• View topic - UFC: Setting up Couture vs. Machida

Here’s a thought…

Why doesn’t Dana White just come right out and say that he feels that Randy Couture has done enough for the sport of MMA (which he has) to automatically deserve a shot at the light-heavyweight championship title?

Why make him jump through a dozen hoops just to appease a rather “large” portion of the fans?

After all, it’s your monopoly Dana–just do whatever the heck you want!

Fight fans can complain until they are blue in the face—Randy Couture should not have to wait in line and the light-heavyweight division was officially put on notice of this fact, once it was announced that Randy was going to be moving down from the heavyweight division.

And if the other fighters (or MMA media) don’t like it…well that’s just too bad for them. They probably wouldn’t even have the opportunities that they have today if it weren’t for guys like Randy.

Respect.

Back in July 2009, Randy made his future career goals very clear by indicating a strong desire to move back down from heavyweight to light-heavyweight in order to give him a chance at the current light-heavyweight champion, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.

“He’s got a very unique style, very unorthodox, he stays true to his karate background and makes it work,” Couture said.

“I could certainly go back down to 205 if that was something [the UFC and its’ fans] wanted to see. I’d be interested in competing against him. He’s a tremendous competitor and somebody I’d like to fight.” –mmafighting.com

When Couture fought Vera in his “debut”, I immediately picked up on something that Joe Rogan had said during the fight introductions. He said that a win would certainly get Couture into title contention and if Vera were to win, he would “move up the ladder” in the light-heavyweight division.

What? No title shot for Vera??

Obviously not.

The pay-per-view money is clearly with Couture.

But Randy messed up. He won, but he didn’t do it convincingly enough to make the fans believe that he had “earned” it. This I do not understand. Trust me when I tell you fight fans…Randy has earned it.

So now here we are– Couture has beat Mark “The Hammer” Coleman at their fight in UFC 109.

Now what?

Should that automatically mean a shot at the title for Randy?

Well…yes and no.

It all depends on what happens at UFC 113 when Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida faces off in the much anticipated rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Either way, whether it’s for the title or not, Couture will definitely be fighting Machida this year and we should be praising our lucky stars that we live in a generation that will get to witness this extension of greatness.

How much time do we honestly believe that Couture has left before he absolutely concedes to the fact that he must hang up his gloves?

Not much.

So, while some are hell-bent on calling for Randy’s retirement (don’t get me started Spence, I’ve been taking massive, unhealthy amounts of steroids and I’m liable to burst into rage at any given moment), I personally believe that we should be embracing every moment that this man steps into the Octogon.

As our younger generation takes over this planet (whatever’s left of it), at least we will be able to say that we saw some of the greats…

…Wayne Gretzky…Michael Jordan…Brett Favre…Tiger Woods…

…and let’s not forget to add Randy Couture to that list.

Enjoy it while it lasts fight fans.

It is an honour and a privilege to watch this man in action—win or lose.

via mmacrypt.com

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