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Randy Couture’s rebuttal to those who say that James Toney ‘has a puncher’s chance’ at UFC 118

By Zach Arnold | August 27, 2010

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In this interview with MMAFighting.com, Randy is pretty much in his usual mode. He’s a lot more confident about winning this fight than other fights, for sure, and it shows here. I know that a couple of MMA writers have been discussing the idea that because Randy isn’t a trash talker that he has somehow hurt the hype for this fight or at least ‘hasn’t carried his weight.’ As our readers have noted, the people who always pay to see Randy will pay to see him again and there really isn’t a dramatic variation in that viewership number.

Transcript of the interview available in full-page mode.

ARIEL HELWANI: “Randy, finally the time for talking almost over. What are the thoughts going through your mind right now?”

RANDY COUTURE: “I’m excited. It’s finally here. This is always the toughest week, most of the hard training is done, just kind of keep things moving. Recover. And as you recover all this energy starts to come back into you, so, definitely ready for the fight to be here.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “At this point, kind of tired of talking about James Toney? Or maybe listening to him?”

RANDY COUTURE: “I haven’t listened to much, really. I kind of stay away from all of that and the last thing you want to do is kind of get emotional about a fight and walk into that cage with other things on your mind other than the task at hand so I haven’t tuned into much of that. You know, I’m ready to go.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “How do you separate yourself from all that? Because it’s been very much out there, all the stuff that he’s said about you.”

RANDY COUTURE: “I don’t get on the blogs, I don’t watch the promos and the previews and all that stuff. It doesn’t serve any purpose for me. That’s one of the things that I love about training camp is life is pretty simple — you eat, sleep, and train and don’t do a whole lot else.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you think, good or bad, having James Toney in MMA and fighting in the UFC is good for the sport?”

RANDY COUTURE: “I certainly don’t think it’s bad for this sport. I think he’s certainly created a lot of hype for this fight. I think we’re going to attract a lot of eyes from the boxing world that we didn’t attract before and hopefully we win a lot of new fans.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “And how about, I know this if obviously not your style, but the trash talking. It’s come to light very much, you know, guys like Chael Sonnen, Shane Carwin, they have gotten title shots because of what they said and reacting. Do you think that it’s OK at times to maybe you know step outside the boundaries and talk a little in this sport?”

RANDY COUTURE: “I think it’s part of the business, I think there’s, you know, hyping a fight and creating some sort of visceral interest in seeing two competitors get in there is not necessarily a bad thing. Now, obviously, James has taken that to a different level and I think Chael pushed it pretty far. You know, Tito was king of notorious for that kind of thing in creating that kind of hype and that animosity and there are some fighters that thrive in that and need that kind of animosity and environment to be able to go out there and compete. That’s never been my style. I kind of keep to myself and let most of the talking happen in the cage.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “I’m not sure if you know this, but a colleague of mine at AOL, Mike Chappetta, told me that this if the first time since UFC 54 that you’re on a card but not main-eventing the card. Did you know that?”

RANDY COUTURE: “I don’t know all the stats. I know that there’s only been a couple of times, maybe three other times that I haven’t been a title fight. But, yeah, it’s a rare occasion that I’m not… I know we’re co-main event, so we’re still the end of the night.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Does it feel weird that you’re not the last guy?”

RANDY COUTURE: “Nah, it… small adjustment, not really that big of a deal.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “OK, Dana White has said that this is the way he expects the fight to play out. I’m sure you might of heard this. Are you ready? Are you ready? Let’s get it on. Double-leg, ground ‘n pound, 30 seconds it’s over. Would you agree with that? Do you think it’s going to play out that way?”

RANDY COUTURE: “Uh, it might take a little longer than that to set up that double-leg but it’s going to be something like that.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Are you surprised to hear Dana because he’s always so neutral. It almost as seems as though now he’s just favoring you, he actually wants you to win.”

