Yeah, the last quarter of 2008 I expect to be in a position to find a way to make the Fedor fight happen. I know he’s going to have competition in between, and I hope those go well for him, and the status [of the fight] remains the same as it is now. I certainly have some acting and training to do between now and then that I am excited about. I’m going to focus on those things and stay in shape and stay sharp and be ready for that fight after my contracts have expired.

Couture's Thoughts On Fedor's Situation:

I can’t speak for Fedor, but from the outside it appears he has kind of been caught up in PRIDE being bought out. I’m sure if he had still been fighting for PRIDE after all this time that they would have continued to throw top opponents at him. But PRIDE kind of went by the wayside and Bodog picked him up and because of the exclusivity of a lot of fighters it was hard to find notable top ranked opponents who were free to fight in another organization. It has always been a struggle with any organization that starts up is finding fighters that are marquee. He did fight [Mark] Coleman in the U.S. PRIDE here in Las Vegas, but a lot of people would say Coleman is kind of over the hill too and hasn’t really had any good performances in quite a while – but he’s still at least a dangerous opponent. But I’m sure if Fedor had his choice – and obviously he’s still being paid very, very well, but if he had his choice he would rather be challenging himself and fighting top opponents. Again, I hesitate to speak for him, but seeing him compete and the competition that he has had over the years I suspect that that is the case. I know he has expressed sincere interest in making this fight happen between him and I which tells me he’s not trying to duck anybody. The right circumstances need to come around to perpetuate him to fighting top opponents.

In some ways the promoters have tried to protect him too. They see the marketability and the star quality of the guy so they want to see him victorious then throwing him out there and risking he loses, which loses them the marquee quality he has.

Couture On Whether Or Not Fighting Fedor Is The Only Fight He Wants:

At this stage of things, yes that is the only fight I want. I think that if that fight doesn’t happen then you will see me retire. I have been competing not to win titles, but purely for the love of competition and fighting guys that I thought were interesting to fight. Out of all the guys out there right now Fedor is the guy I want to fight. Win or lose I’ll probably retire after that fight and focus on all of that other stuff. At 44 right now, I’ll be 45 when that fight happens, that will be the best fight in my opinion to go out on either way.