This is strictly speculation, but wouldn't that mean a fight with CroCop is just something that Couture happens to consider interesting enough, for whatever reason, that he would either move his career back to heavyweight focus or put his light heavyweight aspirations on hold for a personal-interest fight? Of course the possibility of Couture simply helping UFC out of a scheduling bind could have prompted the discussions, but if it is really a fight Couture has some kind of personal interest in for some reason, does this mean it's still a possibility in the future? If he specifically wants a CroCop fight, and he's not in any title picture coming up in the immediate future (which he isn't), UFC would need to keep things remaining interesting for Couture, so the fight could always come back around.

Any MMA fans during the peak of the UFC vs. PRIDE days will remember Couture and CroCop each having a lengthy run as one of the top two or three guys in their respective heavyweight divisions, which were much more fragmented than things are in the current era. This makes a Couture vs. CroCop fight, were it to ever happen, somewhat of another UFC vs. PRIDE dream fight, as many fans certainly pondered "what would happen" (without already knowing the answer like most did for "MMA or boxing?" at UFC 118) if UFC's Couture could somehow be matched up with PRIDE's CroCop.

Circumstances are obviously very different for each guy these days, as both have dropped substantially from their spot near the top. However, both guys are also in the midst of putting together some key wins that could make room for a potential return to the top of the pack. Unfortunately, both are looking to do so in different divisions. Couture can always fight heavyweight if he wants, as he proved at UFC 118, and fans have always speculated on what a light heavyweight CroCop would be like, but it seems most likely that the Couture vs. CroCop UFC fight will be added to the fun-facts list filed under "interesting fights that almost happened."

Damnit.