Couture to come out of UFC retirement

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

--Randy Couture will be announcing on Thursday night's "Inside the UFC" that he is coming out of retirement. It wouldn't shock me if they also announced Tim Sylvia vs. Couture as the main event for the 3/3 PPV in Columbus, OH. The second sentence is nothing anyone has told me directly, but based on a number of things said to me be a few different people in the last few days, (most notably that the current plan is for Couture to fight at heavyweight for his comeback, which I think is a bad idea, as well as the timing of this announcement), it indicates to me that's a possible direction.

 

Could Couture be the one to rescue the Heavyweight title from Sylvia?

[Hawk 34 0]

That might be worth the trip up.

[Youth N Asia 0]

His record doesn't reflect how good he really was. I'd like to see him fight again because I think he still has it, unlike Shamrock the last few years

[vivalaultra 0]

Damn, I guess even he's tired of seeing the Maine-iac wear the title belt every second of every hour of every day. It's too bad they're having it in March, as I'd really like to see a better title fight than GSP vs. "Screamin'" Matt Serra when UFC comes to Houston.

[razazteca 0]

So doing the second season of Pros vs Joes has Randy Couture thinking he can be champion again?

[Guest nWoCHRISnWo]

Doesn't anyone else think it's more likely he'll fight Tito again? I know he said he'd fight Tito if he had beat Chuck for the title, but maybe he still wants a go at him again.

 

Either way, I don't like this at all. I'm as big a fan of Randy as any other MMA fan, but shit, I don't want to have my last memory of Couture being Tito getting his revenge on him or Sylvia beating him in a boring decision. Which I'd be afraid of for both scenarios

[naiwf 0]

I'm all for Couture coming back and Sylvia KTFOing him with a wild right. If he couldn't stand up to Chuck's power, how is he going to absorb blows from a guy 50+ pounds heavier?

[snuffbox 0]

While I would love to see Couture take the belt away from Sylviazzzzzzzz I don't really want to see Randy in there with Cro Cop later in the year.

[vivalaultra 0]

I'd much rather see Couture vs. Cro Cop than Sylvia vs. Cro Cop. I don't think Couture can beat Cro Cop any more than Sylvia can, but I know that Couture would put up a better, more exciting fight.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Wow.

 

He must be getting a supremely large sum for the Sylvia fight.

 

Stupid Randy. Now I have to endure watching you die at the hands of The Big Goof.

[Insanity 0]

I don't favor his chances. Dan Severn is old and still does alright, but the people he beats aren't exactly UFC calibur fighters (or in Forrest Griffin's case, not at their top potential yet) And watching CroCop vs Couture could be a nightmare if he does win.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Randy's history against larger opponents (Barnett, Rodriguez) would lead me to believe this isn't the greatest move. Why not come back at LHW? He'd have a better chance at beating Liddell and company than he would guys like Cro Cop. A Couture/Rampage match would intrigue since they both have similar styles (wrestlers that can strike when they have to).

[Broward83 0]

Damn, I guess even he's tired of seeing the Maine-iac wear the title belt every second of every hour of every day. It's too bad they're having it in March, as I'd really like to see a better title fight than GSP vs. "Screamin'" Matt Serra when UFC comes to Houston.

 

whoa whoa whoa... when the fuck is the UFC coming to Houston?

[vivalaultra 0]

April 7th is the "all but confirmed" rumor. It's on MMAWeekly. That was the PPV that was supposed to run in Canada, but for whatever reason isn't. Now, it's coming to Houston. The main event's rumored to be GSP vs. Serra. So, yeah...UFC 69, 4/7 in Houston.

 

Here's the thing about it on MMAWeekly.

[Just call me Dan 0]

My DVR went AWOL last night. What all did Captain America tell us?

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Randy's back.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

And challenging Sylvia at UFC 68. No way that PPV does less than 500,000 now.

[snuffbox 0]

Couture-Sylvia

Matt Hughes

Rich Franklin

 

That's a pretty solid card.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Couture's first title defense ends up being on HBO.

[razazteca 0]

Tim Slyvia = Mason Dixon and Randy Couture = Rocky Balboa the only thing missing from this is the Electronic Arts video game simulation.

