UFC
ROUNDTABLE: What is your favorite Randy Couture fight and why? MMATorch staff and contributors comment
Apr 28, 2011 - 10:20:47 PM ROUNDTABLE: What is your favorite Randy Couture fight and why? MMATorch staff and contributors comment

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What is your favorite Randy Couture fight and why?

RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

My favorite Randy Couture fight was his fight with Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74 in 2007.  That wasn't the first PPV that I saw by any means, but it was the second PPV that I organized and had people over to watch, and that fight really sold everybody who attended on the UFC.  And the main selling point was the gritty performance by Randy Couture. 

OK, we all know that Gonzaga's nose was broken by a fluke collision of heads on a slam, but broken nose or no, once that fight started there was no way Couture was losing that fight. 

The capper of it was when it was revealed that he broke his arm during the fight.  Gonzaga may have eventually been as exposed as less than UFC-champion caliber.  But on the night of that fight he was an absolute bull, and Randy Couture stuck about 42 swords into the hide of that raging bull.

ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

On March 3, 2007 in Columbus, Ohio, Randy Couture won the UFC Heavyweight title. He was a huge underdog and not many people gave him a chance of winning.  That fight with Tim Sylvia  is not only my favorite fight of Randy's career, it is my favorite fight of all time.  I was in attendance when Randy dominated every second of a 5 round instant classic.  Most people had written him off as too old and too small to compete against the much younger and much larger Sylvia.  It was not that he was able to win and pull off the upset, it was the way he won.  He made Tim Sylvia look horrible in every aspect of the game.  He was supposed to out wrestle Sylvia,  but he out struck the best striker in the heavyweight division at the time.  I love this fight, because it cemented Couture's place as one of the greatest fighters in the history of MMA.

FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I think my favorite Couture fight is the one he had against Brock Lesnar. Even though he lost, Randy proved that experience and skill is more valuable than size and strength and speed. For a while there, it looked as though Randy might get the win. It's too hard to pick from all of Randy's wins, he's had a lot of great fights. I got to go with the Lesnar fight.

JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

At this point, Randy Couture’s signature fight has to be his return to the Octagon against Tim Sylvia back at UFC 68. People have been counting out Randy Couture since his debut, and the final fight of his trilogy with Chuck Liddell gave everyone just cause to believe that Couture was done, including his retirement. However, Couture returning to the cage to defeat Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight title was a seminal moment for the sport, and the punch he landed on Tim Sylvia to start it off has to be one of the most famous knockdowns in the history of MMA.

CHRIS PARK, MMATORCH UK SPECIALIST

My favourite Randy Couture fight of all time is his bout with, then heavyweight champion, Tim Sylvia.
 
The heavyweight division was definitetly lacking excitement back then, and with Sylvia sitting (not exactly) pretty at the top, it was down to Couture to once again overcome the odds.
 
After almost finishing Sylvia in the first twenty seconds of the fight. Couture went on to absolutely dominate the giant champion for the entire five rounds, en route to re-claiming the UFC heavyweight title.
 
Couture breathed new life into an otherwise boring division and for that reason this is my favourite Randy Couture fight of all time.

ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

My favorite Couture fight has to be the first time he fought Vitor Belfort.  If nothing else, this was the FIRST time of many times that many critics, pundits, and fans doubted Randy Couture as being able to take out the Phenom at the fast start of Belfort's career.  Couture proved why he should have been facing him in the first place, plus was able to lay the foundation to the legacy that he has been able to carve out since that win.

ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I'm tempted to pick something obscure, but I'll go with the first Randy Couture/Chuck Liddell bout.  After he "lost" to Josh "PED" Barnett and tapped out to strikes against Ricco Rodriguez, everyone thought Couture was done.  The assumption was that the UFC was feeding Couture to Liddell to help make Liddell a star.  Instead, Couture looked amazing in his first match at 205 pounds and absolutely dominated Liddell, not only taking him down at will but oustriking him standing.  It was an incredible performance.

MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

It has to be when he came out of retirement and beat Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight Title at UFC 68. At 43 and giving up roughly sixty pounds to a prime Sylvia, the question wasn't whether or not Couture could pull of the upset, but whether or not he could avoid serious injury. And then the fight started. Couture dropped Sylvia with a right hand less than a minute in and never looked back. You'd be hard pressed to find such a thoroughly dominating upset. Couture mixed up his striking with timely takedowns and won every single round and the fight 50-45. The crowd in Columbus, Ohio was insanely loud throughout and I still get chills thinking about them counting down the final seconds of the fifth round knowing they were about to see a championship belt around Couture's waist yet again. 
 
[Randy Couture art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]