Randy Couture Week is an intense look at an MMA legend on the brink of a big fight at this weekend's UFC 91 in Las Vegas.
Even at 41, Randy was the top dog at 205 pounds. The problem was, "nobody" knew about it. The UFC was still a niche sport with a tiny hardcore following. Without any regular non-pay-per-view presence, the organization, and by extension, Randy Couture, were almost completely unknown to the general public. All of that was about to change.
In the grand scheme of television, The Ultimate Fighter is just another in a long line of reality shows that tape a group of people living together and competing against each other. But for the sport of MMA, its importance cannot be minimized. For 13 weeks in 2005, Randy and the rest of the crew were beamed into the living rooms of a million people who had probably never laid eyes on the man before. That fertile base of new fans would propel Randy's next fight to become the biggest pay-per-view in UFC history.
vs. Chuck Liddell ... again
In addition to its purpose as a reality show, The Ultimate Fighter was also a 13-week infomercial for the main event of UFC 52, where the two coaches on the show, Randy and Chuck Liddell would square-off again for the light-heavyweight title. After losing to Couture, Liddell entered a 205-pound tournament in Pride. The ultimate goal was for him to face Wanderlei Silva in the tournament finale, a bout that fans had been clamoring for. Those plans were derailed by Quinton Jackson, who stopped Liddell in the semi-finals. Losing his bid in the tournament, Liddell returned to the UFC and earned his rematch by knocking out Tito Ortiz and Vernon White in convincing fashion.
It was nearly two years since they last met, but the prevailing wisdom was that the second fight would go a lot like the first. Randy's striking continued to improve and he had already proven that he could take Liddell down almost at will. But while Liddell had been stymied by Randy's pace and aggression the first time, he was well-prepared this time around. As Randy stalked him, Liddell calmly circled away and sniped from the outside. If he was waiting for the moment when Randy would over-commit and leave himself open, it wouldn't be long in coming. Just two minutes, six seconds into the bout, Randy waded in with a flurry of looping punches, and Liddell landed a clean right hook and knocked Randy out cold. Aside from a body kick by Pedro Rizzo that put Randy briefly on the canvas, it was the first time in his eight-year career that Randy had ever been knocked down, let alone out.
The first bout was won convincingly by Randy and the second was won convincingly by Liddell. Clearly, a rubber match was needed, but Randy's performance was not good enough to warrant an immediate rematch. He would need to beat someone else first. It would be an unusual situation for Randy; it was his first non-title fight in four years.
vs. Mike Van Arsdale
They say that the chin is one of the first things to go with age, and Randy's chin had just failed him for the first time. If the UFC wanted a rubber match, it would have been mighty risky to pit Randy against another striker. Instead, they chose Mike Van Arsdale, a world-class wrestler with not much striking to speak of.
As expected, Randy and Van Arsdale put on a veritable wrestling clinic. While the fight might not have been entertaining for a casual or novice fan, the positional battle waged by the two was something to behold; the two combined for 15 takedown attempts. From the first round, though, it seemed that Randy had identified a weakness in Van Arsdale's game that he was determined to exploit. Whenever the two went to the ground in the north-south position, Couture attempted an Anaconda choke, a type of arm triangle. By the third round, with Van Arsdale the more fatigued of the two, Randy was able to sink in the Anaconda and get his first submission victory since his very first fight eight years prior.
The win over Van Arsdale proved that Randy wasn't quite done yet. That was enough to warrant a third fight against Liddell.
vs. Liddell ... one last time
Since beating Randy, Liddell had defended his title just once, defeating veteran Jeremy Horn to avenge a loss from early in his career. The fight was a one-sided affair most notable for the amount of punishment Horn was able to take before he asked to stop the fight on account of impaired vision. But to really build the Chuck Liddell mythos, he would have to win the trilogy against Randy.
Having tasted enough of Liddell's punches in the second match, Randy changed gameplans to try for the takedown instead. He spent much of the first round chasing Liddell around the Octagon, getting hit with jabs and hooks, and succeeding on just one of three takedown attempts. As Liddell is wont to do, he stood right back up after the takedown.
Things were right back where they were before the first Couture-Liddell fight: If Randy couldn't hold Liddell down and couldn't strike with him on the feet, how was he going to win? The answer was that he wasn't. About a minute-and-a-half into round two, Liddell connected square to Randy's jaw knocking him out for the second time in his career, and the second time in three fights.
In the post-fight interview, Randy announced his retirement. It was a sudden development but not a shocking one. Randy was nearly 43 years old. As long as Liddell remained champion at 205 pounds, he had no chance to regain that belt. The champion at heavyweight, Andrei Arlovski, looked like he would be the champion for a long time. It was time for Randy to hand up the gloves.
vs. Tim Sylvia
The thing about aging combat sports athletes is that you can never take their retirements seriously. The competitive fire that fueled them for their entire careers refuses to die down, and time spent in the gym with younger fighters is enough to convince them that they still can perform. They're also wise enough to recognize a good opportunity when they see one.
