My interview with former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture about Strikeforce signing Fedor Emelianenko resulted in several Couture-related questions for today's UFC Twitter mailbag.Your questions and my answers for our UFC Twitter mailbag are below.
BBKing77: What will it take to see a Couture v. Fedor fight? Would he fight in Strikeforce to make it happen?
When I talked to Couture Tuesday, I got the strong sense that while he'd still love to fight Fedor, he's made peace with the fact that he probably never will. I'll be shocked if Couture ever fights with Strikeforce (or M-1 Global) and I'll be shocked if Fedor ever fights with the UFC, so Couture-Fedor just isn't going to happen.
Pager14580: Ask Randy if he still thinks he can beat Fedor.
Randy absolutely still thinks he can beat Fedor. Most professional athletes have a supreme confidence in their abiliites, and Couture certainly does. He wants so desperately to fight Fedor because he thinks he'd be the guy to finally beat Fedor.
tillman_mma: Would Randy consider fighting Brock Lesnar again? who'd he prefer after beating Noguiera?
Couture told me he doesn't want to look past Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but he did mention that if he beats Nogueira he thinks he could be next in line for Lesnar. Dana White has said that the Shane Carwin-Cain Velasquez winner will likely get Lesnar next, but I think Couture vs. Lesnar 2 is probably the single biggest fight the UFC could promote. If Couture looks great against Nogueira and comes out of it healthy, it would be awfully tough for the UFC to resist a rematch.
Seckbach: Do you think MMA fighters will ever form a union? Like NBA, NFL, MLB players? This way more fighters would join the UFC.
This is a subject Couture discussed a bit when he had his contractual standoff with the UFC in 2007 and 2008. My own feeling is that we will not see an MMA fighters' union any time soon, if ever. In general, athletes in individual sports just haven't been interested in unionizing. Team sport athletes are generally more united and more willing to bargain collectively, while athletes in individual sports mostly want to deal with their contracts individually.
Want to be part of our next UFC Twitter mailbag? Post a question or comment on Twitter.com, and be sure to start it with @MichaelDavSmith.
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