After a year away from competition, Randy “The Natural” Couture will return to the Octagon to defend his title against Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight championship November 15 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White said today.
White says Couture will continue to fight in the UFC regardless of the outcome of the bout.
Much speculation has been given to a potential mega fight between Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko, but White will not pursue the world’s best heavyweight until his current contract with Affliction is up.
“He’s made it very clear how bad he wants to fight Fedor. We’re going to do everything in our power to make the fight happen, but we’re not gonna mess with anybody’s contract. If it becomes available, absolutely.”
Couture’s return sets up three fights to determine the undisputed heavyweight champion. After the Lesnar/Couture fight, interim champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will battle Frank Mir in December.
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The winner of that match will face the winner of Lesnar/Couture sometime in 2009.
Couture, 45, says he is happy with the deal, and realizes that his time in the Octagon is limited. After rumors of an Emelianenko/Couture fight would happen in another promotion, Couture says he prefers to fight in the UFC.
“Both myself and the company are trying to move forward,” Couture says. “I’d much rather fight in the Octagon than anywhere else. I’m certainly under time constraints.”
With the pending Couture fight, Lesnar is keeping his promise to only fight the best in the UFC. He debuted this February in a loss to Frank Mir and rebounded with a dominating decision over veteran Heath Herring at UFC 87 in August.
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The performance against Herring earned Lesnar the title fight, according to White.
“He looked damn good against Heath Herring,”White said. “Herring is a guy who has a ton of experience and he was completely dominated by Brock Lesnar. One of the great things about the UFC is that we’re not caught up in all the boxing political bullshit so we can put on fights that the fans want to see. I think it’s a very interesting tournament we’ve got going on here.”
“Mark my words, Couture vs. Lesnar will be the biggest fight in UFC history.”
While ring rust has hampered fighters who have been out of action for a significant period of time, Couture is not worried that the long layoff will be a problem.
“I’ve been off before and I’ve been very active,”Couture says about the lengthy break. “I’ve done a lot of training camps in the last nine or ten months, so I’m not concerned about ring rust at all.”
Fedor Emelianenko became a recurring topic during the conference call, with both Lesnar and Couture taking firm positions on how they view the man many consider to be the number one heavyweight in the world.
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“I don’t think anything’s missing from my legacy,”Couture said when asked how he would feel if the bout with Emelianenko does not happen. “Most people consider him the number one heavyweight walking around now and I want to take that away from him. I can’t speak for him and I don’t know what’s important for him. He’s expressed interest in this fight but if people are going to take him seriously, he needs to come fight me.”
While the fight with Emelianenko is firmly in his sites, don’t expect for Couture to look past his first fight back.
“How can you overlook a guy that size?”Couture asked rhetorically. “I absolutely take Brock Lesnar seriously. I have a lot of respect for him as an athlete. There is no way I’ll be overlooking Brock Lesnar.”
After hearing “Fedor” one too many times, Lesnar exploded.
“I’m hearing all this talk about Fedor Emelianenko, who gives a shit about Fedor?”Lesnar snapped. “I’m fighting Randy Couture, that’s what this press conference is about, I don’t give a damn about Fedor, and I’m tired of hearing about fucking Fedor. [Couture’s] number one concern should be Brock Lesnar… I’m sick and tired of hearing about Fedor. He’s not with this company and he may not ever be with this company.”
With legal troubles behind the company, Dana White is happy to have one of his organization’s biggest stars back.
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“All I care about is that Randy Couture is back in the UFC. I’m like a giddy little girl right now, I’m happy.”
