Mixed Martial Arts Biography - Randy Couture

RANDY COUTURE
UFC Champion
RandyCouture.tv

Name: Randy Couture
Nick Name: The Natural
Record: 12 - 5 - 0
Association: Team Quest
Height: 6'1 / 185.42 cm
Weight: 205 lbs / 93 kg
Style: Greco-Roman Wrestling
Birth Date: 06/22/63
City: Corvallis
State: Oregon
Country: USA

Randy Couture, a world class athlete and coach has spent over 25 years training in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. He has won four national and world team titles and was a three time NCAA All-American. Randy served as assistant wrestling coach and strength and conditioning coach for Oregon State University. For the past four years he has developed a unique style of mixed martial arts combining his wrestling skills with boxing and jiu-Jitsu. His first success in no rules fighting came after winning the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight belt. He later knocked out undefeated Brazilian phenom, Vitor Belfort in the U.F.C. Superfight and later defeated Maurice Smith in Ultimate Japan. Randy is part of the Team Quest Fight Club!!!

Voted "The Best Fighter of All Time" in the People's Choice awards, Randy Couture is a three-time UFC champion and the only fighter to win UFC titles in two different weight classes. Couture also has an impressive wrestling resume; he won the national Greco-Roman championship five times!

A UFC legend, Couture has one of the most misleading records in the sport. Since dropping to 205lbs, he has thoroughly dominated three of the top five figthers at that weight: Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and Vitor Belfort. Randy is currently the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion of the World. Couture is the perfect role model in the sport of MMA, and is idolized by many.

Contact Randy Couture

Visit the Team Quest Fight Club Web Site

Interview:
Randy "the Natural" Couture!
by Mike Sloan

Free Fighting Illustrated.Com
Names RANDY COUTURE as The Fighter Of The Year 2003

On May 30, 1997 at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta Georgia, was the day that many of us first got to see Randy Couture in action. On that night he defeated two larger men, Tony Halme and Steven Graham enroute to his first UFC Championship, a tournament that no one expected him to win. That was our (old school MMA fans) introduction to Randy "The Natural" Couture.

After losing the UFC Heavyweight Title to Ricco Rodriguez on September 27, 2002 and getting injured during the loss, then having a scheduled fight not fall through many thought Randy Couture's fighting days where past him, many, but Randy Couture.

On June 6, 2003 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas Randy Couture returned to mixed martial arts and after dropping down in weight from heavyweight to light heavyweight he stepped back into the Octagon to fight for the UFC Interim Light Heavyweight Championship against the fighter considered by many as the uncrowned UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. Again it seemed the deck was stacked against him, after all Liddell had KOed Renato"Babalu" Sobral in one round just seven months ago and was riding the media wave as one of the best fighters in the world. With Couture cutting weight to make the 205 pound light heavyweight limit, many thought the weight loss would effect his performance in the fight, some thought Liddell would KO Couture within one round, some even said Liddell's stand-up would be to much for the almost 40 year old Couture.

The fight

The fight was a lopsided one, and there was a KO, but it was Randy Couture who KOed Chuck Liddell in three rounds. It seems that everyone forgot that Couture is a world class wrestler who's used to cutting weight and who also posses good boxing skills, it also seems many just plainly forgot that Couture had for the last six years been fighting the bigger men and has two victories over one of the sports most dangerous stand-up knockout artists, Pedro Rizzo. Again Randy Couture proved many wrong, but the best was yet to come.

Three months later..

The date; September 26, 2003.. the place; Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. On this night Randy Couture was matched to fight Tito Ortiz for Ortiz's UFC Light Heavyweight Title. Ortiz, one of the most popular mixed martial artists in the world, his aggressive fighting style a fan favorite. Ortiz had been dominating the light heavyweight division since winning the title in December 2000. By now Ortiz had soundly defeated every fighter who had challenged him for his title. Evan Tanner, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ken Shamrock, just to name a few where all soundly defeated by Ortiz. The odds makers had Ortiz winning easy, many fans thought Ortiz would prove to be more than Couture could handle. Couture must have not been listening to anyone because during the fight he dominated Ortiz like no one else has ever, he took Tito Ortiz to school, after all Randy Couture has been wrestling for over 30 years, and it was noticeable during the fight. By winning the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at age 40 Randy Couture has proven it as a fact that age, for some, is just a number.

Free Fighting Illustrated.Com proudly recognizes Randy Couture as "Free Fighting Illustrated.Com's Fighter of the Year 2003" for his amazing achievements in the world of mixed martial arts this past year. At 40, he has cleaned out the light heavyweight by soundly defeating two of the world's best light heavyweight fighters, all within three months. While Vanderlei Silva did defeat two fighters in one night, the level of competition Couture faced in Liddel and Ortiz surpassed the two Silva victories by a long shot. The Light Heavyweight division is a tough one that's stacked with talent, this division has it all, speed, strength, stamina and skill, but now Randy Couture has brought a level of experience to this division that's never been seen before, it makes you wonder, what active fighter in this division will give Couture solid competition, a run for the money, a good fight, probably not one of the top 10 fighters actively fighting today. Saying "he gets better with age" is an understatement when referring to him. In a sport that has just recently started to gain the respect of the main stream sports media, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture is the icon this sport has needed to help it grow and surpass all the other combat sports.