Randy Couture defeated many incredible mixed martial artists throughout his UFC career, but there’s one win that’s sweeter than all the rest.
Blessed with formidable grappling skills and an almighty fighting heart, ‘The Natural’ solidified his place as one of the greatest competitors to have ever graced the octagon.
Randy Couture says Tim Sylvia is the UFC win he cherishes the most
Randy Couture still looks back fondly on his brutal war of attrition with Tim Sylvia, classing it as the greatest fight of his career.
On a night in which very few gave him a chance, the American made history at the grand old age of 43, claiming the UFC heavyweight world title.
With the atmosphere in the venue pumping through the air, Couture entered the octagon with a point to prove.
No matter what anybody else thought, the warrior knew he could upset the applecart, and when the first bell chimed, he did just that.
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In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, the icon beamed: “I think one of my favorite fights was with Tim Sylvia. That was the biggest crowd we’d ever had at that time, over 22,000 people in the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
“Tim was obviously a huge guy, and most people thought at 43, I was crazy to come out of retirement and fight for the heavyweight championship.
“Like the Vitor Belfort, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz fights, nobody gave me a chance of winning. They were pretty sure I was going to get whooped, and it just didn’t go that way.
“That was one of my favorite fights for a whole bunch of reasons from my age to everybody counting me out.
“That was probably the closest I ever came to that one-punch knockout, when I dropped Tim in the first 25 seconds.
“I’m glad it went the distance because everybody thought I was out of shape, old, and shouldn’t be in there. So, for it to be a grinder, I thought that was a statement.
“But there are other ones that all set the tone for my career because I was 33, almost 34, when I started fighting; most people thought I was over the hill and probably shouldn’t be doing this.”
Randy Couture reveals what it was like to fight an opponent nearly 100 pounds heavier than him
From Brock Lesnar to James Toney, Couture has stared across the cage at some truly massive human beings.
But long before he ever won the title, he was facing even larger men.
On one occasion, he had to go toe-to-toe with an opponent who outweighed him by over seven stone.
The 62-year-old has now explained what it was really like to be locked in the octagon with a man of that size.
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