Couture vs. Nogueira Likely To Headline UFC 101 in Portland
Randy Couture
Five-time UFC champion and hall of famer Randy Couture has agreed to fight former UFC interim heavyweight title-holder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the main event of UFC 101 in August, possibly in Portland, Oregon.
MMA Weekly first reported the news on Thursday, adding that the UFC is awaiting response from Nogueira on the matchup.
Couture, who last fought in November losing the UFC heavyweight belt to Brock Lesnar, was initially offered a bout against Nogueira in the first-half of 2009 but declined the matchup after undergoing elbow surgery and an upcoming film role will prevent “The Natural” from facing Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 99 in June as rumored.
Nogueira was last in action in December, when he lost the interim championship to Frank Mir at UFC 92.
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great match up, i think randy will be to much for big nog, but thats going on last outings, good match up none the less, when is mir and lesnar happening???
my bad ufc 98, cant wait for that!
This is going to be great fight even without a title on the line.
Nice match-up…. and this card may have BJ v. Kenflo on it too… should be good.
Not going to hold my breath on a Portland card, they got me excited once and pulled the rug! Makes sense with Team Qwest here and could possibly be Couture’s last fight. Let him go out in his home state.
I have Randy in this one. I think Nog and Randy’s boxing are near equal, the reach going to Nog but Randy is a bit more busy. I think Randy’s submission defense will be the deciding factor here. Nog will have no problem letting Randy take him down, and Randy likes to sit in the guard of his opponents and work a GnP until he can get side control and eventually mount. I don’t know how affective this will be for Randy and could see him try and make this a boxing match, but if Randy controls Nog and doesn’t give up a limb when he is not suppose to, he should be the controller of the fight. If Randy beats Nogueira though I don’t think this will be his last fight.
randy rarely mounts he likes half gaurd the most… and reigns down punishment
i like both fighters and i can see it go either way… id like nog to win so he can get back on the road to fight for a belt again… i think randy needs to hang them up…. maybe coach TUF… besides hes an actor now anyways
You bet, from former UFC LHW and HW Champion to Grammy Award winner. I can see it now.
Grammy is for music… did you mean Academy Award?
Unless he starts singing too? Meant to put Oscar, but had a brain freeze.
Will, Randy has 2 fights remaining on his new UFC contract. If Randy wins, he should fight loser of Mir/Lesnar. And if he wins again, he can leave UFC as top contender and go fight Fedor for big bucks.
This would have been better as a 5-round bout. In 3-rounds it’ll go to the score cards. But I’m still buying.
I know, but let’s say he takes another beating from Big Nog like he did Lesnar, the UFC hay let him out of the last fight. Unless Liddell loses to Shogun and let’s have a retirement Liddell-Couture 4. By the time this fight happens, Couture will be 49 years old, this HAS to be the last one.
Lets say Couture gets out of his contract next year, do you really want to see a 50yr old Couture vs a 33yr old Fedor? This fight has no appeal anymore, imo.
I see randy keeping it on the feet like mir did and continously knocking Nog down using his boxing.
I love Big Nog but the injuries and brutal comebacks have taken their toll on the man.
I think this one could go either way but if nogueira fights the way he did against mir, couture will finish him fast. I honestly can’t believe how good nogueira made mir look in their fight. ANyways, should be a good one.
Sounds like your giving Mir no credit at all “can’t believe how good nogueira made mir look in their fight”??? Does anyone even remember the old Frank Mir ,he was after all UFC HW Champ… I think you need to go look at some old Mir Fights “We’ll see if he’s back for good in this next fight”.. But until then he’s still the Number 1 HW fighter in the UFC “beat Lesnar and beat Nog”
Mir has excellent stand-up because he sticks to the basics. He was trying to teach that in TUF, 3 punch combos. If you are going to go in, throw at least 3 punches. He picked Big Nog apart by this simple rule. Lesnar has yet to take a big shot or combos to the face. Mir can snap a faster jab then Lesnar’s right cross, so should be a good stand-up contest.
I don’t think Mir has even decent stand up. I know he looked great against Nog, but so did Tim Sylvia, Heath Herring, and pretty much everybody against Nog. If we exit the whole “what have you done for me lately” mindset in fighting, Mir has NEVER looked impressive in his stand-up. He looked like crap against Vera, Marcio Cruz, Tim Syvlia, pretty much everyone. He does have great jits for sure!!! But I think Lesnar kills him this time. Too bad though cause I hate 1 trick pony fighters like Lesnar, but Mir won’t make it out of R1
It’s a good match up.. I’d really like to see Couture back at 205 for a few fights tho…I think Couture can hang with the top guys because his game plans are amazingly used well. Not saying he can beat Machida or Rampage or Evans just that he’d be a good test for anyone of them because he’d be the bigger guy, and he’s smart guy with alot of exp.
should be good and go either way, both fighters are on the downhill of their career, great fighters, but nonetheless on the downhill. im rooting for randy because he is ex-army, but I love to see anyone who has a great bjj background. awesome match making for the ufc. no ken-flo bj though just strip bj of the title and cut him… no room for his ego and attitude in the ufc.
UFC MANZ
You make a great point. Mir beat lesnar and nog. I think mir is a great mmartist, i just think big nog made his stand up look better than it really is. I’ve never thought mir had great stand up and when he fought big nog, his stand up looked great, but only because nogeira didn’t even fight. imo mir’s stand up is ok.
mir’s stand up is improving he did great with BIG NOG we will see if it still gets better
couture will win probably tko 2nd rd nogueira is weak in strikin!!!!
randy couture tko!
After this fight they should both retire, it doesn’t matter who wins or loses. Big Nog you just got ko’d and Randy, dude, your old, you had a great carrer but don’t become like Ken Shamrock and those kind of guys. Just accept it buddy, you can still escape that.