Randy Couture Week is an intense look at an MMA legend on the brink of a big fight.
If you've ever wondered why Randy Couture is called "The Natural," it has something to do with the way he burst onto the MMA scene back in 1997.
Looking back, Couture won his first four UFC bouts -- the first MMA fights in his career -- in such convincing fashion that it seems he was predestined to be a UFC champion.
But back in 1997, Randy as a champion was an unusual development, and it had nothing to do with his lack of experience in mixed martial arts.
Randy began his time in MMA following a standout amateur career in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. As good as he was, though, it was the ultimate championship that eluded him. Randy came up just short three times -- in 1988, 1992, and 1996 -- to make the Olympic team for his weight class in Greco-Roman wrestling. He was designated an alternate for all three games, but never got a chance to compete.
With the '96 games behind him and the next Olympics several years away, Randy looked to the UFC for his next challenge. Needing a paycheck, he was inspired to apply to the organization after seeing Don Frye, a former wrestling opponent (pictured right), competing and winning in the early UFC. So Randy sent in his application ... and was promptly rejected; the UFC felt they already had enough wrestlers in their stable of fighters.
But opportunity knocked when one of the fighters scheduled to compete in a heavyweight tournament at UFC 13 got injured. The UFC would give this Couture fellow a chance after all.
vs. Tony Halme
By UFC 13, the organization had changed a bit since its inception. One change was to their tournament structure. Instead of having one eight-man tournament per event, they now featured two four-man tournaments, meaning the winner would only have to fight twice in one night instead of three times. They also instituted weight classes: Anyone over 200 pounds was a heavyweight and anyone less was a lightweight.
Coming in at a respectable 225 pounds, Randy was definitely a heavyweight. Even so, he was still giving up 75 pounds to his first opponent, the mountainous Tony Halme, a boxer, professional wrestler, and, believe it or not, future member of Finnish parliament. As a side note, when Couture faces Lesnar on Saturday, it won't be his first match against a WWE superstar: wrestling fans from the early 90s will recognize Halme by his stage name, Ludvig Borga.
The fight was not much of a fight at all. At the opening bell, Halme darted forward and swung at Randy with a huge punch. Randy merely ducked under, shot in for a double-leg and put the 300-pounder on his back. Some positional jockeying ensued, but despite having no formal jiu-jitsu training, Randy managed to establish side control, take Halme's back, and sink in a fight-ending rear-naked choke in under a minute.
vs. Steven Graham
With his win over Halme, Randy earned the right to fight later that night in the final of the heavyweight tournament. His opponent from the other side of the bracket was Steven Graham. Graham was an unknown quantity -- even the announcers didn't have a lot of information on him, except that he used the little-known style called "Extension Fighting." The other salient point was that he was 10 years younger and 65 pounds heavier than Couture.
Of course, none of this had any effect on Randy. Just like he did against Halme, he immediately took Graham to the ground and proceeded to wage a positional battle that saw him pass to side control, mount, and finally take Graham's back. From there, he landed eight unanswered strikes before the referee stopped the fight. Randy hadn't made the Olympic team in three tries, but managed to win his first MMA title in a little over four minutes.
And, just as impressively, Randy had escaped his first two matches without absorbing a single strike. But that was against two complete novices, neither of whom would ever fight in MMA again. His next opponent was a huge step up in competition.
vs. Vitor Belfort
Just as Randy had won the heavyweight tournament at UFC 13, Vitor Belfort won the heavyweight tournament at UFC 12. This set up an elimination match between the two to see who would face off against Maurice Smith for the heavyweight title.
Nowadays, Belfort has become something of a punch line in MMA circles. Despite the fact that he's still competing and is only 31 years old, he regularly gets mentioned as one of the biggest underachievers in MMA history. The reason is that he never lived up to the potential he showed in the early days of his career. Randy earned the nickname "The Natural" for starting and winning in MMA at 34 years old. Vitor earned the nickname "The Phenom" for starting at just 19 years old and buzz-sawing through his first four opponents in a combined time of three minutes, four seconds. Fans today like to talk about "the old Vitor." That was exactly who Randy was facing.
