The 411 MMA Top 5 11.10.09: Week Nineteen – Top Randy Couture Moments

Posted by Larry Csonka on 11.10.2009

From his battles with Chuck Liddell and winning the heavyweight title to battling Brock Lesnar and even spanking Tito Ortiz, the 411 MMA writers say that these are some of the best Randy Couture moments ever! Check out the full column to see what moments made the list and why!



Welcome:
Welcome back to the MMA Top 5! What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 MMA will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. At the end, based on where all of these topics rank on people's list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It's highly non-official and final.


This week's topic is…



TOP COUTURE MOMENTS!


Samer Kadi

5. Phenom… Meet The Natural - In 1997 Vitor Belfort had burst into the UFC scene knocking out people left and right. When the much older Randy Couture – two fights into his MMA career – was set to take on the Phenom, people naturally assumed he would be added to Belfort's list of victims. The-yet-to-be-nicknamed Natural surprised everyone by utilizing his superior wrestling and now infamous dirty boxing to stop Belfort eight minutes into the fight.

4. Ortiz gets spanked - After Couture defeated Chuck Liddell for the UFC interim light heavyweight title, champion Tito Ortiz came back to the organization to take on Couture in a title unification bout. After months of trash talk by Ortiz in which he repeatedly called Couture "an old man", Randy answered back inside the Octagon by laying a five round whooping on "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy". To add insult to injury, Couture would literally spank Ortiz in the closing seconds of the bout, further adding to Ortiz' humiliation who would later break down and cry during the announcement of the decision.

3. Gabriel Gonzaga gets stopped in his tracks - After capturing the heavyweight title on his return to the UFC back in 2007, Couture was set to defend his title against number one contender Gabriel Gonzaga, fresh of his destruction of Mirko Cro Cop. Few believed Randy stood a chance, as the younger Gonzaga possessed every tool to dispose of the natural. A powerful striker with brutal kicks and a BJJ world champion, Gonzaga was believed to be the future of the heavyweight division. Couture had other ideas though. In what I consider the finest performance of his career, Randy executed a fantastic gameplan by constantly roughing up Gonzaga in the clinch, thus completely breaking his will. Eventually Randy secured the takedown and stopped Gonzaga with trademark ground and pound midway through the third round.

2. Couture Vs Liddell: Chapter 1 - After the first of many retirements from MMA, Randy made his return to the UFC in 2003 by dropping down to the light heavyweight division and taking on rising star and knockout machine, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. A fearsome striker with fantastic takedown defense, Liddell was viewed as a match up nightmare for "The Natural", and Couture was thought to be as nothing more than a stepping stone for The Iceman as he continues his march to superstardom. Once again Couture would play the spoiler role as to the surprise of everyone, he completely out struck Liddell and took him down at will. Randy eventually stopped Liddell with punches from the mount in the third round.

1. Not bad for an old man - In my opinion, Randy Couture landing THAT overhand right 8 seconds into his fight with Tim Sylvia is the single greatest moment in MMA history. When Randy announced his return to the UFC in 2007, people thought it was a bad idea. When it was announced that he would be returning to the heavyweight division and taking on the champion Tim Sylvia, people thought he was downright insane. But as he often did in his career, Couture shocked the world by completely outclassing "The Main-eac" for five rounds. Randy knocked him down early, took him down at will, and totally dominated him in a third round that occurred exclusively on the feet.

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Jeffrey Harris

5. Couture Beats Gonzaga With A Broken Freaking Arm - Despite getting a win over Sylvia, people thought Couture's win was a fluke. Surely Couture couldn't beat a big, scary beast like Gonzaga who was coming off a win over Pride legend Crocop with one of the sickest looking kill kick knockouts of all time. Randy yet again defied all the odds and with a broken arm punched out Gonzaga to victory pretty much setting the pattern for Gonzaga's UFC career in destroying lesser competition but getting the crud beat out of him in the big, meaningful fights.

4. Lesnar And Couture Face Off - The situation with UFC and Randy Couture was finally resolved, and Couture was finally set to return to the UFC and face off against yet another giant in Brock Lesnar for the title. One of UFC's biggest fights and main events ever that firmly further established their PPV dominance. Despite Lesnar's immense size and power, few would bet against or not pick Randy. Not to mention Lesnar was still green in MMA being only a 2-1 pro.

