Your thoughts on Randy Couture.

[Fizzy]

So this came to mind while I was surfing through that shithole of a forum on Sherdog. A lot of the threads had Couture mentioned in them because Shogun has expressed an interest in fighting him. Now I know all of the people who post on Sherdog are just plain fucking ******ed and they all said Randy sucks. I was just wandering how anybody could believe that Randy Couture sucks.

Randy is fighting people at least 10 years younger than him and winning. Now while I don't believe he deserves a title shot yet you just can't count him out. Style wise he is a bad matchup for Shogun. Shogun was taken down by Machida who is no where near the caliber wrestler Randy is. Randy could do what he does better than anybody and just keep Shogun up against the fence and beat him up. You have to give him a chance in that fight.

Randy is one of my favorite fighters of all time, and should be an inspiration to all athletes. I personally don't see how you can say he sucks. I just want your guys opinion on him at this stage of his career. How do you feel he fares in the division, and just your thoughts in general.

 

[jmt225]

Randy Couture as a person, there aren't many I like more in the sport. He's a class act through and through, and he's always been a stand-up, soft spoken guy.

As a fighter, I have the utmost respect for him. The fact that he entered the sport atm what, age 38, and has accomplished what he has is nothing short of remarkable. Moreover, the fact that he'll fight literally ANYBODY at any given time makes me love him that much more. The guy only wants to fight the best of the best, whether it's Fedor, Brock Lesnar, or Anderson Silva... if someone is regarded the best in and around his weight class, he wants to fight him.

That said, while I do think he's a great fighter, I don't think he's anywhere close to being one of the greatest of all time. His losses to Chuck Liddell (both absolutely broke my heart), and his recent fights against Big Nog and Brandon Vera really made me pull my blinders down and come to the realization that Randy Couture, while great, really is not the fighter I thought he was. Specifically it was the fight against Vera, as I believe he would have crushed Big Nog if he went in with a better gameplan. But man... Vera, who sucks, just made Couture look so terrible and brought the worst out of him. I was so, so disappointed, and while I'll always love Couture no matter what, I don't think I'll ever look at him as one of the top 5 greatest to ever step into the octagon like I used to. Maybe top 10, maybe, but that's as far as I'll go with his legendary status.

 

[Fizzy]

You have to take into account that Randy is 46 years old. He gave Brock a great run for his money, and even though Vera sucks he still beat him at 46. The Big Nog fight was a fantastic fight but when Randy lost i'm with you I was upset. I however disagree with you when you said that he is maybe in the top 10. I don't believe you can take Randy out of that spot after those 2 fights. Sure they were disappointing, but like I said earlier look at his age. I don't think you can truly rule him out of that spot because hes looked bad in his last 2 fights. At one point I thought Randy could beat anybody that was thrown at him. When he came in and dominated Sylvia was when I thought "damn this guy is a fucking monster." I have since thought the same as you knowing that he can't beat anybody, but I would still hold him in the top 10 fighters of all time.

 

[TheRapist]

Randy Couture is after all 46 years old but still one of the most respected fighters around. He defiantly help make UFC what it is today. I believe he is past his prime but kudos to the guy for still putting up a fight and having the passion to do what he's good at to the best of his abilities.

 

[Slyfox696]

Here's the way I look at it...

When I run down the list of guys currently in the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions, it takes a LONG time before I find someone I think he can beat. Fedor would kill him, Lesnar already beat him as did Nogueira, Carwin would dominate him, I haven't seen much of Velasquez or Dos Santos, but from the sounds of it, they would be tough matchups for anyone, and I think Mir would beat Couture.

So, just right there, that's what 6 guys that are likely better than Couture? And that's not even throwing in the Light Heavyweights, as well as Anderson Silva.


So the question becomes, how much has Couture lost with age? Well, while I haven't seen MUCH of Couture from his "younger" days, just watching him now I can't help but think he hasn't lost much. Two of the first things to go with age is ability to keep muscle tone and conditioning, and those are two areas that Couture is very good at still. So, I'm not seeing much in the way of loss due to age there.


In my opinion, Couture will always be the fighter fans loved, and because of that, is projected to be better than he really was. Until his last two fights with two not very good fighters (Coleman and Vera), Couture was 16-10, hardly a legendary record.

 

[Via Armbar]

I'll keep this short because of all the fighters we could talk about, Couture is the last guy we should be. No disrespect at all to Randy, he is absolutely one of a kind. I just don't see the need to talk even more about a dude that has been talked about for forever already.

The thing that amazes me the most about Couture is that he has gotten better with age. You heard me right, he's better now than he ever has been. While guys like Liddell and Shamrock slipped and watched as the game passed them by, Couture stayed ahead of the curve. He hasn't lost a step. His cardio is still amazing and his greco is some of the best in mma. The reason he is going to lose a lot of fights right now in both HW and LHW is because the new breed of fighter is simply better. The fighters in this day and age are in every way better than any fighters in the past. The heavyweights are too strong and the light heavyweights are too well rounded and conditioned. The fact that he can still hang with these guys and prove to me a real test is amazing. I guarantee that todays Randy Couture could beat 2005 Randy Couture.