Tag: Randy Couture

Every UFC trilogy ranked ahead of Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3

Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor will meet in the 14th trilogy fight in UFC history when they clash at UFC 264.

Another chapter in the long story of UFC trilogy fights takes place Saturday at UFC 264.

[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] and [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] will clash for a third and likely final time – 2,483 days after they first fought at UFC 178 in September 2014.

McGregor (22-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) won the initial meeting by first-round TKO. In the rematch more than six years later, Poirier (27-6 MMA, 19-5 UFC) got redemption with a second-round TKO at UFC 257 in January.

Now the two lightweight contenders will compete one final time in the winner-takes-all rubber match.

It will be the 14th trilogy fight in company history, and ahead of UFC 264, we rank the others that have happened so far. Check out our list below, from worst to best.

Randy Couture explains origin of ‘The Natural’ and ‘Captain America’ nicknames

Ever wondered why Randy Couture is called “The Natural” and “Captain America”?

[autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag]’s career and accolades have been well documented, but perhaps not the origin of his two nicknames in the cage.

The former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion was called “The Natural” or “Captain America” throughout his historic MMA career. However, Couture, who competed in MMA from 1997 to 2011, never gave himself the nicknames. They were given by figures from the MMA industry and then solidified by fans through his run in the sport.

Speaking with Burt Watson on MMA Junkie’s latest “Legend 2 Legend” episode, Couture reveled the origin of his two nicknames in the fight game.

‘The Natural’

His first nickname was born Oct. 17, 1997, at UFC 15. Couture was competing for the third time in MMA, facing a young Vitor Belfort.

Many thought Couture would lose to the Brazilian since he was 34 and Belfort was much younger and coming off the heels of winning the UFC 12 heavyweight tournament.

However, Couture surprised many and stopped Belfort a little more than eight minutes into the fight. He wore down Belfort over the course of the fight, and in a post-fight interview “The Natural” was born.

“Joe Gold was running the only real publication in MMA at that time. It was called Full Contact Fighter Magazine, and he was the editor-in-chief and owner. He wanted to do an interview after the fight and he said, ‘Hey, you adapted to his style in beating boxing. You were a natural. Is it OK if I call you that?’

“And I was like, ‘Well, hell, I’ve been called worse things.’ And he wrote that in the article that he put in Full Contact Fighter Magazine. And that just kind of stuck and it became the nickname that everyone associated me with from that fight and that article.”

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‘Captain America’

On Nov. 2, 2001, Couture was set to defend his UFC heavyweight title against Brazil’s Pedro Rizzo in the main event of UFC 34 in Las Vegas. It was his second UFC title defense and the first time he competed in “The Fight Capital of the World.”

The event was the second card the UFC held following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Couture, who was an Olympic wrestling alternate representing the U.S. and a former Army sergeant, came out dressed in red, white and blue to represent his country in the octagon.

“My first fight in Las Vegas at MGM (Grand Garden Arena), this was with the new owners. Joe Rogan was on the announcing team, and back then, Joe Rogan was doing the behind-the-scenes interviews and there were other guys that were doing the actual announcing. Joe was doing the behind-the-scenes interviews backstage and got moved up when the new owners, Dana White and the Fertittas, bought it in 2001.

“I’m fighting Pedro Rizzo. It was my first time seeing my name and face on billboards and it was a huge experience. Also, that fight occurred right after 9/11 and the first show that we had after 9/11. They were still doing pyrotechnics for entrances at the show. I chose to wear a red, white and blue track suit when I walked out. And when I walked out, I saluted the crowd and Joe Rogan said, ‘That right there is Captain America. That guy is my hero.’ And that’s where it came from. It kind of stuck.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pKrFxnY6ik&t=0s

 

Randy Couture recalls being ‘fly in the ointment’ for UFC’s Chuck Liddell plans in 2003

Randy Couture beating Chuck Liddell at UFC 43 was not in the promotion’s plans.

