Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar: It’s All About The Benjamins
September 2, 2008 by Adam Morgan
Filed under Brock Lesnar, Fedor Emelianenko, Randy Couture, UFC 91
Earlier today we were treated to the announcement from Dana White that Randy Couture would be returning to the UFC. Not only will he be returning to the UFC but he will be fighting Brock Lesnar in a bout that White himself called “the biggest fight in UFC history.” And while it may not be the most meaningful fight in UFC history, he’s very correct in calling it the biggest fight in UFC history. Why? Because this fight and the fighters involved all revolve around one thing: money.
It’s not about whether or not Lesnar is legitimate enough to deserve a title shot. It’s not about what’s going on with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir, TUF 8, and the interim title situation. It’s not about where Fabricio Werdum, who was told he would get a title shot sooner than later, goes from here. And it’s almost certainly not about the fight that Randy supposedly left the UFC for, which is the fight with Fedor. It’s about money.
But hasn’t it always been about money? Sure, Couture wanted to fight Fedor and said that played into his decision to leave the UFC but when it came down to it, it was the money that Couture wanted. He drug his bout agreements into the public eye for all to see at a special press conference from his own gym. The UFC brought their records out into public, something they never do, to show how much money they were paying Couture. So how much of this was really a ploy to get the fight with Fedor? Some of it, I’m sure. But not as much as most had previously thought. Not as much as we’d like to think. Obviously with Lesnar now in front of him and possibly the winner of Nogueira vs. Mir, it’s unlikely that we’ll see Couture vs. Fedor. Ever.
Why, you ask? Because Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar for the UFC heavyweight championship of the world will be one of the all time biggest pay per views in UFC history. I personally think it will outsell both Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz, the current #1 UFC pay per view, as well as Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz, which stands at #2 on the list. Couture’s drawing power combined with Lesnar’s drawing power is going to make for a huge payday for both men as well as the UFC. So what it all boils down to is money, plain and simple. I’m sure Couture would still love a crack at Fedor but that fight isn’t going to make him the kind of money that a fight with Lesnar will.
Is Fedor vs. Couture the fight we all want to see? Absolutely. But is it a fight that Casual Joe will pay $45 for? Absolutely not. Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar, though? Now those are two big names that Casual Joe can get behind. Fedor vs. Couture is for someone like you or me who watches every bit of MMA they can get their hands on and then your more casual MMA fan who knows who Fedor is. Couture vs. Lesnar, however, is for all those people plus the people that wouldn’t normally watch MMA. It’s for all the wrestling fans who want to see Lesnar against the most legitimate opponent he’s ever faced. It’s a fight for the masses not the hardcores.
Is that unfortunate in some ways? It sure is. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has to feel extremely disrespected. Frank Mir has to feel the same way because if Lesnar wins and he beats Nogueira then he’s got to fight a guy that he’s already beaten for the second time in three fights. Fabricio Werdum has to be thinking that he has to win at least two, if not three more fights to get himself back into title contention now as opposed to fighting for the title after one win. But you know what? Such is business. As much as we love mixed martial arts as a sport we have to also realize that it’s very big business when it comes to the UFC. They are going to make smart business decisions in regards to pay per views and matchups and not always what pleases the fan. Why? Because the bottom line is all that matters. It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.
Dark Metal, while I agree wholeheartedly with the opinions expressed in the article, they are the words of Adam Morgan and not mine.
I am wondering if anyone can actually perform a RNC on Lesnar…I’ve yet to even see his neck
Talk about paydays: If Lesnar wins, he’s sitting pretty for the next contract negotiation. Yeesh. If the disparity between Brock and other fighters has been dramatic, look for it to escalate to gawdy.
So sorry Sam, I am so used to you posting excellent articles, I guess I just jumped the gun. Adam should be commended for his article, and is a fine addition to your site.
For everyone complaining that Couture (please spell the man’s name right!)is going to get manhandled, or that Lesnar does not desrve the fight, look at the numbers. Couture is 16-8 and Lesnar is 2-1. They are both 66% fighters. Makes the matchup not just equal, but fair. Sure Lesnar is a monstah with great speed, power and athleticism – but Couture is very crafty, smart, and freakish in his own right. Take the time and check out the Discovery Channel’s science of MMA. Couture put a submission hold on test subject, exerting constant pressure for over a minute – and his lactic acid levels went DOWN. Thats not even human. I, personally, am looking forward to this fight. I must give props to Bill Lumberg: we’ve got 6 months of great MMA coming up. Let’s enjoy it!
