Couture: I’m going to grab Machida, choke him & tap him
Couture on being 47 years old “Who said I don’t need assistance getting out of bed?” Couture joked during his…
Couture on being 47 years old
“Who said I don’t need assistance getting out of bed?” Couture joked during his time on The MMA Fight Corner presented by FiveKnuckles.com. “I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve held up pretty well. I don’t know, I don’t have a real explanation for that. I think because throughout my 30’s I was competing, I was very active with both USA Wrestling and the international team and then fighting I never really let myself get out of shape, to let me body go, to let father time take over.”
On Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz
“I get along with both those guys. I see both of them here and there; I don’t see them very often. Certainly at events. I see Chuck at considerably more events than I’ve seen Tito but I’ve seen Tito at a few as well. I’ve always got along with those guys.
“I never really held any animosity towards anybody I lost to, never had that, ‘Man I wish I had that one back,’ or, ‘Do that one over.’ I’ve always kind of taken the approach that those losses and those guys who beat me forced me to really analyze where I was at and made me a better athlete and I think in a lot of ways it made me a better person too. I learned to overcome and deal with that kind of adversity. Losing is a big part of life.”
On Brock Lesnar
“I certainly don’t think he is a big bully because a big bully wouldn’t have gotten in there in the first place,” Couture said of Brock Lesnar. “He would have talked all that and then stuck to opponents he was bigger than. Against those guys who were his size, in most respects, he stepped up and he put himself out there. That doesn’t signify him being a bully in my mind.
“You look at that guy and how big and thick he is, that doesn’t strike you as being long and being able to reach you but he was certainly able to reach me. I think he hasn’t really made friends with that aspect of getting mixed martial arts yet, getting punched and kicked in the face.
“Some guys, [getting punched] trips their trigger, that’s what gets them going. Some guys, it takes longer to kinda get accustom to getting punched in the face and responding appropriately. There’s a lot of things we do in fighting that are contrary to your natural instincts. Brock acts a lot more how most people would act when somebody starts trying to punch him in the face and that’s clinch and kinda shy away from that sort of thing. That’s not gonna suit him very well in the fighting scenario. He’s still got some work to do, technically and tactically, as far as his boxing and stand-up game. He still has a ton of other tools that are very strong. He certainly is a huge guy, if he gets on top of you it’s not a very fun place to be for anybody. I still think he is a pretty amazing athlete for a guy his size.”
“I think that’s Brock’s fight to lose really. If Brock gets squirley on his feet and stands around with Junior, I think Junior’s probably the best striker in the heavyweight division right now. He will make Brock regret that he did that. Brock has to use his size and athletic ability and wrestling to win that fight and go out and do that, that way. Make it a wrestling match, take him down, force him to wrestling you as much as possible both on the fence and on the ground and then I think it’s going to be tough for dos Santos.”
On Lyoto Machida
“Well Lyoto’s been kinda that enigma for a lot of guys. Figuring out how to approach him, how do you make this guy fight you and not fall into his traps and his game. He’s very interesting, very complex style. When you start breaking it down and studying it, he does a lot of things very interestingly and he makes it work for him.”
“I think obviously the most effective thing is his footwork, his ability to move and stay out of the way of things is pretty impressive. I’m not real big on making predictions, I think if I can cut him off and make him to fight me I’m gonna have a good night. If I can run him into the fence and use the clinch skills and the cage fighting skills I’ve developed from my Greco background, it’s gonna be difficult for him. I think if I can get him on the ground, I can make him work there. We’ll see what kind of ground skills he really has because nobody has really put him there.”
“I’m looking for a way to get a hold of him, choke him and make him tap.”
On retirement
“There’s a pretty good chance this is gonna be my last fight. Each and every fight at this stage of my life had this possibility anyway. I’m starting to get more acting jobs, it’s a lot easier on the body. All the other stuff, I’m ready to enjoy life a little bit. Not that I don’t enjoy fighting, I do. I love training camp and I love the competition for sure. I’ll miss that more than anything but I’ve spent so long trying to grind it out. I wanna kind of enjoy the fruits of my labor to some extent.
“I’m not going to make any official comment after the fight, but I’m pretty sure this is my last fight. I don’t wanna wait until I do injure something seriously that is going to require surgery or going to affect me for the rest of my life. I’m healthy as a horse now and I feel great and fighting well. I think it’s about timing.”
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