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[MickeyKnox]

Couture vs. Machida: Awesome or Not Awesome?

Assuming you posses the ability to express normal human emotions – meaning everyone reading this except psychopaths, certain brain injury patients and Nicholas Cage – you should’ve felt a bit torn this weekend when rumors started to trickle out that Randy Couture has “verbally agreed” to fight Lyoto Machida, possibly at UFC 129 in Toronto.

First reaction: Pretty cool fight, right? The consummate game-planner versus the man who, despite recent back-to-back losses, remains the light heavyweight division’s most intriguing puzzle. It sort of makes sense for both guys too, I mean, as much as paying a 47-year-old man money to get punched in the head can ever make sense. For Machida, it would be a nice win for a guy who sorely needs to prove he still belongs among the 205-pound elite. For Couture, well, he said he wanted interesting challenges and opponents don’t get much more interesting than Machida.

Second reaction: Hold up. Should we really be excited about this? Like, aren’t we just enabling the old man now? And at what point do we all become complicit in Randy Couture’s demise?

Let’s just bright-side it for a second here and say Couture has a chance to beat “The Dragon” because, well, he does. Machida hasn’t looked great in recent appearances. He was at first underwhelming, then totally overwhelmed in consecutive showings against “Shogun” Rua and absolutely laid an egg against "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 123. It’s not totally out of the realm of possibility that Couture could grind this baby out with some cage-clinching, copious thigh-kneeing and a couple timely takedowns. But, fuck man, what then?

A win over Machida would give Couture four consecutive UFC victories. His last loss at light heavy would still be a KO by Chuck Liddell in 2006. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the UFC would take that all that information, weave it into one of its notoriously revisionist promotional campaigns and try to book Couture into a big money fight with somebody like Rampage or Jon Jones or – maybe the ultimate shoot-the-moon deal – a final title shot against Shogun Rua. God knows, that can’t end well.

If Couture is unable walk away from the sport right now, when he’s got two impending movie roles lined-up, just tried to retire on his Twitter a few weeks ago and we’ve all sort of looked at each other and shrugged, agreeing this makes for a nice time for him to depart with some class, what’s he going to do when he becomes a relevant contender at 205 again? You think the UFC isn’t creaming its jeans right now just thinking about the PPV dollars it could make by pimping “Couture’s last amazing run at a UFC title”? It’d be like the perfect storm of greed, hubris and temptation.

And that, kids, is the real problem with Randy Couture fighting Lyoto Machida. The real problem is that this probably isn’t just a way for him to neatly tuck a final fighting appearance in between movie roles and a couple of months before he turns 48. The problem is – unless he gets terrifyingly knocked out by Machida, which none of us wants to see in the first place – this fight just leads to another fight and another fight until somewhere, sometime Couture really does get terrifyingly knocked out on PPV at some terrifyingly advanced age.

Until he’s ready (or allowed) to fully, totally, officially retire for good there’s always going to be somebody like Machida floating around. Somebody to raise his graying eyebrows and make him think, “I got one more in me.” We all know where that leads. It leads to Matt Hughes getting KOed by BJ Penn in 21 seconds. It leads to Matt Serra getting pounded into a Frankenstein by Chris Lytle. Nobody wants to see that happen to Couture, but it will, unless he walks away soon.

Hence, us feeling torn. We’re fans after all and we want to watch Randy Couture fight cool fights. But at some point we all have to take a long look in the mirror – unless you’re Nicholas Cage, in which case looking in a mirror is probably far too horrifying – and realize the sooner we let the old man go, the better we’ll all feel about ourselves. Again, unless you made “Ghostrider” and “The Wicker Man,” in which case there is no hope for you in this world or the next.

Wtf is with the hate on Nicholas Cage?! Face-off was awesome. Article brings up a really good point in that if Randy beats Machida, then what does he do?

[packman31]

If Machida loses is it safe to say he's not the guy we thought he was? Does Couture get a title shot if he wins? It is an interesting fight

[HighPlainsDrifter]

I'm excited for the fight just because I like both guys and I think it's going to be an interesting fight no matter what the outcome. I will say I am curious about what will happen to whoever loses this fight.

[The Return Of......]

if couture loses then he is stays where he is at. used in big name or big money fights if needed

if he wins..........well either machida isnt the guy we thought, or couture has a hell of a lot more left in him than we though.

and if he wins..............maybe he should get a title shot. especially if who ever is in line to get the next shot gets injured. i still think as a late fill in replacement he makes a lot of sense

[hot_rod1886]

I really do not like this article because nobody complained when Brett Favre kept coming back to football or even Evander Holyfield still boxing and to that effect what makes what Couture is doing any different? Besides losing to Chuck and Brock, Randy appears to not have taken that much damage inside the octagon and in turn, I say go for it.

War Captain America!

[MickeyKnox]

^^^ The only thing is that Couture has recently spoken of retirement and has even said he wants to go on to make movies... If he beats Machida then leaves, I think it'd be bad for the UFC. Randy is such a badass for being as old as he is and fighting the guys he is... I will always have so much respect for him, however, if he beats Machida, I hope his head is in the fightgame all the way if he decides to stick around because there's only the top of the divison left for him...

[v3xi]

Interesting match up. Black House fighters are not good against wrestlers and I think Randy is smart enough to not rush the striking and look for a good place to get the clinch. Could easily go Couture's way by 3 round hug fest.

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

This is awesome.

If Couture wins, he gets the ultimate send off with a titlefight vs. Shogun at summers' end that screams huge payday and massive marketability, which is of course another stunner and win/win for the UFC. Machida losing to Couture doesn't hurt him too much because the level of parity in the UFC LHW division means almost every top tier challenger has a couple losses and a probable decision loss to a legend on a three fight winstreak isn't anything to huff about. From there, Machida is still set up for a Forrest bout or T. Silva rematch....

If he loses, Couture goes out against one of the most complete and articulate fighters in Machida, giving Lyoto a solid bounceback against a still legit Couture, setting him up for one of several top contenders such as Bader, Jones, Forrest, Franklin or Rashad on his way back to Shogun.

I love this matchup and believe that Couture not only deserves it, but it's a brilliant move for the UFC all around.

I'll take Randy via a crushing clinchwar decision.

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Randy said he would only take intriguing big name fights from here on out, so nothing to worry about there. However, I am actually kinda scared he will get viciously KO'd at some point and the image he had will be tarnished a little. I dont doubt he can beat Machida, but I also know very well Machida could KO him in return.

It will be a fun fight to watch but not so much if things dont go well for Randy.

[born2kill]

The only problem i see are the fanboys scared that randy could possibly *gasp* beat their precious Shogun. Machida is the last obstacle from that match. And even thou they want to believe randy wont do, they know never to bet against him. Just the possibility of a Shogun vs. Randy, even if they tell you 'Shogun would destroy him', makes them piss their pants in fear.

Well let me put their fears at ease, Randy wont beat Shogun Let me repeat he will never ever beat shogun.... Because Rashad will do it first. And without the belt, he'll no longer be on randys radar. Hope the helps you sleep better and come up with something more clever than "lets fire randy for his own protection". Hes not the one who needs protecting.