It was a long time in the making, but Couture-Nogueira truly lived up to its billing. It was one of the most dramatic fights in UFC history, with near-stoppages for Nogueira in all 3 rounds, and some valiant escapes from Couture. Couture was slightly ahead standing in the first on my card until Nogueira creamed him with an overhand right to the temple that sent him to the floor. Couture never truly recovered from the shot, you could see he never really got his legs under him again. From there, Nogueira dominated the fight, but Randy was able to hang in portions with nice combinations, but at all times he seemed seconds away from being knocked out after the first knock down.
I don’t want to jump to any rash conclusions, but Randy’s chin is now clearly feeling the effects of his age. Perhaps Nogueira had brand new power, but he’s never been one to destroy opponents with an overhand right, which is what he did tonight. Would Couture have done better with a grinding strategy up against the fence? Probably, but Nog was prepared to pull guard in order to make sure it didn’t get there.
Couture was out of his league on the ground with Nogueira, but he was able to avoid three very close submissions. The fight was so exciting that a partisan hometown crowd did not boo mercilessly when the outsider won. It was a one-sided fight after the first knock down, but it was still a war that lived up to the billing.
The big question now is whether Randy should retire. Surely people will immediately demand it. Me? Like most fighters, I’m going to take my time and think about it. I’m hardly going to jump and demand the retirement of someone who was just in the best fight of the year. His chin truly is diminished, but I think he wants to keep fighting. A return to 205 is probably in the cards, though it’s sure a murderer’s row of strikers down there, and you can’t get a chin back by training. There will be those that try to diminish Randy’s career by pointing to his record, but anyone who knows anything knows what he’s accomplished. I hope he hasn’t taken too much damage.
For Nogueira, there are so many options. A rematch with Mir for December makes a lot of sense. Frankly, they were stupid to announce Carwin-Lesnar, because Nogueira-Lesnar has all the momentum in the world right now, especially with Brock yelling for Randy from ringside. If it was up to me, I’d hold him out of competition and have him fight the winner of Brock/Carwin.