At the time, Vitor was seen as the future of the sport: a technical boxer with exceptional hand speed who also happened to be a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. It seemed that wherever the fight went -- toe-to-toe or on the ground -- Vitor had a way to beat you. Of course, that analysis ignored one other place the fight could go: the clinch.
As a Greco-Roman specialist, the clinch was Randy's home. Up to that point, no one had really used a smothering clinch game as a method of control and a place to strike. As Randy proved, the clinch was exactly the tool needed to neutralize a fighter like Belfort. Pressed up against the fence, Vitor's hand speed and jiu-jitsu were useless. Meanwhile, Randy had open season to employ "dirty boxing." Unlike a Muay Thai clinch where some separation is needed to throw powerful knees and elbows, dirty boxing's clinch allows the attacker to stay in tight, throwing uppercuts, shoulder shots, and hooks to the body.
Randy's control in the fight was total: He outstruck Vitor 34-6 and was never in any danger from Belfort's hands while on foot. When it finally did go to the ground, a frustrated and exhausted Belfort was unable to mount any offense or put up much of a defense. Randy passed to mount and pounded out Belfort for the TKO victory.
The fight between Couture and Belfort would have major repercussions for the future of the sport. On the one hand, it was the first time we ever saw the real Randy Couture, the tenacious clinch fighter who would go on to much success using these very same techniques. It was also the turning point in Belfort's career -- he would never again show the level of dominance he had before facing Couture.
Having bested the younger Belfort, it was now Randy's turn to fight and older man for a change, and this time, for the title.
vs. Maurice Smith
The champion at the time was Maurice Smith, who had taken the belt five months earlier after beating Mark Coleman, the first man ever to hold the UFC heavyweight title. As transformative as Couture-Belfort was for the sport, Smith-Coleman was at least as significant.
Prior to meeting Smith, Coleman was the juggernaut who introduced the "ground and pound" style still in use today. As a top-level wrestler, Coleman merely needed to get the fight to the ground where he could out-position and overpower his opponent. No one had come up with a good defense for it and Smith was an unlikely candidate. A champion kickboxer, he seemed to lack the takedown defense and jiu-jitsu necessary to defend against Coleman's attack.
But Smith had been training in jiu-jitsu and was able to contain Coleman's attack on the ground. Not only that, he used a new weapon -- elbows from the bottom -- to counterattack. With superior cardio, Smith was able to take Coleman deeper into a fight than he had ever gone before. On the feet to start rounds two and three, Smith picked apart an exhausted Coleman to take the decision victory and prove that strikers with good ground defense could outlast and outmatch great wrestlers.
The matchup against Couture seemed to be an identical situation for Smith. He got taken down within the first 40 seconds of the fight, but two things were different this time: Smith couldn't manage to strike from the bottom and Randy didn't gas. Unlike Coleman, who was so exhausted he could hardly stand after just nine minutes, Randy looked as fresh as ever even late in the fight. And unlike Coleman, who couldn't manage a takedown in the second and third rounds, Randy landed a takedown within the first 40 seconds of rounds two and three. Smith was never able to get back to his feet. Of the 21 minutes in the fight, only 1:30 of action was standing up.
The fight would not be Randy at his most entertaining, but he was near his most effective. He landed every takedown he attempted and, though he looked painfully uncomfortable on the feet, his ground work was more than enough to get the victory. Maintaining dominant positions, Couture outstruck Smith by a total of 54-18 (full stats available here).
It would be the first of many times Randy took home the UFC heavyweight belt. He earned the title less than seven months after his pro debut and in just his fourth fight. The Natural, indeed.
Of course, natural ability can only take a fighter so far. Randy would have a lot to work on and bigger challenges to face in the coming years.
