Randy Couture: INSIDE STORY on Retirement
By Sean Farrell
Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture engaged in one of the most meaningful and memorable trilogies in the history of mixed martial arts and the two have always treated each other with respect throughout their careers, and rightfully so. Liddell’s late-career decline however, hit close to Couture leaving him to ponder his future.
After once being considered the most dangerous light heavyweight on the planet, Liddell began to show signs of fading, a 1-5 stretch of fights that saw him knocked out four times in a row was the ending to the “Iceman’s” Iconic career. Though he is 47-years-old, Couture is currently on a three-fight winning streak and his recent announcement that this weekend’s bout against Lyoto Machida will be his last has come as a surprise to many, but at 47 why not?.
The UFC Hall of Famer explained to MMAFighting.com that the way Liddell was treated at the end of his career, and basically being forced into retirement, has Couture eager to end it on his own terms.
Couture stated “To see a guy who was the champ for as long as he was the champ to be in that situation, I thought as an athlete it kind of sucked, And I didn’t want to be in that spot. This is what I love to do,” Couture continued “But I don’t want to stick around too long and have everybody talking behind my back like that and forcing me to make a decision that I really don’t want to make. I want to go out on my terms. I’ve got a lot of things going on in my life, and this is the right time for me.”
Though everyone is wary of the level of fickleness fans possess, Couture explained that he is very grateful to the fans for their dedicated support over the years, even though it doesn’t sound like their pleas against his retirement will influence his decision at all.
“The fans have been fantastic,” Couture said. “Fans are funny. For 10 years now, I’ve been hearing, ‘How much longer can you keep going? When are you going to be done?’ And then you finally make the decision to be done and they’re like, ‘You can’t do it. You can’t retire.’ So it’s been funny, this back-and-forth with the fans. They’ve been fantastic in supporting me whether I’ve won or lost, and that’s been nice.”
Couture will meet fellow former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida this tonight on the main card of UFC 129, which is going down at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Machida is also being rumored to being released from the UFC if he does not come away victorious and drops a third consecutive bout.