When the UFC offered [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] an interim light heavyweight title shot in 2003, the writing was on the wall.

Couture, already a two-time heavyweight champion by then, knew the UFC wasn’t happy about him beating the younger Pedro Rizzo twice in back-to-back fights to defend his title in 2001.

“I don’t think they were too keen on having a 39, 40-year-old heavyweight champion,” Couture said in a recent episode of “Legend 2 Legend” with Burt Watson. “I don’t think they thought I was very marketable.”

In 2002, Couture lost his title when he was TKO’d by Josh Barnett, who subsequently was stripped after testing positive for banned substances. That gave Couture a chance to reclaim his belt six months later in a vacant title fight against Ricco Rodriguez, but Couture was submitted in the fifth round.

After that, Couture was slated to fight Andrei Arlovski until, three weeks before the fight, Arlovski broke his hand. So the UFC called Couture with a Plan B.

How about he moves down in weight to fight [autotag]Chuck Liddell[/autotag] for an interim light heavyweight title?

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At that time, Liddell was in a heated feud with former friend and then undisputed champion Tito Ortiz. Liddell vs. Ortiz was the biggest fight the UFC could make. The way Couture saw the situation, UFC president Dana White and the Fertitta brothers wanted to put Liddell over with interim gold so they could apply pressure on Ortiz to accept a title-unifier with Liddell.

“Obviously I was the fly in the ointment for that whole scenario,” Couture said.

No doubt about that as Couture went on to dominate Liddell before finishing him in the third round with some vicious ground-and-pound to become the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in two divisions.

In the video above, the UFC Hall of Famer reflects on his victory and how it put him in “a bit of an adversarial situation” with White and the Fertitta brothers.

Or check out the full episode below.

https://youtu.be/6pKrFxnY6ik

Legend 2 Legend: Randy Couture thought Vitor Belfort ‘was intimidated’ at UFC 15

Vitor Belfort thought he was getting in Randy Couture’s head by making him wait in the cage at UFC 15. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

The first real chapter in what became the legend of [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] went down at UFC 15 on Oct. 17, 1997.

There are many reasons why “The Natural” is a UFC Hall of Famer. He was the first man to win UFC titles in different weight classes, and his five combined UFC title reigns — three at heavyweight, two at light heavyweight — remains a company record. Couture also created one of the all-time great moments in UFC history when he came out of retirement to defeat Tim Sylvia and win the heavyweight belt at UFC 68 at age 43.

Couture made his MMA debut at UFC 13, winning two fights in one night to claim the heavyweight tournament. But his first real legendary moment was he scored what at the time was considered a major upset of an undefeated Vitor Belfort at UFC 15, which was held in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

And it only made sense Couture spoke to Burt Watson on a new edition of Legend 2 Legend about the bout, which Couture won via TKO in 8:16.

A young Belfort was called “The Phenom” for a reason. He was considered a superstar in waiting, having won all four of his previous fights, including three in the UFC, via TKO or KO, with the longest bout lasting 77 seconds.

But Belfort made Couture, who walked first, wait in the cage for 10 minutes before officials had to order him out of his locker room. And in his head, that told Couture that Belfort was doubting himself.

“I’m in the cage, they play the entrance music, and nobody comes out of the tunnel,” Couture told Burt Watson. “And I stayed in the cage for about 10 minutes. And there was no opponent. … And in my mind right away I thought ‘he’s just scared.’ This is something that somebody who is scared to come out and compete would do. That’s what I thought.

“That’s an old boxing trick, you freeze the guy out, you make him stand there and wait, and you get in his head that way. I thought it had the opposite effect. For me, in my mind, he was intimidated. He was scared.”

From there, the fight was on, and the result sent reverberations around the sport that was then known as “No Holds Barred.” After defeating Belfort, Couture then went out at UFC 19 and defeated Mark Coleman to win the heavyweight belt and claim the first of his five titles.

