Issue 168

June 2018

One of the all-time greats of mixed martial arts, Randy "The Natural" Couture, shares some of his personal highlights.

1. Maurice Smith, UFC Ultimate Japan

The first title fight was against Mo Smith in Yokohama, Japan. It was just so out-of-the-blue to go from my first fight in May of 1996 to the superfight with Belfort in October, then in December, I was fighting for a world championship. There was this overwhelming feeling of, holy crap, what just happened?’ Mo was a formidable opponent – an amazing kickboxer who had just beat Mark Coleman, someone who I knew very well.

I prepared diligently to face him and figure out how to solve the problems that he posed. That is the first title fight. That is the one that puts the target on your back, gets things rolling and gets everyone’s attention.

2. Vitor Belfort, UFC 15: Collision Course

The first time I fought Belfort, I don’t think anybody gave me a snowball’s chance in hell to win. He had three minutes’ aggregate time in four fights. I think in some ways that fight set the tone for my entire career. I would find myself in that very situation where everyone said, ‘There is no way Couture will beat this guy.’ I would just be counted out. I was the underdog a lot in my career and I think it started with that fight.

3. Chuck Liddell, UFC 43: Meltdown

Of the first three [fights vs. Liddell], it’s my favorite! Again, nobody expected I would win. I think the UFC was counting on Chuck being their new champion and to continue the process of stripping Tito because of the whole debacle that Tito wouldn’t fight Chuck.

4. Tito Ortiz, UFC 44: Undisputed

That Chuck fight rolled right into unifying the title with Tito. After I beat Chuck, I was the interim champion and Tito was still the champion. He was 29 and I was 40. It was another one of those huge underdog moments and one of the top five fights of my career.

5. Tim Sylvia: UFC 68: The Uprising

Walking to the cage in front of that crowd after having been out for 13 months, that was my favorite fight. When I put him on his butt with the right hand, everybody jumped to their feet at once. It was insane. My manager at the time said he jumped to his feet so fast that he got dizzy and he almost passed out.

That was probably as close as I came to that one- punch knockout. I’m glad it didn’t go that way. People would have said it was a fluke and I just caught him. To have to suck it up and grind it out at 44 years old, I was happy the way it turned out. I think the crowd stayed on their feet for the whole 25 minutes. It was insane. They counted down the last 10 seconds and I can still hear that ringing in my ears.

That was the first time I had seen my mom in quite a while. There was a two-year rift in the relationship due to the divorce I was going through, which is why I stepped out and retired for a little while. We patched things up and she came to that fight. There was a lot going on.