Greatest Victory Series: Randy Couture

[jmt225]

The "Greatest Victory" series is simple. We pick a legend in the sport, who has a ton a big wins under his belt, and we ask you... which one was his greatest victory of them all? Basically, which is the most impressive and which win will the fighter be most remembered for by at the end of his career?

So, with that... second in the series we have none other than Randy Couture.

Click here to view Randy Couture's complete MMA Record.

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Man, there are so many places you can go with this answer, from Randy's unbelievable upsets over Chuck Liddell and Tim Sylvia, to dominating Tito Ortiz, to his first Heavyweight Championship win over Maurice Smith.

However, my choice is without a doubt his first win against Vitor Belfort.

When Randy Couture beat Belfort, Couture was nothing more than a tournament winner. While he impressed people with that tourney, EVERYONE expected Couture to get absolutely destroyed against Vitor. Hell, at the time, Vitor, at remarkably only 19 years of age, would have been expected to destroy ANYONE in MMA. He had that kind of hype behind him. Sure, Vitor was only 4-0 himself, but in those four wins he beat every single one of those guys with some of the fastest hand speed fans of the sport had ever seen, and he won all those fights around the one minute mark. It was an unbelievable start to his career, and no one thought he was slowing down any time soon.

Well, Couture showed up, and just dominated Vitor. He pressed him against the cage, took him down, and used his beautiful dirty boxing to control Vitor for 8 minutes straight, until putting him away with his GnP from the back mount. No one, and I mean NO ONE, saw it coming, and it was the fight that put the then 34-year-old Randy Couture on the map.

 

[Fizzy]

So many wins that could be considered for Randy here. He has upset so many fighters, and is an absolute warrior, and legend in MMA. For me it's between three fights. The Sylvia fight, the Belfort fight, and the Liddell fight. Nobody gave him a chance in any of those fights, and for him to win in the manor he won was just amazing to witness.

I'm going to go with the Sylvia fight. Sylvia was younger, stronger, and much bigger. Everybody thought he had a huge striking advantage, and would use his strength to dominate Couture. Couture proceeded to dish out one of the most one sided beatings in history dominating Tim for 25 full minutes. Tim mounted no offense what so ever. Randy landed a huge bomb in the first couple seconds of the fight, and from there on every minute of the fight was all Randy. It was a remarkable moment, and truly special. My favorite fighter ever.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

I'm going to answer this in an odd way. I'm going with Vitor at UFC 15.

This began the career of Couture as we know him if you think about it. Vitor was heavily favored due to his extraordinary boxing, hand speed, and superior BJJ. However, this fight marked two things that would become staples in Randy's career.

1.) Randy wins a fight that most people thought he would lose. Belfort looked to be superior in every facet because, at that time, BJJ was much more feared than it is presently (not that it's not feared, but we are talking early UFC).

2.) Dirty boxing. This became a massive staple in Randy's game and was, ultimately, one of the biggest assets that he had against someone like Belfort. He used it to control him, wear him down, ultimately take him down, and finish the fight via GnP.

This fight was the beginning of Randy as most know him, gotta give the nod to that one.

 

[Via Armbar]

I hate to pick one somebody has already mentioned, but I really believe it to be his signature fight. That would be his win of Tim Sylvia.

Long gone are the days when people respected and feared Tim Sylvia. Hilarious statement I know, but believe it or not Big Timmeh was once a top heavyweight. Up until the fight with Randy he had a very impressive 23-2 record and had taken out some very notable names. There is the obvious point to be made that the HW division was, and had been weak for..well..ever really. The divisions lack of stars though isn't a factor in what makes this fight so important for Randy.

To me, Couture has always been the people's fighter. A fighter for the fans. He's been a constant in the UFC for a very long time and has won a boat load of fights that people that he was too small or too old to win. Always a warrior and yet still somehow and underdog at the same time. Factor in his departure from the UFC and retirement and it looked as if The Natural's history in the cage had been fully written. Luckily for fight fans, it wasn't over just yet and he was scheduled to face the then UFC HW champion.

Still to this day, there are very few if any crowd pops that match or even rival that of Randy hitting Sylvia in the face in the opening seconds of this fight. It was the culmination of everything up to this point; the fans doubts, Randy's doubts, age, relevance. So many factors involved and in just a couple seconds everything we thought we knew was pretty much erased. Randy showed why people talk of him the way they do; an all time legend. This victory to me really embodies not just Couture's entire career, but really what the sport is about at it's core.