Jackyl on September 2nd, 2008 10:58 pm I say Lesnar destroys Mir in a rematch. He was totally dominating the fight before that bullshit call by Mazzagatti. And like said above, you have to love the fact that they are throwing Lesnar right to the wolves. They are not babying him along Kimbo style. This is also a very winnable fight for Lesnar. I never count Randy out but this is a pretty tall order. He’s going to have to use his skill and experience to outsmart Lesnar. Let’s not forget that Randy has been out of the cage for a year. All things aside I think this is one of the most intriguing matchups to come out of the UFC HW division in a long time. Couple this with the big year end card and the UFC is giving a big time 1-2 punch to the competition to close out the year.
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I couldn’t agree more. Everyone that is bitching and moaning about Mir getting passed over either isn’t being honest, or didn’t watch the Lesnar/Mir fight. Lesnar was absolutely PUMMELING Mir and the only defense that Frank had was to turtle up and turn his head. If not for the way beyond questionable stoppage from Maz. The fight was over. No way Frank was getting out of the Lesnar side control. 99 out of 100 times Lesnar wins that fight. Where were all you people when Jardine beat Liddell? Where was the give Jardine a title shot outcry then?
Just because Lesnar is 66% fighter doesn’t mean it’s fair.24 fights versus 3 fights.Not quite the same.But it’s all about the money.You will probably get WWE fans watching this fight even if they’ve never watched one before.Money,money,money.Lesnar also weighed around 280 the night he fought Herring not 265.
I don’t think Mir and Nog will feel disrespected at all – Dana White has maintained throughout the Couture ordeal that the belt was an interim title and has always said that he was still considered the UFC’s heavyweight champion.
- The first thing Nog said after he submitted Sylvia was, “Randy, please fight me!” – I think Nog will be stoked Couture is back in the octagon and is relishing a potential match-up to validate himself as the UFC’s heavyweight champion. And if nothing else, I am sure Nog would also love to fight the UFC’s new heavyweight golden boy.
- Mir remained relatively calm whilst getting wailed on by Lesnar. I bet he’s looking forward to a rematch, both to redeem himself for how Lesnar smothered him and to sub the guy again and make him look like a one-note fighter. The fight may not necessarily go that way, but I’m guessing that’s Mir’s view. On the other side of the coin, Mir gets to cement his return to the heavyweight elite after his horrific crash by beating one of the most celebrated fighters the UFC has ever had.
Just my two cents.
Sorry, that should have read “Mir remained relatively calm whilst getting wailed on by Lesnar, but before he pulled out that knee bar he was perilously close to losing the fight.”
They tried to get the Nog-Randy fight together. It didn’t work out. I don’t see how anyone can say that Mir or Nog are being disrespected. They have their fight already lined out. The winner of this fight gets the winner of Nog and Mir for the undisputed title.
honestly who cares about Werdum. Arlokski beat him before leaving. I have never been impressed with him so even if he would beat nog or mir you can’t tell me he matters that much to mma. if couture beats lesnar and nog beats mir and then couture beats nog the fight with fedor would only be bigger. if couture loses to brock that is big for mma. if he wins and loses to nog that legitamizes him, same thing for mir who from that perspective would have beat lesnar, nog, and then couture to get there. who is werdum beating to compare against fighting lesnar, nog and couture in a row? or fighting sylvia, mir, and couture/lesnar in a row as nog would do? I mean, do you even think Werdum beats randy? I’d say its 57-43 he loses to randy anyways. so like i was saying, who cares about werdum.
I stopped reading this article when I noticed that the writer doesn’t know the difference between the word “then” and the word “than,” although he is right, this fight is about nothing but money. Forget Nog, forget Mir, let’s have the big draw fight the “champ” even though he has no experience.
