Former UFC heavyweight champ and MMA legend Randy Couture (18-10) was in Vancouver this past weekend to help promote Saturday’s UFC 115 event.
In his rounds speaking to the press, Couture answered a few questions from The Province newspaper in Vancouver.
Most surprising celebrity who has been a fan?
“I guess, probably the one that caught my attention the most, and maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise, was Shaquille O’Neal. I met him during the season of the first Ultimate Fighter and when I fought Tito [Ortiz, at UFC 44 in Las Vegas on Sept. 26, 2003] … well, when I walk in the cage and stand there, waiting for all the introductions and nonsense to get over with and the fight to start, I’ll pick out somebody on the far side and make eye contact with them. It passes that minute or so for me. That night, it happened to be Shaquille. He’s so damn big. So I winked at him and smiled and I guessed it freaked him out. I’ve talked to him a couple of times since then and he’s a great big, huge, funny guy and he’s expressed interest in fighting.”
How would he do?
“I think he’s a tremendous athlete. He’d probably do well. It’d be interesting to see him and Hongman Choi [the 7-foot-2 South Korean MMA star] hook it up. A couple of 7-footers out there, slinging leather. The ring would suddenly look very small with those two in it.”