Randy Couture Discusses Fighting Brandon Vera, His Future, Fighting Overseas & More

On the heals of two unsuccessful showings in the heavyweight division, a second round TKO loss to UFC Champion Brock Lesnar in November 2008 and a third-round unanimous decision loss to the formidable Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in August 2009, "The Natural" is once again ready to battle for octagon supremacy.

This time his opponent is an extremely talented, but often inconsistent, Muai Thai fighter in Brandon "The Truth" Vera. Despite being 14 years older than Vera, BetUS Sportsbook has Randy Couture as a slight favorite in their UFC betting lines. Couture is the -120 favorite while Vera is the -110 underdog (click here for full UFC betting odds). Clearly respecting the challenger, Couture described Vera to Michael David Smith of FanHouse as “A striker who uses his long frame and his Muay Thai skills to stay away from guys, draw guys in and find ways to win. Thanks to those long, straight punches and his kicks, he rarely has to use his wrestling skills or his ground skills at all. It’s not that he doesn’t have them, but he doesn’t use them effectively as an offensive weapon very much.”

Couture noted that with Vera, he would much rather take the fight to the ground than to stand with him.

“I’ve see Brandon fight a lot and I’m very familiar with his style, how he uses his hands, with his motion," he said. "I definitely don’t want to stand around and allow him to establish his range and hit his rhythm. I’d like to make it as much of a wrestling match as I can. That is what’s going to put me in the best position to win. I’ve studied the places he likes to be and where he doesn’t like to be and now it’s up to me to use that in the octagon.”

No longer at odds with the UFC’s top brass, the once defiant champion seems quite pleased with his present contract and overall future with the organization. Couture noted that his main motivation is not money or titles, but interesting fights.

“If I got a shot at [Lyoto] Machida for the title, that would be great, but whatever happens I’m just looking for interest fights and there are a lot of other interesting fights.”

Obviously at the twilight of his career, the notion of “interesting fights” appears to be prominent on Couture’s agenda. When asked about the shift between the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions and the related rigors of weight cutting, he noted that it wasn't a major issue for him.

“I’ll just fight at whatever weight class that will make for an interesting fight," says Couture. "I weighed in at 220 for my fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and I was 217 this morning before practice. I have a lot of experience cutting weight, and there were times in my wrestling career when I cut a lot of weight. So I’m familiar with what it takes, and it’s kind of a routine.

“I’ve cut to 205 pounds plenty of times and it’s not a problem," he continued. "I can go either way. It’s not like I’m cutting much weight or changing my body drastically to make 205. That’s not a huge issue for me.”