I had hoped that MMA would work its way toward being a legitimate sport, but now I see it’s going to be something more like WWE, which, considering this circumstance, is appropriate. UFC is not a sport, it’s a soap opera with athletes, just like WWE, and Dana is Vince McMahon. And so I hope all you UFC apologists out there that want to see it dominate this so-called “sport” and eliminate all other competing organizations like Pride and Affliction are happy now, because this is what you got for your money. A big fake nothing, not a sport, just WWE with real violence. And who better to have as the champ? Lesnar may not have much MMA experience, but he knows about acting and hyping up fights, and how to be a big fake, so he’s perfect.
And shame on you Randy.
OK. First of all. for those of you that say brock doesnt deserve the title YET. ur right. but lets all be honest, alls dana white is doing is fast forwarding the future by giving brock a title shot. and even if and when he wins he still has to fight either mir or nog to cement his hype. And of course its all about the money. i mean honestly what would make more money brock vs couture of couture vs mir which still might happen. but thats extremely slim.
Hell, UFC has won their fight with Randy, that’s for sure. It’s too bad that Randy is forced to fight, instead of going at it with high fighting spirits. Imho, UFC simply put its money on Brock and wants to use him to strip Couture of his belt and pedigrees before throwing him out of the game. This is their lowly way of playing Randy down before his match with Fedor. I feel sorry for Randy, I really do
Cliff, your post doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
I couldn’t find any instance of Adam “not knowing the difference between then and than” but even if I overlooked it, it’s called a freaking typo, you jackass.
And your declaration that the UFC is WWE with real violence couldn’t be more off. That sounds like the whining of a butthurt MMA “purist” who can’t possibly stand that someone who was a pro wrestler for less than two years but was an amateur wrestler for eight might actually be a UFC champion by mid-2009.
And who else but Brock to put in this four-man “tournament”? Werdum? With a 2-1 UFC record as opposed to Brock’s 1-1, Werdum doesn’t make hardly any sense financially or otherwise.
WAR
Kimbo in the Elite XC is the exact same thing as Brock Lesnar in the UFC
If your a MMA promoter which do you prefer: your you-tube cash cow or your WWE cash cow??
A Kimbo-Lesnar fight promoted by the UFC would do even bigger numbers than Lesnar vs. Couture. The casual fans/ mainstream media would just eat that fight up.
Also, Mir is the Ultimate Freaking Company (UFC) guy he has no right to feel disrespected by the UFC. He beat a guy who was 1-0 and got a reality show gig and eventual title shot handed to him.
This fight give me an MMA-rection and that’s all I have to say about that.
I want to see Fedor fight Randy.
I dont care about the UFC vs the world politics, that is their business problem, not a fan problem. As a fan I want to see that fight.
I am excited that Randy will be fighting though. As smart a fighter Randy is, I think Lesnar is going to kill him.
I dont think there is any question Mir will be losing to Big Nog. I already bet $3,000,0000 on it.
how can u say that ufc is like wwe. of course theres hype. so the nfl is too because espn hype up games and the super bowl is wrestle mania. no ur wrong. and of course its all about money. it is in every other sport 2. and it takes skill and hard work to be a part of the ufc im sure. the wwe is bs and evry1 knows it. any1 could be apart of that crap. and by posting what u did u let us all know that u watch wwe u fagot
Randy is goin to kill Brock Lesnar and than he’ll have to face Frank Mir. I’m more excited for that fight and idk Who whould win that one.
randy beat Silva because he is a great wrestler. Lesnar was a national champ and has 60 lbs on the old man. Its going to get ugly for Randy, I do give him props for having the balls to even get int he ring with that guy. Oh and by the way Mir is a bitch and would get pummled in a rematch.
Sergio, well, first of all, Sergio is about the wussiest name I’ve ever heard, so I’d say you know a lot more about butt hurts than me.
And about “then” and “than,” if you actually paid any attention to what people write instead of only scanning their posts while thinking up your oh-so-scathing responses to what other people have to say, THEN you’d notice that about 70 percent of people who post on messages boards, etc, don’t know the difference between those words either. Those are also the same people who say “could of” instead of “could’ve.” Or “conversate.” Excuse me if I can’t stand by and watch the decline in education and intelligence – of which you are obviously a big part, seeing as how you can only resort to ad hominem attacks on folks instead of making a real point.
And your thoughts that it was a typo? How about doing a little editing, proofreading, before you post an article???
