It was the summer of 2008. Spain was on their way to their first European Cup, the song "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne was stuck in everybody's heads, and the Olympics in Beijing were about to kick off in full swing...
Meanwhile, Randy Couture was in MMA limbo, in a war of words with UFC president Dana White over his contract. Desperate to get out of it, The UFC heavyweight champion at the time went to court to secure his release.
The reason? He desperately wanted a fight with the consensus #1 heavyweight fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko.
The way things are, Couture wasn't able to wrangle himself out of that mess. He would ultimately return to the Octagon, losing his title at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Fedor, after his dismantling of Tim Sylvia, fought Andrei Arlovski and ended up in Strikeforce instead. He proceeded to knockout Brett Rogers.
Its 2011 now. 3 years have passed, with Randy Couture fighting everybody from gatekeepers (Brandon Vera) to freak shows (James Toney), securing a fight with Lyoto Machida next month in Toronto at UFC 129. Fedor, meanwhile, has gone from being #1 in everybody's books to looking quite human in back to back losses to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. At 34 years old, things are not as nice as they once were for the Russian.
With the UFC taking over Strikeforce last week, Dana White said that UFC fighters could no doubt slide across brands to Strikeforce, taking on their best. While he said "Superfights" between the 2 promotions are out of the question, is it too much to doubt that regardless of how Couture fairs against Machida, that a fight against "The Last Emperor" is out of the question?
Its not the fight it would have been in 2008. But let's face it : When Chuck Liddell fought Wanderlei Silva at the end of 2007, it wasn't the fight we wanted. Liddell had come off back to back losses against Rampage Jackson and Keith Jardine, and was on his way down. Wanderlei had recently lost his title to Dan Henderson, and had also lost to Ricardo Arona and Mirko Cro Cop previously. When the 2 fighters stepped in there, it was all about brand representation : UFC vs. Pride. The 3 round war we were treated to that night will be forever etched in our minds, 2 warriors throwing wild punches never backing down. The fans gave it a standing ovation and it received numerous awards for "Fight of the year".
Fedor and Couture are 2 of the legends of the sport, the best heavyweights in an era where TV time wasn't consistent, Spike was in their relative MMA infancy and Pride was to the average fan, a relative unknown. With both fighters winding down from their respective careers, is it too late to put them up against one another, where we could see who the best heavyweight of the previous era was?
Its an open question. With the UFC now holding complete domination of Mixed Martial Arts, I say it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to set this fight up. But I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Questions? Comments? Want to get back to me? leave a comment at the bottom or feel free to email me MMArmaggeddon@gmail.com
Until next time, fight fans.
I still believe that Fedor Vs Couture is a relevant fight. Fedor wants to retire, but I think it is more along the lines of the fact that he's not motivated. Couture would provide him with much needed motivation. Couture has wanted this fight for a long time, win or lose. I don't know if Randy can beat Lyoto Machida, but if he doesn't, expect this fight to happen in 2011 or 2012.
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