[snuffbox 0]

Not really.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Couture-Sylvia

Matt Hughes

Rich Franklin

 

That's a pretty solid card.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Couture's first title defense ends up being on HBO.

 

If you really think Couture is going to win the title, then you need to step your MMA knowledge up, because he wont win.

 

Yes Tim Sylvia is a "big goof" and yes he is a boring fighter, but he is a good fighter who is a legit Top 5 HW right now. I really can't see Randy winning this at all. Randy is not a legit HW, and his best weight class is LHW, yes he has had sucess at HW but those are against smaller HW's like Pedro Rizzo and Kevin Randleman. Whenever he's faced a good big HW like Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez(whom Tim Sylvia knocked out) he got knocked out.

 

Even if Randy was younger he would STILL most likely lose to Tim Sylvia. And when Tim Sylvia wins, I'll come back to this forum after and see all you guys predicting that Randy is going to win, make stupid excuses like "Randy is too old" and bullshit like that.

 

I don't like Tim Sylvia, but I give the man his due, he is a good smart fighter, who knows how to win, and I can't see how Randy posses any problems to him.

 

And to the posters who really think Randy stands more of a chance against Mirko Cro Cop must tell me who is weed dealer is... Yeah a past his prime, 40+ years old, Light Heavyweight is going to posses more problems to Mirko Cro Cop, then an in his prime legit heavyweight, and who is more proven at the weight class... Get the fuck outta here.

[vivalaultra 0]

I don't think Randy Couture's washed up. His last three losses have been because of a cut and Chuck Lidell. And I think Couture/Cro Cop would be a better fight than Sylvia/Cro Cop. Couture's a better wrestler than Sylvia, and I think if he gets him to the ground, he'll have a very good shot at finishing. However, if Tim keeps fighting like a slug and using his size as a way of not being aggresive and pushing the pace of the fight...meh.

[Lei Tong 0]

Randy's an average finisher. Always has been, always will be. Even if he gets Tim down, it's unlikely he grinds it out quickly enough to avoid gassing and getting pummeled later.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Randy's an average finisher. Always has been, always will be. Even if he gets Tim down, it's unlikely he grinds it out quickly enough to avoid gassing and getting pummeled later.

 

Which is pretty much what happened against Barnett and Ricco.

[vivalaultra 0]

I actually never saw the Barnett fight, and I haven't seen the Ricco/Couture fight since it first happened, but wasn't it a relatively close fight...at least till Randy got gassed?

[Lei Tong 0]

Randy easily took both Ricco & Barnett down early (and in Ricco's case, pretty often), and proceeded to unleash all he could early in both fights. In the end though, both guys were able to gain top position themselves, and in typical wrestler fashion, Randy couldn't muster up much from his back and got smashed.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Randy easily took both Ricco & Barnett down early (and in Ricco's case, pretty often), and proceeded to unleash all he could early in both fights. In the end though, both guys were able to gain top position themselves, and in typical wrestler fashion, Randy couldn't muster up much from his back and got smashed.

 

Sylvia is also a better fighter then Ricco aswell.

 

I hate using MMAth.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Believe me, I know Tim's a good fighter, but he's soooo boring that I just don't want to see him with the title.

 

I don't know if Randy can realisticaly take him, but he'll give him a fight at least

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I look at this as going two ways....

 

Scenario #1- Randy proves everybody wrong, defies the odds and takes home the belt. We all freak out and it's a beautiful moment. Then we realize that Randy is about to get his head kicked off by Cro-Cop and it's sad again.

 

Scenario #2- Sylvia sprawls his way to a 5-round decison victory and retains his title as the biggest heel in all of MMA. Then we realize that Tim is about to get his liver rearranged by Mirko and it's beautiful.

 

I love Randy but Scenario #2 is just all-around better. Randy isn't going to beat Sylvia and he's not going to do it like Cro-Cop could and would.

[vivalaultra 0]

I remember when Sylvia wasn't boring. His first UFC fight with Cabbage was hella-awesome. It's only since 2006, since he beat Assuerio Silva by decision that he's been sloth-like.