Coming Tomorrow: 2000-2002: Titles Won, Titles Lost
If you've ever wondered why Randy Couture is called "The Natural," it has something to do with the way he burst onto the MMA scene back in 1997.
Looking back, Couture won his first four UFC bouts -- the first MMA fights in his career -- in such convincing fashion that it seems he was predestined to be a UFC champion.
But back in 1997, Randy as a champion was an unusual development, and it had nothing to do with his lack of experience in mixed martial arts.
Randy began his time in MMA following a standout amateur career in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. As good as he was, though, it was the ultimate championship that eluded him. Randy came up just short three times -- in 1988, 1992, and 1996 -- to make the Olympic team for his weight class in Greco-Roman wrestling. He was designated an alternate for all three games, but never got a chance to compete.
With the '96 games behind him and the next Olympics several years away, Randy looked to the UFC for his next challenge. Needing a paycheck, he was inspired to apply to the organization after seeing Don Frye, a former wrestling opponent (pictured right), competing and winning in the early UFC. So Randy sent in his application ... and was promptly rejected; the UFC felt they already had enough wrestlers in their stable of fighters.
But opportunity knocked when one of the fighters scheduled to compete in a heavyweight tournament at UFC 13 got injured. The UFC would give this Couture fellow a chance after all.
vs. Tony Halme
By UFC 13, the organization had changed a bit since its inception. One change was to their tournament structure. Instead of having one eight-man tournament per event, they now featured two four-man tournaments, meaning the winner would only have to fight twice in one night instead of three times. They also instituted weight classes: Anyone over 200 pounds was a heavyweight and anyone less was a lightweight.
Coming in at a respectable 225 pounds, Randy was definitely a heavyweight. Even so, he was still giving up 75 pounds to his first opponent, the mountainous Tony Halme, a boxer, professional wrestler, and, believe it or not, future member of Finnish parliament. As a side note, when Couture faces Lesnar on Saturday, it won't be his first match against a WWE superstar: wrestling fans from the early 90s will recognize Halme by his stage name, Ludvig Borga.
The fight was not much of a fight at all. At the opening bell, Halme darted forward and swung at Randy with a huge punch. Randy merely ducked under, shot in for a double-leg and put the 300-pounder on his back. Some positional jockeying ensued, but despite having no formal jiu-jitsu training, Randy managed to establish side control, take Halme's back, and sink in a fight-ending rear-naked choke in under a minute.
vs. Steven Graham
With his win over Halme, Randy earned the right to fight later that night in the final of the heavyweight tournament. His opponent from the other side of the bracket was Steven Graham. Graham was an unknown quantity -- even the announcers didn't have a lot of information on him, except that he used the little-known style called "Extension Fighting." The other salient point was that he was 10 years younger and 65 pounds heavier than Couture.
Of course, none of this had any effect on Randy. Just like he did against Halme, he immediately took Graham to the ground and proceeded to wage a positional battle that saw him pass to side control, mount, and finally take Graham's back. From there, he landed eight unanswered strikes before the referee stopped the fight. Randy hadn't made the Olympic team in three tries, but managed to win his first MMA title in a little over four minutes.
And, just as impressively, Randy had escaped his first two matches without absorbing a single strike. But that was against two complete novices, neither of whom would ever fight in MMA again. His next opponent was a huge step up in competition.
vs. Vitor Belfort
Just as Randy had won the heavyweight tournament at UFC 13, Vitor Belfort won the heavyweight tournament at UFC 12. This set up an elimination match between the two to see who would face off against Maurice Smith for the heavyweight title.
Nowadays, Belfort has become something of a punch line in MMA circles. Despite the fact that he's still competing and is only 31 years old, he regularly gets mentioned as one of the biggest underachievers in MMA history. The reason is that he never lived up to the potential he showed in the early days of his career. Randy earned the nickname "The Natural" for starting and winning in MMA at 34 years old. Vitor earned the nickname "The Phenom" for starting at just 19 years old and buzz-sawing through his first four opponents in a combined time of three minutes, four seconds. Fans today like to talk about "the old Vitor." That was exactly who Randy was facing.
