Randy Couture left Saturday’s night fight a loser by one of the best knockouts so far this year. A “Crane Kick” from the Karate Kid himself, Lyoto Machida, sent him into early retirement and left many with a bad image of Couture in his final fight.
For anyone who saw Couture for the first time on Saturday night, you have missed out on one of the most storied careers in MMA history. Couture stands as a symbol for longevity in the sport of MMA. He proved that, no matter the age, you could still contend for a title and beat big name fighters.
Couture defied Father Time and led a great career until he was 47 years old (almost 48 as his birthday is in June). Couture even started his career at a time when most fighters today start thinking about retirement.
Couture started at age 34 at UFC 13. Since then, he has brought forth some of the best moments in UFC.
First, there’s Couture’s huge upset over Tim Sylvia who out-sized Couture and was battling for the UFC heavyweight crown.
Of course Captain America pulled off the huge upset over Sylvia. Couture came out and beat Sylvia all over with his striking. Not to mention, this was Couture’s first fight at heavyweight in almost five years. On top of that, he was returning from a yearlong retirement.
Couture defied the odds throughout his entire career. He had numerous upsets, displays of toughness and just flat out brilliant performances that just seemed to make everyone love him and want to watch the great Randy Couture even more.
Even more recently, in a fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Couture was able to survive and escape a choke from Big Nog and give him everything he could muster to make Big Nog’s victory only that more well earned. Even in this unanimous decision loss, Couture proved you can’t count him out no matter what—even at the age of 46.
Couture will now be walking out of the Octagon as one of the most beloved fighters in UFC history. One of two fighters to ever hold a belt in two different weight classes in the UFC. The man who showed James Toney that MMA is a tough sport like boxing.
The man, the myth, the legend walks away from the UFC as one of the all-time legends for the promotion.
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