.
Of course Couture is looking to get paid, but hey, there is nothing wrong with that if he’s putting a$$es in seats and pulling amazing PPV buys for a man his age.
And then there is the matter of his in-cage performance. Against BigNog, Couture looked almost unreal. IMO most any other HW in those positions would have been choked out or knocked out, but not the Natural.
It’s these legendary showings that keep bringing the fans back for another go, and moreso Zuffa sees it and is looking to capitalize.
As for “more interesting fights”, I have to agree. I think that Couture will do better, although not necessarily win, against guys like gatekeeper Keith Jardine or Rich Franklin, than against guys like Frank Mir or Shane Carwin.
Plus, Dana must be delighted with the prospects. Just imagine the hype for a Couture-Franklin fight. If Couture wins, being Couture, he’ll get someone in the Rampage-Rashad-Shogun range, and THAT hype will be off the chain.
If Couture could somehow swing a decision against one of those guys, however unlikely, he’d be in a position to make Lyoto Machida REALLY famous by summer 2010 with his inherent Captain America-lity.
Thats how a UFC HoFer in his mid-to-late 40’s does business with Zuffa these days…
God I hope he’s not serious about pursuing some acting gigs.
As good a fighter as he is, it’s painful to watch him in an extended acting scene.
He wasn’t even all that good an actor in the Command and Conquer video game.
Scorpion King 3 anyone??
hes also in a steven segal movie..dunno the name.. they all the same..
Don’t forget he’s in Stalone’s movie, the expendables.
Wasn’t Couture on the show The Unit? He did pretty good for a guy short on experience as an actor
Yes he was on one episode. His character screwed up, too. Gutted that CBS dropped that show.
You are not the only one. The Unit was well-written and acted on show on primetime. CBS screwed up big time. Hopefully another network picks it up.
He would probably do better than Hendo did against him “IF” he can get him on the ground. If he can’t it will be a short night.
Couture took some heavy shots from Nog even though he got dropped twice, he was resilient enough to survive. I honestly believe that he could not take the same shots from say Lyoto, Rampage, or Anderson. As much as I love Randy I don’t want to see him take a lot of punishment from these younger guys witch I believe is inevitable. IF he gets KOed quick in his next bout I say he should retire, as much as I hate to say that.
animosity,
one of the first people to be realistic on the couture subject! Kudos my friend! His move down to lhw is a bold move if he goes for it. Like JCOHL said, i remember couture saying that @ this stage in his career that he was very happy to have to cut any weight because his body gave up too much energy and strength. If he drops, not only will he have to cut, he will be fighting younger, stronger guys (like he is @ hw ok), but these lhw’s could and WILL put you to sleep with one shot. I too agree that if he gets ko’d quickly it’s time for him to hang em’ up for good. I honestly can’t think of anyone randy could fight @ lhw @ the moment. I know he beat tito but that was way back when and tito would dominate him now. A fight between him and chuck would be seen as a retirement party so I don’t think that would happen. Randy seems to always be up for a challenge and I hella dig that about him.
Thanks bro
I think it’s a good idea for Couture to drop back to 205. At Heavyweight he is only going to be fighting bigger and younger hungry guys that can give him problems and problably knock him out. At 205 there are plenty of interesting fights for him although i think it will be hard for him to get a win as most guys now are too young and good, but he can for sure still hang with anyone if he stood toe to toe with Brock for 2 rounds. I wouldn’t like to see Couture face Liddell again because they have already written their story, but Couture vs Ortiz 2 would be really cool especially now at this point in their careers. At this point he can practicaly choose his opponent. I think he could take out some young guys though with his wrestling and endurance, he’d be able to wear some guys out, but i don’t see him fighting a top contender because most guys at 205 whether they are top contenders or just contenders, most guys i think would be dangerous matchups for him even though they are not ad big as the Heavyweights, i believe that the 205 divisons fighters are more well rounded and most of them are stand-uop fighters who can for sure put The Natural to sleep. Whoever he fights next i’m sure curious to see who it will be and how the fight will go.
I think most of us agree that Couture might be better off retiring, but clearly that isn’t happening. And regardless of weightclass, he’s always going to be facing younger, hungrier opponents. The man’s approaching 50, and is a 5 time champion in 2 different weight classes, and a Hall of Famer. How hungry could he still be?
Couture clearly isn’t finished in the Octagon, and that being the case, I would much rather see him in with someone like Tito Ortiz, Rich Franklin, or Mark Coleman rather than Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, or God forbid re-matching Brock Lesnar…
Tito Ortiz, Rich Franklin, Mark Coleman, Matt Hamill, Brandon Vera, and Cain Velasquez would be good fights for Randy Couture with a good chance of him winning.
Couture will not beat Hamill.
When your contemplating Randy match-ups its wise to keep in mind that the man doesn’t fight no names. Its been the better part of 8 years since he fought someone who isn’t a household name in the MMA world. Expect this trend to continue or I forsee hundreds of thousands of p!ssed off and disappointed fans. He wants to fight the best and the masses will pay to see him fight the best; add that up and its what your gonna get whether its wise for his health or not.
Well said natual.I agree.When people complain about his not so great record they don’t take into consideration his level of competition.He only seems to fight top fighters and i can’t remember the last time he’s had a gimme fight.
You can’t knock him though. Same difference as Brett Farve..Not great anymore but still good enough to barely “hang” with the competition. The problem is gonna be the same for him as it will Farve in the long run..
“I piddy da fool”…
Is that supposed to mean you want Couture to fight Brett Rogers?
LOL…
i dont care who couture fights, he will be competative! and thats what he brings to the table.