At the time, Vitor was seen as the future of the sport: a technical boxer with exceptional hand speed who also happened to be a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. It seemed that wherever the fight went -- toe-to-toe or on the ground -- Vitor had a way to beat you. Of course, that analysis ignored one other place the fight could go: the clinch.
As a Greco-Roman specialist, the clinch was Randy's home. Up to that point, no one had really used a smothering clinch game as a method of control and a place to strike. As Randy proved, the clinch was exactly the tool needed to neutralize a fighter like Belfort. Pressed up against the fence, Vitor's hand speed and jiu-jitsu were useless. Meanwhile, Randy had open season to employ "dirty boxing." Unlike a Muay Thai clinch where some separation is needed to throw powerful knees and elbows, dirty boxing's clinch allows the attacker to stay in tight, throwing uppercuts, shoulder shots, and hooks to the body.
Randy's control in the fight was total: He outstruck Vitor 34-6 and was never in any danger from Belfort's hands while on foot. When it finally did go to the ground, a frustrated and exhausted Belfort was unable to mount any offense or put up much of a defense. Randy passed to mount and pounded out Belfort for the TKO victory.
The fight between Couture and Belfort would have major repercussions for the future of the sport. On the one hand, it was the first time we ever saw the real Randy Couture, the tenacious clinch fighter who would go on to much success using these very same techniques. It was also the turning point in Belfort's career -- he would never again show the level of dominance he had before facing Couture.
Having bested the younger Belfort, it was now Randy's turn to fight and older man for a change, and this time, for the title.
vs. Maurice Smith
The champion at the time was Maurice Smith, who had taken the belt five months earlier after beating Mark Coleman, the first man ever to hold the UFC heavyweight title. As transformative as Couture-Belfort was for the sport, Smith-Coleman was at least as significant.
Prior to meeting Smith, Coleman was the juggernaut who introduced the "ground and pound" style still in use today. As a top-level wrestler, Coleman merely needed to get the fight to the ground where he could out-position and overpower his opponent. No one had come up with a good defense for it and Smith was an unlikely candidate. A champion kickboxer, he seemed to lack the takedown defense and jiu-jitsu necessary to defend against Coleman's attack.
But Smith had been training in jiu-jitsu and was able to contain Coleman's attack on the ground. Not only that, he used a new weapon -- elbows from the bottom -- to counterattack. With superior cardio, Smith was able to take Coleman deeper into a fight than he had ever gone before. On the feet to start rounds two and three, Smith picked apart an exhausted Coleman to take the decision victory and prove that strikers with good ground defense could outlast and outmatch great wrestlers.
The matchup against Couture seemed to be an identical situation for Smith. He got taken down within the first 40 seconds of the fight, but two things were different this time: Smith couldn't manage to strike from the bottom and Randy didn't gas. Unlike Coleman, who was so exhausted he could hardly stand after just nine minutes, Randy looked as fresh as ever even late in the fight. And unlike Coleman, who couldn't manage a takedown in the second and third rounds, Randy landed a takedown within the first 40 seconds of rounds two and three. Smith was never able to get back to his feet. Of the 21 minutes in the fight, only 1:30 of action was standing up.
The fight would not be Randy at his most entertaining, but he was near his most effective. He landed every takedown he attempted and, though he looked painfully uncomfortable on the feet, his ground work was more than enough to get the victory. Maintaining dominant positions, Couture outstruck Smith by a total of 54-18 (full stats available here).
It would be the first of many times Randy took home the UFC heavyweight belt. He earned the title less than seven months after his pro debut and in just his fourth fight. The Natural, indeed.
Of course, natural ability can only take a fighter so far. Randy would have a lot to work on and bigger challenges to face in the coming years.
Coming Tomorrow: 2000-2002: Titles Won, Titles Lost