RANDY COUTURE: “Yeah, that almost makes me more nervous than anything. Usually I’m the guy he’s pretty sure that’s going to get his butt whooped and I kind of fly in the face of that. Well, this is on the rare occasions where he’s pretty sure that I’m going to win this or I think maybe he’s just hoping that I’m going to win this.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “You talk to most MMA fighters right now, they’re all pulling for you. They all want you to represent the sport well and beat this guy. But it’s interesting, the boxers aren’t pulling for James Toney. They’re all saying that he’s going to lose and get his butt whipped and everything. Are you surprised that they haven’t rallied around him?”

RANDY COUTURE: “Uh, I don’t know. I think some of that’s James’ demeanor because I think he carries the same kind of demeanor into the boxing matches and does the same things against the other boxers that he’s been trying to do to me and I don’t know that they really appreciate that so I think that’s one of the reasons why they’re not really standing behind him.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “You’ve accomplished so much in your career. Are you OK with the fact, if you beat him on Saturday night, that this will be your defining moment?”

RANDY COUTURE: “There’s no if in that.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “You think you will be? When you win.”

RANDY COUTURE: “I’ll definitely win this fight. I think I’m prepared and it looks good. You know, everybody says, oh, he’s got a puncher’s chance. Well, how about I got a grappler’s chance in this fight. It should be good. I don’t know about a defining moment, I don’t really think too much about any of that. The legacies and all sort of things, those things you don’t really contemplate too much and they take care of themselves.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Will you be surprised if he lasts past the first round?”

RANDY COUTURE: “I won’t be terribly surprised. He’s a big, strong guy. I think if I do my job right I should be able to find a way to finish him. But, who knows what he’s learned, that’s really the question. How much has he learned and how will he be able to survive.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Have you had a chance to watch any of his footage and see kind of how he is in there in the cage?”

RANDY COUTURE: “No, I haven’t seen any of that.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Not interested?”

RANDY COUTURE: “No, it doesn’t make any difference for me.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Why not? Because there’s not any other footage that you can watch on him.”

RANDY COUTURE: “Yeah, but it doesn’t really matter. I think at the end of the day, he’s going to have to focus on what you’re going to do and your approach to the fight. I think I have a pretty good idea how he strikes and that’s really the area that I need to worry about with him. So, once we’re past that area, I’m not too concerned.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “How much do you expect him to weight on Friday?”

RANDY COUTURE: “I think he’s going to be in the neighborhood of 240. He might be a little lighter than that. between 230 and 240, probably. Which is not a huge issue. I’m walking around at 216, 217 which is standard for me.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “And regardless of what happens, you’re going back down to 205 after this, right?”

RANDY COUTURE: “Yeah, I’m at 205 now, really. This is where I’m at for every fight, whether it’s a Heavyweight fight or a 205-pound fight, it doesn’t make any difference. it’s a short cut down to 205 and this is pretty much my natural body weight, so.”

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

9 Responses to “Randy Couture’s rebuttal to those who say that James Toney ‘has a puncher’s chance’ at UFC 118”

  1. DJ ThunderElbows says:

    ARIEL HELWANI: “Have you had a chance to watch any of his footage and see kind of how he is in there in the cage?”

    RANDY COUTURE: “No, I haven’t seen any of that.”

    So he hasn’t seen the knees Toney’s drilling against the clinch? Interesting…

    • Steve4192 says:

      It’s pretty common for fighters not to watch too much footage of their opponents. They leave that up to the coaches and it falls upon them to incorporate what they see into the training and prep work for the fight. I’m sure Ron Frazier and other Extreme Couture coaches have dissected plenty of tape on Toney, even if Randy hasn’t.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    This will look a lot like Couture’s first ever fight in the UFC. He is going to drop his level and go straight for a double leg takedown.

    Once there, Toney will wilt within 3 minutes.

    If Couture decides to stand with Toney, that is Toney’s shot at landing a shot and ending the fight.

  3. 45 Huddle says:

    What are the chances of Toney greasing up his body?

  4. mr. roadblock says:

    Toney is going to stun Couture with a jab and then highlight reel KO him.

    • edub says:

      I can’t tell if that would be an interesting thing because of the shock value and extra attention high level boxers would pay to the sport, or if it would be terrible because boxing fans could just say “we told you MMA was garbage, and James Toney who’s not even good anymore just proved it”….

  5. Fluyid says:

    Toney is fat and he sweats a lot. And he’s old.

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