In November of 2008, Couture returned to the UFC after a yearlong retirement that resulted from a dispute with UFC president Dana White. Couture lost to current heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in his first fight back and was defeated again by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in August. He now looks to get back in the hunt in the 205 pound division by taking on muay thai specialist Brandon Vera (11-3) at UFC 105 in Manchester, England on Saturday November 14th.

Couture is motivated to continue his pursuit of UFC gold by his love of developing strategies.

“The enjoyable part for me is solving the problem,” Couture explains. “Solving the puzzle. It's always kinda been what's intrigued me about this sport is solving the equation. You see each and every opponent as a problem. He poses different things and different strengths and weaknesses. And figuring out how I mesh up with that. And what's going to put me in the right places to overcome it.”

Couture, a former Olympic alternate Greco-Roman wrestler, has enjoyed most of his success in the UFC by using a combination of ground and pound and dirty boxing. He has a pretty good idea how he'll overcome Vera, stating “Definitely this camp and with Brandon, I need to make Brandon wrestle. I need to go out, use the striking I've learned to figure out and protect myself and close the distance and get my hands on him. And make him wrestle me for the whole fight.”

Brandon Vera, sporting a 3-1 record since dropping to 205 pounds in the UFC, can't help but be an admirer of Couture. In an interview with Brett Okamoto of the Las Vegas Sun, Vera stated, “Randy’s a hero. When they first told me I was going to fight in 105, I was like, 'Hell, no. That’s nine weeks from now. I just got done fighting (at UFC 101).' Then they said I’d be fighting Randy and I was like, 'Oh yeah, I’ll fight Randy.'”

Vera knows that to fulfill his ultimate dream of becoming a UFC champion, he needs to fight against the best opposition. “I always knew at some point in my career I would fight Randy. He’s one of the best. If you’re on a certain path, you’re going to have to cross certain people. I’ve told everyone it’s like a dream and a nightmare coming true at the same time.”