As it turned out, the Andrei Arlovski era was short-lived; he would lose the title just two months after Randy's retirement. The new champion was 6'8" Tim Sylvia, who defended his belt twice in two of the most boring five-round decisions since the days of Randleman-Rizzo. With good takedown defense, a cautious, plodding style combined with his unusual height and reach, Sylvia was a tough opponent to beat and a deeply unpopular champion. With a thin heavyweight division and no clear top-contender, the UFC pegged the newly un-retired Randy to face Sylvia. It was a chance for Randy to win a UFC belt for an unprecedented fifth time.
In the build-up to the fight, Randy claimed that he had spotted holes in Sylvia's game. He exploited one of those holes within the first 10 seconds of the fight. After distracting Sylvia with a low kick, Randy landed an overhand right that dropped the champion for the first time in two years.
Sylvia recovered quickly but remained on the defensive for the next 24 minutes. Whenever he expected Randy to take him down, Randy chose to strike. When he thought Randy would keep it standing, Sylvia got taken down. There was only the briefest of moments when it looked like Randy was in trouble. In total, Randy took Sylvia down in four of five rounds on seven of 10 attempts. On the feet, Randy rode that overhand right all night long to outstrike Sylvia 42-20. When you add in ground striking, Randy outlanded Sylvia by a total of 138-39. All three judges saw the fight the same way: Randy won every single round and was now the heavyweight champion again, for the first time in five years. (Full stats available here.)
Aside from the impressive display of skills put on by Randy, everyone had to marvel at the perfection of his gameplan and execution. He had fought about as perfect a fight as one could. The problem is, when you're 44 years old, even a dominating, convincing victory is not enough for people to stop doubting you. Faced with another, younger, heavier, intimidating opponent, the smart money was still on Randy's opponent.
vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Randy could have sympathized with his next opponent and the way he earned his title shot. Plainly, Gabriel Gonzaga was brought in to make another fighter look good, but didn't quite adhere to the storyline. The UFC had spent handsomely to bring in vaunted Pride heavyweight Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic and fully expected him to capture the title. CroCop won his first fight, but needed to win one more before the UFC could reasonably grant him a title shot.
Gonzaga seemed like a pretty safe opponent. Although a terror on the ground, Gonzaga's stand-up was still developing. His lone knockout came in the final seconds of a match against Kevin Jordan that is widely accepted as the worst fight of the last few years. With CroCop's excellent takedown defense, it seemed only a matter of time before he landed one of his trademark high-kicks and got another highlight reel knockout. The fight did indeed end by high-kick knockout, but shockingly, it was CroCop who was on the receiving end. After battering him with elbows on the ground, Gonzaga landed a perfect kick that knocked CroCop out cold. With such an impressive destruction of an international superstar, Gonzaga went from afterthought to serious contender to Randy's title.
While Sylvia's game was to keep the fight standing, Gonzaga's strength was much closer to that of Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez, the big heavyweights that had their way with Randy on the ground. The key for Randy was to make sure he never ended up on his back with Gonzaga on top of him. To do so, he went back to the one thing that had served him so well across his career: the clinch game. And when the fight did go to the ground, it was Randy that was always on top.
Simply put, Randy bullied Gonzaga. He chased Gonzaga around the Octagon, landing the same overhand right that worked so well against Sylvia. When the exchanges got too heated, he rushed in and pressed Gonzaga against the fence, neutralizing his power. From there, it was vintage Couture, dirty boxing his way to a 57-8 striking advantage in the clinch. And while Gonzaga did a great job defending most of Couture's Greco-Roman takedown attempts, it was a slam in the first round that made the difference in the fight. On the way down after the slam, Randy's head accidentally collided with Gonzaga's nose, breaking it. This would hamper his breathing throughout the rest of the fight, and some would contend, break his spirit.
Gonzaga never really recovered from the broken nose. It was only a matter of time before Randy finished him in familiar fashion: Beat up in the clinch, Greco-Roman takedown, pass guard, mount, and pound out the TKO stoppage. Randy had learned a lot of new tricks since his early days, but in the end, his most effective weapons were the ones that had worked for him since day one.
Conclusion
Randy's career in the aftermath of the Gonzaga fight is well-known: his resignation from the UFC, his legal battle with Zuffa, his failure to face-off with Fedor Emelianenko, and finally, his return this Saturday night to face Brock Lesnar and defend his title.
Looking backward, Randy hasn't just had a stellar career; he's really had several careers. Had he retired from competition when he left the UFC the first time in 1997, he would have still been remarkable for the way he picked up the sport so quickly and won a heavyweight title in just his fourth pro fight.
Had he retired after getting beaten by Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez, he would have commanded tremendous respect for winning back his title and defending it, only to lose to much larger heavyweights.
Had he retired after getting knocked out the second time by Liddell, his career would still have been historic, for becoming the first man to win a belt in two weight classes.
Had he retired after beating Gonzaga and leaving the UFC, we would still have to marvel at his ability to come back to heavyweight and beat younger, larger, favored opponents through strategy, heart, and determination.
No matter the outcome on Saturday, Randy's legacy is secure. Should he lose, it would hardly take away from any of the accomplishments above. If he should win ... Usually when a champion fights, it means he has nowhere to go but down. For Randy, even as champion, it seems his standing in the pantheon of MMA greats can only climb higher.