randy couture ufc mixed martial arts fighter interview

Randy Couture : Good.. healed up. I've been cleared for about 2 months to train and spar, so I've been getting ready to go again, hopefully in August.

MS: Oh right August?? RC: August, September kind of time frame. Rematch with Belfort.

MS: You said that you were ready to fight in April didn't you?

Randy Couture : I would have preferred to fight in April

MS: Are you frustrated at having to wait that long?

Randy Couture : Nah.. y'know... I don't care. I'll do whatever. He didn't really want to step up that quickly.. I was hoping for June.. that'd he'd be ready to go, but he wanted to wait until the end of the summer. As long as he does it, you know...

MS: Did you consider taking a fight with anyone else whilst you were waiting?

Randy Couture : They really didn't have anyone else that they wanted me to fight...

MS: Ok.. I guess... yeah. How do you think Vitor compares now as a fighter to he did when you first fought him?

Randy Couture : I think he's considerably better than he was then.. but that comes in maturity. He's a lot more focussed, he's a lot more centred, which makes him better prepared. He's figured out his style a little more, and he's a little more of a counter puncher, and he kinda bides his time, moves away, and tries to draw you in and then explodes with that ability, that athletic ability that he has. So I think he's a little more dangerous now.. even as dangerous as he was back then, he still possesses that, but uses it a little more selectively. He doesn't rely on that completely, he's put together some other things to go with it.

MS: How do you think he is mentally now?

Randy Couture : I was going to say about his sister now, but I think the mental question still needs to be answered.

MS: Yeah

Randy Couture : And if I can go out and really make it tough on him... I think I can push through him, and find a way to win.

MS: So hows Team Quest coming along?

Randy Couture : Kicking butt...

MS: You got many up and coming fighters coming out?

Randy Couture : We've got some REALLY good fighters coming out... a kid named Chris Leben in the 185lbs class is knocking people out, obviously Matt Linland and Evan Tanner...

MS: Whats happening with Matt now?

Randy Couture : Well.... there just kinda putting that on hold.... I don't really understand it. They've put him on hold.. they're of the opinion that he's not exciting enough, and they don't have anybody that they want to see him fight right now. We're kinda frustrated at that, but we've got to deal with it. We're trying to get him into Bushido, or somewhere else.. so we can get him work and get him fights and help.. you know.. he wants to continue to fight and make it.

MS: Right.. so you've got people that we're going to start seeing soon..

Randy Couture : Yeah.. Chael Sonnen just fought in that M1, that Russian Invasion..

MS: Oh right.. how did he do?

Randy Couture : He had a great performance in the 205lb weight class.. we've got some real good young kids that are working hard.

MS: Ok.. so.. where was it first time you fought.. was it UFC 13?

Randy Couture : Yes

MS: That was your first ever mma fight?

Randy Couture : Yeah..

MS: How did you feel going into that?

Randy Couture : Arr.. I was scared shitless!!

MS: I can imagine you were yeah

Randy Couture : Great big 300lb guys

MS: Who was that black guy you fought that was absolutely huge?

Randy Couture : Steve Graham.. yeah.. haha.. I was not sure what I had got myself into. But of course it went very well.. I managed to kinda open my eyes and put a lot of skills... tune those wrestling skills that made me successful in those early shows.

MS: That was a big turning point for the UFC wasn't it.. where you started to get trained fighters through rather than brawlers

Randy Couture : Yeah.. that was the transition I think.. with cross training starting to take place. And the level of athelete went way up.

MS: You say that most of the preparation for a fight is mental.. have you ever gone into a fight feeling unprepared? Was UFC 13 one of them?

Randy Couture : No... I wasn't sure what to expect, so I wasn't to know if I was prepared or not (laughing). And then since then, I haven't been in any fight that I have felt unprepared for. I think if anything err.. in the Ricco fight I was over prepared.. I trained too hard. And consequently wore down in the later rounds. I learned a valuable lesson, and its been kind of an ongoing process of finding that fine line between over doing it and doing enough, and peaking at the right time is a big part of the equation. So.. the rest is just as important as the time that you spend beating each other up.

MS: Do you wish now that you had always competed at light heavy weight rather than starting at heavy weight?

Randy Couture : Well... umm... no... I don't regret my fights at heavy weight... I think that.. those fights helped me be a more effective light heavyweight now. I think at the time it was a little more prestigious to fight in the heavy weight division, and then the light heavyweight slowly grew into being the marquee divison, largely because of Tito and Chuck.. so yeah.. I kinda enjoyed competing at heavyweight... eat whatever the hell you wanted

MS: And not have to cut any weight.. Who's idea was it to go down to light heavyweight? Was it your own?

Randy Couture : Umm.. I had friends "You need to go down to light heavyweight... these guys are too big.. y'know.. you used to wrestle at 198.. you should be fighting at 205. Somebody needs to shut Tito up.. why don't you go down and do it" and all that kind of stuff from my friends. And after the Ricco fight it made a lot of sense.. the guys were just getting too big in the heavy weight division. And they're not just big guys like the first guys I fought.. they know how to fight.. and weight becomes a huge advantage.

MS: I always think that as you go up in weight classes, you know, you go from 170 to 185 to 205, and then thats a big jump up to 265 isn't it..

Randy Couture : Yeah..

