Randy Couture Talks Brandon Vera At UFC 105 And Possible Showdown With Machida

by Kelvin Hunt on Sep 23, 2009 6:00 PM EDT in News Comment 10 comments

Randy Couture talks with MMAWeekly about Vera's strengths and how he'll combat them in the main event at UFC 105:

"I like the match-up," said Couture of Vera. "We’re both the same size, he’s a good size light heavyweight as well. He fought at heavyweight for a while. We both have Greco background. He uses his Thai skills a lot in his fights. It’s a good match-up and it’s an interesting fight." "I haven’t had a chance to break down tape on him yet, but just the fights that I’ve seen, I’m gonna have to work and cut him off," said Couture. "I know he’s good at throwing kicks, high or low, so I’ve got to be prepared for that, but I think every time he picks his foot up, I should be able to transition and put him on the ground.

"I think I’m gonna focus more on what I do and do what I do well: just take guys down and put him on the bottom and force him to work from there. Brandon’s gonna come out and try to establish his range and land his long punches and kicks, and I’ve got to be ready to deal with that, and make him pay—put him on the ground every time he does

Here he speaks on if beating Vera could lead to fighting Machida:

"I think this fight will put me in the mix at 205," he said. "Ultimately, I’d love to compete against Machida. Nobody’s really seemed to solve that puzzle yet, and I’m very intrigued by him and his style."

Couture also indicated that he could possibly fight at heavyweight again depending on what the UFC wanted to do. If Couture were to beat Vera(I wouldn't be too surprised by this), I'd want him to face someone of the likes of Forrest Griffin next. In the event that he beat Forrest Griffin, I would have no qualms about him fighting Lyoto Machida for the title. That is of course if Machida gets by Shogun Rua at UFC 104.

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kinds sounds like randy is looking past brandon vera

if couture puts vera on the ground i like vera’s guard and jui-jitsu to handle the rest. as for the q. rampage jackson’s decision to retire i just think it’s a ploy to get more money out of the ufc if or when he fights rashad. both the fertitta brothers are billioniares and own a majority stake in station casino’s even though they filed for bankruptcy on that side of the business. it did say dana white is becoming the don king of mma but i take his side and the ufc side on this. who bailed out jackson when he really went on the rampage in that california town. i’m sure everybody remembers rampage on the ground next to his beat up truck with cops pointing guns at him. they used the old hollywood excuse he was off his meds so he could avoid jail and have a 30 or so day in some phychiatric unit. it’s better than jail or prison. so this is how he repay’s them. i’m surprised the ufc did not put something in jackson’s contract to where if he were to do a movie he would have to come back to fight rashad evans. as i stated before evans is my favorite fighter and do think he would win. i don’t think rampage is ducking him. i just think he has delusion of granduer on his potential for a hollywood career. lets see how the A-TEAM does in movie theatres. if it does bad you think he would be begging dana to bring him back. lmao! peace out. ramble on! p.s i know you said i should use paragraphs but i already admitted i’m bad at writing and i always end with ramble on. just a rambling person.

by wolfmanshowlforever on Sep 23, 2009 6:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Don’t sweat the paragraphs. You’re writing is just fine. I’m with you that it was kind of wrong considering that Dana and the Fertitas did really support him during the incident last year. To play devil’s advocate though: As far as I know Quniton has never mentioned money as an issue to Dana, the media or anyone. If he is just posturing then I’m with you that it sucks. I’ll take him at face value, though. If he really is just burned out and ready to move on to another chapter in his life then I say have at it. The sport will most definitely go on. I think that he would have taken Evans in that fight but I’m also a fan of Evans and think that if he keeps improving then he could definitely capture the championship again. In the end, it sucks that we won’t see this particular matchup but there are plenty of good ones to see in the coming months.

by SlickRick00 on Sep 23, 2009 8:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

hmm

I don’t think Couture is looking past Vera…I think he’s confident that he can take Vera down…especially off those kicks that Vera likes to use…and I think he’s correct…if Vera comes into this fight not prepared to wrestle…he’ll lose.

