After one year away from the octagon Randy Couture is now scheduled to return this November. Couture split from the UFC after a dispute centering around respect and compensation (likely more the latter). Couture will face Brock Lesnar at UFC 91. It was made official during a conference call today, this past hour.
The UFC originally scheduled the call for 3 PM EST and later moved the announcement to 4 PM EST. The result was the same and what I expected; hall of famer Randy Couture to return and faec former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar.
Also announced was the next step, White said the winner would indeed face the winner of the Mir/Nogueira fight which will be in December. This will unify the interim title that Nog currently holds with the strap that Couture never lost.
There will be an inevitable backlash about Lesnar getting a title shot already from the true MMA fans out there. However, I disagree and believe such a backlash in nearly 100% unwarranted.
Lesnar looked impressive (as impressive as possible in a loss) against Mir who is now the #1 contender. Lesnar then destroyed a top notch opponent in Heath Herring. He has yet to look “bad” in the octagon; he just got caught by one of the best heavyweights in world, on the ground, in Mir.
A victory over Couture in my eyes, even if he is 45 years old, puts him near the top of a contenders list in a weak UFC heavyweight division. Such a victory over Couture (which would make him some type of interim champion) but essentially giving him the chance to fight to become undisputed champion against Mir/Nogueira would make it two very impressive wins. It would not be unheard of for someone with this resume in the UFC to get a title shot. The problem is that his resume is 100% UFC and he did not “pay his dues” coming up the ranks.
Say that Lesnar beats Couture and then beats Mir/Nogueira; that gives him three top tier victories in the UFC. That is worthy of a title shot in my opinion so at best Lesnar is getting a shot one fight premature of what many fighters would be handed. It is a business of course and Lesnar has proven to be able to sell.
Come on that is some serious competetion Mir, Herring and Couture for your first three fights in the octagon! At the very least it will be fun to watch a raw talent like Lesnar go up against an absolute genious and veteran of the sport in Couture.
Not that others didn’t see it coming but we did call it here. The only thing we got wrong is that the fight will now take place in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand instead of Oregon as orginally planned. No word on why the change of heart.