3. Ortiz Gets Spanked - I wonder if Ortiz would still stay that Randy was tapping. Ortiz was still technically champion and he constantly dogged Randy for being old before this fight. Well the old man Randy dished out some good old fashioned disciplined and spanked Ortiz for acting like a petulant child. Couture once again beats adversity and comes out on top.

2. Couture VS. Liddell - The Trilogy - Eh not one moment, but I just wanted to put it all together since all three are some of UFC's biggest fights ever. But Couture coming in and beating Liddell for the title was sort of symbolic of his career. Randy being the underdog and winning the fights no one thought he could.

1. Randy Vanquishes A Giant - Randy came out of retirement yet again to face Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Weird how fans accepted this considering Randy Couture had lost his last fight at light heavyweight in a title bout and had done nothing to earn a title shot, but oh well. Randy put on a hell of a gutsy performance that is part of why he is a living MMA legend. Couture proved all his critics and doubters wrong again by beating Sylvia and becoming heavyweight champ yet again.

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Jonathan Solomon

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Couture's MMA Debut vs. Ludvig Borga - The man who terrorized WWF TV in 1993 (he ended Tatanka's winning streak after all) was choked out by Captain America in one minute.

Teasing Fedor - It will never happen, but they came (somewhat) close.




5. Randy Begins Upsetting Younger Fighters - The first sign of what would become a legendary MMA career happened at UFC 15 when Couture beat Vitor Belfort. Vitor was the younger, faster and stronger fighter. But he was not Couture. In Couture's next UFC fight (UFC Japan), he won the heavyweight championship for the first time. When he next fought in America (UFC 28), he won the championship for a second time. Too sweet~!

4. Randy vs. Brock - Brock Lesnar, the behemoth, outweighed Couture by at least fifty pounds when they fought at UFC 91. That did not stop Couture from putting up the best fight against Lesnar (that didn't count Mir's submission). Couture even rocked Brock at one point. If it wasn't for the glancing punch from Brock that ended it in the second round, who knows what would have happened.

3. Randy Couture Gives a Pep Talk to Brett Favre - Late in the 2007 NFL season, Randy Couture stopped by Lambeau Field (in Wisconsin) to meet with Brett Favre and give a pep talk to the Green Bay Packers. At the time, they were one their way to the post-season. However, their luck would run out when the NEW YORK GIANTS came to town and vanquished the cheese heads. This may not be related to MMA, but even in prison, Plaxico Burress is owning Al Harris.



2. Tito who? - Tito Ortiz sat out for over a year in some part because he did not want to fight Chuck Liddell. Randy Couture stepped up to become interim champion by beating Liddell at UFC 43. The next show featured Ortiz's return against Couture. Captain America dominated the fight and outwrestled Ortiz in each round. By the end, Couture famously spanked Ortiz as the fight came to an end.

Tito talks a lot of trash on Best Damn!, and could not back it up in the cage.


1. Heavyweight Champion at 43-Years Old - In individual combat sports, "old" men simply do not win championships and defeat the younger and larger athletes of today. Couture taught everyone, he was as young in spirit as any other fighter. Despite the fact Tim Sylvia fought with a messed up back, he was dominated for FIVE rounds. TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES. It's amazing that Couture could stay alive for nearly a HALF-HOUR against a man who should have been able to power his way to victory. Randy Couture stuck to his guns and made Sylvia quit.


Scott Kuczkowski

5. Randy destroys Gonzaga - Gabriel Gonzaga came into this fight extremely over hyped after his win over Cro Cop and was billed as a legitimate threat to Randy. Heck, even Randy acted like Gonzaga posed some type of interesting problem for him. As everyone knows Randy dispatched Gonzaga fairly easily after dropping him on his head and breaking his nose. The rest of the fight consisted of Gonzaga gasping for air and attempting the same lucky head kick that worked against Mirko. Randy finished things and Gonzaga hasn't even sniffed gold since then.