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by Kelvin Hunt on Sep 23, 2009 8:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

then it's randy's wrestling ability against vera's guard

unless randy gets a kick to the temple first and get’s knocked out (just a possibility). i truly believe vera will be focused for this fight . anybody should be motivated to fight couture even if he is 46 years old. b/c if he is not i will never wager on him again. i believe randy will get vera down to the ground but vera has very smooth jui-jitsu and can see randy get caught with a armbar or kimora. i give randy a 30% chance to win this fight. i can’t see him going against machida though. that could be truly embarassing for him. for slick rick i think your the one who came out with those compu-stat numbers for the belcher fight. i know this fight was quite awhile ago but i would love to see the stats on bisping vs hammil in england. hamill had at least 3 or 4 takedowns in that fight and bisping had those happy feet like he had vs henderson before he was knocked out. bisping might have won the last one minute and 30 seconds of that fight. i think the judges just wanted to please the england crowd since i think marcus davis came away with a great win vs another english guy. that fight was really exciting. it was a long time ago so if you can find those stats i would appreciate it. peace out. ramble on!

by wolfmanshowlforever on Sep 23, 2009 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just so I can understand what you’re talking about, what fights did Vera get guard, or use real BJJ? And I’m not talking about throwing a guillitine on some dude shooting for a takedown, I’m talking something that you’d need to train to do.

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by -Neil- on Sep 23, 2009 9:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yea

I’ve heard that Vera has underrated BJJ, but he hardly ever uses it…he has Jardine in his guard for a little bit…but that’s about it…and he never threatned with a sub either.

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by Kelvin Hunt on Sep 23, 2009 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i remember two submissions from brandon vera

he got one vs assuerio silva (i think the first name is spelled close) and he had another vs mike whitehead. the silva one did come quick and yes i believe it was a quick guillitine. against mike whitehead i believe he won with his jui-jitsu skills. that fight was four years ago and would need to see the fight again but i know it was a submision. i’ve seen brandon vera in the guard in a few other times in his early fights and he may have not got the submission but he certainly did not get ground and pounded. he protected himself well. i’m sure that will be randy’s game plan. one other observation on the tuf 10 reality show. anybody get the feeling that quinton rampage jackson’s team will go 2-6 and maybe even a 1-7 and does not like how he is going to be portrayed. all the filming is done except finale. he did announce his decision to retire two days before the second installment. everybody reacts differently to how they are portrayed. some like coming off as nutty. junie browning is one but there were others. jackson probably is upset that rashad has outcoached him on the show. just an observation. the fight last night in the second round was pathetic. i don’t think i’ve seen two guys so winded that the were across the ring from each other with their heads down and breathing hard. the guy who won did have good kicks. now we get to see how kimbo slice does vs roy nelson. they showed a clip of both in the ring coming at each other at the end of the show so i do expect a fight. no last second injuries. you think they would want kimbo to at least win one match. he is a name people know and you think dana would have him fight one time on a ufc fight night or on a preliminary fight on a pay per view. maybe kimbo can knock him out fast but if it goes the full two rounds i see nelson winning. i remember kimbo getting winded vs james thompson in the early second round. peace out. ramble on!

by wolfmanshowlforever on Sep 24, 2009 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

lol

your new nickname is “The Rambler”….good stuff..and yea, Kimbo’s cardio is suspect…and he’ll lose a decision if it goes that far IMO…shit just going the distance with Nelson would be a moral victory of sorts…

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by Kelvin Hunt on Sep 24, 2009 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

randy NEVER looks past anyone. he’s 46 for gods sake. that’s the one thing you’ll never have to worry about with randy, he will always come prepared. his chin or reflexes migth come into question, but not his mindset. he would come in top condition if he were fighting donny osmond.:)

by bdw on Sep 24, 2009 12:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs