Despite some of the big things happening at last nights UFC 125 event, some of the biggest news came from outside of the octagon rather than in it.
MMAFighting.com reports that former UFC champions Randy “The Natural” Couture (19-1) and Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida (16-2) have verbally agreed to meet at the upcoming UFC 129 event in Toronto.
MMAFighting.com noted that “another UFC source states that this fight has been discussed, but it’s ‘not even close’ to being finalized as of yet,” and that “Couture stated that he had not signed a contract, but had verbally agreed to face Machida in 2011.”
The bout will likely take the co-main event spot of the pay per view as another report has UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre defending his title against Jake Shields at the event.
Couture had talked about retirement previously, noting that either a fight with Machida or Mauricio “Shogun” Rua would make him think otherwise, gets his wish and will now face “The Dragon.” It’s still unclear how his commitment to star in the sequel to last summers Expendables movie will pan out as it’s believed filming will take place the month before the event.
The UFC Hall of Famer, has won three straight bouts which includes a first round submission win over boxing champ James Toney at lats August’s UFC 118 event. He also earned a technical submission victory over Mark Coleman at UFC 109 and a unanimous decision over Brandon Vera at UFC 105. Those wins ended a two fight losing skid to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and to Brock Lesnar, a fight in which he lost the UFC heavyweight title.
Machida meanwhile, is on a two fight losing skid, having been defeated for the first time in his career. He lost a controversial split decision to Quinton Jackson last month at UFC 123 and was knocked out in his rematch with “Shogun” Rua at UFC 113 in May. The loss not only ended a 16 fight undefeated streak for Machida but it also cost him the UFC light-heavyweight title.
UFC 129 is set to take place on April 30th at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, the first ever UFC event to be held in that Province. The event is expected to break all UFC attendance records and coincides with a UFC Fan Expo set for that weekend.