4. Randy humbles Vitor…twice! - Vitor typically reveals himself as a mental midget during his interviews and particularly during the most important of his fights, so I was actually looking forward to him facing Randy. I don't dislike Vitor; he just bugs me sometimes when he starts to believe his own hype. The first time they met Randy straight out-worked Vitor and finished him with ground and pound. Vitor got luck in their second meeting when the edge of his glove slices Randy's eyelid and the fight was stopped. The third meeting ended much like the first; with Vitor exhausted and battered and Randy victoriously holding the Championship belt.

3. Randy upsets Chuck - Tito was out crying about his contract so the UFC needed to crown an interim LHW champ. Chuck was the #1 contender, so Randy was chosen as the guy he would beat to become the interim champ. Randy was coming off 2 losses at HW, so I'm sure the thought was that he wouldn't have a chance against Chuck. That plan went to shit when Randy started to out strike and frustrate Chuck. A cool slam and a few takedowns later, Chuck was bleeding from his nose and Randy was wearing the interim LHW Championship.

2. Randy Spanks Tito - Tito sealed his fate when he claimed that "no 40 year old man would beat him." Those words came back to haunt him as Randy outwrestled, out muscled, and pummeled Tito for five rounds. Randy capped things off by spanking Tito like a little bitch in the fifth round after Tito attempted a leg-lock and ended up stuck underneath Randy, who was standing against the cage. The spanking must have stung, because Tito had tears in his eyes as the unanimous decision in Randy's favor was announced and the LHW belt placed around his waist.

1. Randy smashes Big Tim - Randy walked away from retirement and the announcer's booth and challenged Big Tim for his title. At the time there weren't any real contenders for the belt and Sylvia had the in-cage appeal of a chess match. Many fans (and of course Joe Rogan) thought this was a bad idea because Randy had previously had problems fighting heavyweights who were much bigger than him. Randy of course walked into the cage with a great gameplan and walked out with the HW title. The match itself was really just a demonstration of how to beat a big, doofy, one-dimensional striker.

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Jeremy Lambert

5. Randy Couture's commentary during Liddell vs. Ortiz at UFC 47 - Here's the transcript of one of my favorite commentary exchanges:

Goldberg: Who's the harder puncher?

Couture: Chuck never got a chance to hit me but obviously he's got devastating knockout power. He's demonstrated that time and time again.

Rogan: Did Tito ever connect with you?

Couture: Uh no he never hit me either.

Rogan: Check you out.

4. Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia at UFC 68 - He had lost 2 of his last 3 via KO, he was 43 years old, he had been retired for two years, and he hadn't won at Heavyweight since 2001. He was facing the biggest Heavyweight in the UFC, a guy who had won his last six fights, and had KO power. Randy Couture not only won the fight, he dominated Tim Sylvia for 25 minutes and captured the Heavyweight title for third time in his career. "Not bad for an old man."

3. Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell at UFC 43 - Chuck Liddell was almost on top of the world at this point in his career. He was the consensus #1 contender for the Light Heavyweight title and a feared striker with a legendary sprawl. Randy Couture was thought to be at the end of line given his age and two straight losses. None of that matter. Couture out struck Liddell, took him down multiple times, and just dominated the fight. Couture became the first fighter to capture titles in two different weight classes with this victory as well.

2. Randy Couture vs. Tito Ortiz at UFC 44 - One of my favorite all time calls by Joe Rogan happened after this fight: "That guy is my hero." Couture was the hero of many after this fight. He spanked - literally - the younger, faster, and stronger fighter en route to a dominating decision. Rogan not only called Couture his hero after this fight, he label him as the baddest man on the planet. Not many people could argue that after that night.

1. Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74 - The Tim Sylvia fight was great but he was also facing Tim Sylvia. Gabriel Gonzaga was coming off the huge KO of Cro Cop, looked like a legit killer, and Randy Couture thought himself that Gonzaga was a tougher opponent than Mirko. Randy Couture not only beat Gonzaga, he broke him. He beat him to blindness and essentially made Gonzaga quit. Not only that but he did it with a broken arm and at the age of 44. It might be his last win ever but it was certainly his most memorable for me.

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AND 411's BEST RANDY COUTURE MOMENTS ARE…



5. Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 – 4pts.




4. Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74 – 10pts.




3. Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell at UFC 43 – 14pts.




2. Randy Couture vs. Tito Ortiz at UFC 44 - 17pts.




1. Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia at UFC 68 – 22pts.

Come back next week for another edition of the MMA Top 5~!

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