MS: If your kind of a 220lbs guy

Randy Couture : Your stuck in the middle

MS: Thats not a good position to be in is it (laughing)

Randy Couture : No... no. You've got to find ways to capitalise on your advantages, your mobility and stuff, but err.. thats still not an even track..

MS: No.. thats still a big guy your trying to push around. So when you came down to 205, how confident were you of beating Chuck?

Randy Couture : Well.. I felt that I had been in with some of the best strikers in the heavyweight division, and they didn't knock me out

MS: As in Pedro...

Randy Couture : Yeah.. Pedro Rizzo, Maurice Smith, Belfort.. you know.. some pretty good punchers... and they didn't manage to knock me out.. and I believe thats possible at any time, to get knocked out, but I felt pretty confident that I could go out and take Chuck down and work on him, and wanted to take a little more agressive approach with him than a lot of people did with him.. a lot of people let him control the tempo of the fight and backed up and countered so he could pick his moments to land those big shots, and so decided if he was going to knock me out, I was going to get right in his face, and make him do it.. and fortunately for me that worked.. that gameplan threw him completely.. he didn't expect that really expect me to be that effective in that fight.

MS: And what about Tito.. how confident were you going into that?

Randy Couture : Again I said all along, that anything he did, I could do just that little bit better, and it was going to come down to wrestling. I watched all of his matches, 99% of them he won by taking the guy down and getting on top. And I was sure that there was no way, without a real struggle, he was going to take me down. And it came down to who got that top position. So I worked real hard on creating scrambles and actually learning from Chuck in being able to pop back up from the ground, not conceeding to fighting from the bottom. It was real difficult, and again, it worked. I managed to take him down. I think to some extent broke his spirit within that first three minutes when he worked so hard on trying to get me down, but.. he didn't get it, he spent all that energy trying to get it, and it was at that point where things went my way.

MS: You said that there's noone for you to fight apart from Vitor... once you've fought Vitor, who then? Is there still a chance of you and Vanderlei?

Randy Couture : There's always an outside chance..

MS: Would that be the ring or the cage?

Randy Couture : I don't care.. whatever the two federations could agree on would be fine by me. Just make it happen. But I'm not real hopeful that its gonna happen.. so its a pipe dream.

MS: Ok.. Who has been your toughest opponent?

Randy Couture : The Pedro Rizzo fight the first time was definitely the toughest fight I have been in to date. Even with the Ricco fight getting hurt, and the Belfort fight getting hurt, that is THE toughest fight.. 5 rounds of just brawling... that I have ever been in. I was so tired at the end of that fight.. I was just like ohhh my god (laughing). My leg swelled up.. I couldn't walk for about 3 weeks

MS: Your joking?

Randy Couture : No... I have a big divot in my quad where he kicked me.

MS: So how did you change your training going into the second one?

Randy Couture : I learned to check kicks.. and studied that first fight, and realised that my aggressive fighting style was what allowed him to do that. Every time I stepped in to hit him or throw a punch or a combination or try to take him down, he kicked me or punched me and did something to me. Then I went back and analyzed his other fights, and realised, especially the Kevin Randleman fight.. neither guy was really willing to engage, he had a lot of trouble executing an offence and being aggressive himself... relied completely on the other guys aggression to get off his offence. So when I figured that out, I changed my balance, and worked with Mo Smith on my kick boxing a lot, and then just tried to be real patient with him, make him wait, I wasn't gonna move into that range until I was willing to go all the way through and get my hands on him. Didn't try to do any open shots, because the open shots were a waste of time, he's all hips and legs, and really hard to takedown, good sprawl. But I figured that if I could get an underhook, if I could get in and get into the clinch, I could take him down from the clinch pretty easily. And err.. by the third round I took him down, and the fight was over. He'd already had a cut from the second round, and he couldn't come back.

MS: I heard a rumour that you were offered to fight in Pride?

Randy Couture : Yeah.. they kinda made a non-exclusive offer, that they'd like to have me fight over there, we could pick the opponents and fight two fights in a years period over there, but UFC weren't gonna allow that if they were gonna sign me to a new contract, it was gonna be exclusively with them. Especially considering that I'm kinda in title contention all of the time. And they are taking care of me very well, so monitarily it didn't make a lot of sense for me to go to Pride.

MS: Ok.. one last question.. Tito and Chuck.. who do you reckon?

Randy Couture : Err... I'm leaning towards Chuck. I think for a couple of reasons. The nice thing about this fight is that you could make a case for either guy, you think they're both that good that.. its gonna be a great fight. But err.. Chuck is hard as hell to hold down. Titos best game is still to get on top and pound down, and I don't think he is going to be able to do that to Chuck. I think that Tito has shown in a couple of fights that his chin is a little suspect. He's had a couple of flash situations..

MS: Do you think that Chuck can KO Tito?

Randy Couture : Yes. I think that if Chuck can keep popping back up, I think that eventually he will have the opportunity to catch Tito. If Chuck has a weakness, its that he's not always in that great'a shape. This is a three round fight, and Tito is going to come out and go all out because he's used to training for a five round fight. But I haven't seen Chuck this relaxed.. he's got rid of his girlfriend, he's a lot more focussed, he's a lot more relaxed, and seems to be enjoying it a lot more than he has in the past... so I'm leaning towards Chuck.

MS: Thanks very much

Randy Couture : Thanks