To hear more from Couture on one of the first truly legendary moments in UFC history, check out the video above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pKrFxnY6ik

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Legend 2 Legend cutdown – Randy Couture on ruining Zuffa’s plans

Former UFC site coordinator Burt Watson returns with the second instalment of “Legend 2 Legend,” as he sits down with two-time UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Former UFC site coordinator Burt Watson returns with the second instalment of “Legend 2 Legend,” as he sits down with two-time UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Legend 2 Legend cutdown – Randy Couture on his two nicknames

Former UFC site coordinator Burt Watson returns with the second instalment of “Legend 2 Legend,” as he sits down with two-time UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Former UFC site coordinator Burt Watson returns with the second instalment of “Legend 2 Legend,” as he sits down with two-time UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Fight songs: The World MMA Awards’ top 10 spoof pop songs, ranked

We take a quick rundown of the World MMA Awards’ spoof pop videos in our special end-of-year top 10 list.

The legendary Bob Marley once uttered, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”

However, if the following collection of tracks is anything to go by, some of MMA’s best have certainly tried to make an impact.

Each year, Fighters Only’s World MMA Awards have featured musical interludes featuring spoof pop videos starring some of the biggest stars of the sport as they poke fun at themselves for their peers’ entertainment during the annual black-tie get-together in Las Vegas.

The songs are all the brainchild of MMA-loving stand-up comedian Adam Hunter, who also has his own comedy special coming soon to UFC Fight Pass.

Here’s a sneak peek…

As a man who started out in hospital radio, spinning tunes for patients who couldn’t run away from my own eclectic musical tastes, who better from the Junkie team than yours truly to pick through the Top 10 list of spoof tracks from the World MMA Awards?

So, without further ado, let’s go straight into it as we run down the list, ordered by number of YouTube views. Enjoy!

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

Triple Take: Which 40-something fighter has produced the best work in the UFC?

They say fighting is a young person’s sport, but we’ve seen a host of examples of fighters who, like a fine wine, got better with age. The ability to keep on dishing out the punishment while still being able to take it in return has taken a select …

They say fighting is a young person’s sport, but we’ve seen a host of examples of fighters who, like a fine wine, got better with age.

The ability to keep on dishing out the punishment while still being able to take it in return has taken a select group of fighters to great things, despite passing their 40th birthdays. But which fighter did the best work inside the octagon as a 40-something?

That’s the question we posed to MMA Junkie writers Mike Bohn, Farah Hannoun and Simon Head in this week’s edition of Triple Take.

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, girlfriend Mindy Robinson injured in ATV accident

The UFC Hall of Famer will undergo surgery Tuesday.

UFC Hall of Famer [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] will undergo surgery Tuesday after he and girlfriend Mindy Robinson were injured in an ATV accident in Arizona on Monday.

MMA Junkie confirmed the news with Couture’s longtime manager Sam Spira, who provided the following statement:

“Randy Couture and his girlfriend Mindy (Robinson) were involved in a Quad (ATV) accident late last night on his ranch just outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. As a result of the accident, later today, Randy will be having some orthopedic surgery.  He (and Mindy) are expected to make a full recovery.”

TMZ was the first to report the news.

Robinson, a conservative activist and political commentator, also confirmed the TMZ report in a tweet on Tuesday, stating Couture suffered a broken shoulder and four ribs. Robinson added she fractured a “transversal processor” (assumed to be the transverse process, a small bone extending from a vertebrae).

This isn’t the only health-related incident Couture has encountered in the past year. On Oct. 23, 2019, Couture suffered a heart attack following a workout in Los Angeles.

The former UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC heavyweight champion retired from mixed martial arts competition in 2011. Couture has remained active on the MMA scene in other capacities, serving as a coach for Bellator MMA’s “Fight Master” and, most recently, a color commentator for Professional Fighters League.

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