Randy Couture Returns

Randy "The Natural" Couture IS coming out of retirement. Randy's big announcement should come Thursday on Inside the UFC on Spike TV. The fight is set to take place March 3rd (1 year & 1 month since Randy "retired"), at UFC 68 in Ohio, against current Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia.

So why you may ask? Cha-ching $$$$$. The UFC is supposedly paying Randy a very hefty sum of money to spice up their Heavyweight division. Couture is a former Heavyweight Champ, but one has to question, whether or not at age 43, he can stand in front of KO artist Sylvia, and if he can take the 6'8 265 pounder to the ground for his only shot at winning. Not to mention, if he does get a takedown, can he hold Tim there long enough to do damage. Randy was also KO'd by Chuck Liddell in his last two fights, and once you get concussions, it becomes much easier and easier to lose that way. In the past, big heavyweights like Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez, were just too much for the Natural, and overpowered him. Now he is attempting to best a man who dwarfs both those men in size.

Obviously, the whole point of thing, is to get people interested in Tim Sylvia, and up the PPV buys. Tim is not exactly beloved by fans, though he has a 16 TKO's to his credit. Tim flipped off the fans after his last fight, when they practically boo'd him out of the arena, for a lackluster bout. It is a win, win, for the UFC. If Tim wins, they build his resume with a victory over a hall of fame legend. If Randy wins, everyone would want to see Randy Couture vs Mirko Cro Cop for mucho dinero!!

Sadly, Gabriel Gonzaga gets screwed along the way by all of this. Napao has amassed a solid 7-1 record, with his only loss coming against top 5 heavyweight in Pride, Fabricio Werdum. Gabe is a BJJ blackbelt, and has finished all 3 of his UFC fights (2 with TKO & 1 with a submission) and was in negotiations for the #1 contender spot, before the whole Randy thing popped up. He falls by the way side, simply because fans don't know who he is. That bothers me because the sport of MMA should be about the top fighters, not who is "popular" and can sell the most PPV's.

At any rate, the Tim Sylvia, Randy Couture thing is going to happen. I only hope Randy doesn't get seriously hurt in this David vs Goliath match up. My gut tells me Tim's big hands are going to drop Randy faster than Chuck did.