And yes, Werdum is far more deserving than Lesnar. And my beef against Lesnar has to do with him being a class A peckerwood, just like you and that aceyeager, not just because he’s a snoozefest, boring fake-ass wrestler. Heh heh, ace yeager, more like ass yeager. As if I’d watch wrestling. I’d rather be forced to do your mom, whose fault it is that you can’t write either “ace”.
aceyeager and sergio, two typical keyboard punching douche-nozzles. Thanks you two, for reminding me the world is full of rapidly reproducing stupid assholes.
I think lesnar would beat fedor
to all the people who said this is bullsh!t i have one message for you “SHUT THE F*CK UP” i bet you, if you owned an organization like the ufc you’ll do the same thing because you know you will make (millions) money in this match. stop crying this is a very smart move by ufc.
and here’s the catch you’ll loved this one. “as much as you hate this because of your complaints you will watch this one i bet you that”
ask yourself. if youre a businessman which way will you go broke or billion? i assumed you have your answer. just as i thought so shut the f*ck up.
I FEEL SORRY FOR ALL THE MIR FANS AND NOG FANS AND COUTURE FANS BECAUSE YOUR IDOL FIGHTER JUST DISAGGREE WITH YOU WHY?
FOR THE MIR FANS = FRANK MIR DOES NOT CARE FOR THE BELT HE CARES FOR THE MONEY BELEIVE ME. RIGHT NOW HE IS HAPPY TO SEE THIS BECAUSE HE KNEW BROCK WILL WIN AND WITH HIM HOLDING A WIN AGAINST BROCK HE WILL HAVE A REMATCH IN FUTURE THAT WILL MAKE HIM EARN MORE MONEY THAN A USUAL COMMON UFC FIGHT.
NOG’S FANS = BECAUSE NOG IS THE INTERIM HW CHAMP HE GETS A CHANCE TO FACE BROCK (ASSUMING HE WINS) AND HE KNOWS HE WILL MAKE MONEY MORE THAN HE IMAGINE.
TO COUTURE’S FANS = COUTURE DOES NOT CARE FOR THE BELT HE CARES FOR MONEY AND ACTUALLY NOT ONLY COUTURE ALL FIGHTERS CARES FOR MONEY ALONE.
ASK YOURSELF IF YOU WERE A FIGHTER WHO WOULD YOU PREFER TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU. THE BEST FIGHTER THAT WILL MAKE YOU 1 MILLION DOLLARS OR THE POPULAR ROOKIE FIGHTER THAT WILL MAKE YOU 5 MILLION MORE? I ASSUMED YOU HAVE YOUR ANSWER JUST AS I THOUGHT. YUOR ANSWER IS SAME AS MIRS ANSWER AS WELL AS NOG AND EVERYBODY ELSE. SO FOR ALL THE DIE HARD FANS OUT THERE I FELT BAD FOR YOU CUZ YOUR IDOL DIS AGREE WITH YOU. YOU WANT YOUR IDOL TO FIGHT FOR FEW DOLLARS. YOUR IDOL DOES NOT WANT THAT YOUR IDOL WANTS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
Cliff, I stopped reading what is probably a completely asinine post devoid of any logic after you… made fun of my name?
Really?
I’m not going to argue with a child. Or a retarded adult with the same brain capacity.
people have said randy would beat big nog and now that randy is fighting lesnar everyone is singing a different tune its now randy will get killed and big nog would easily beat brock doesn’t make sense randy is more skilled than lesnar he won’t wait for the ground and pound to beat brock if there is a submission opening he is going to take it hewants to stay on the win streak to fight fedor to stay the best not to say randy would beat fedor
call me crazy but arn’t the champions supposed to make more money than the debut fighters????
Brock Lesnar is going to dominate.
I’m Tired of people saying Brock has no experience just because he has only 4 fights in mma. Shall i remid everyone he has been wrestling since he was 5! He was 106 and 5 collegately and the 2000 national champ.
As far as i’m concerned brock lesnar is well n his way to becoming the most feared figher in MMA the on fight he did lose so far to Frank Mir he was dominating until he stood up over mir and left his leg exposed. And for the record arm bars aren’t working against this guy. And as far as standing with te guy good luck. Even if you could get past his treetrunk arms if he ever felt a disadvantage he would just take him down at will and the wouldn’t be getting back up. Joe Rogan said it best ” This guy’s the reason dude’s should cut down to 205″.
Lesnar is a joke period. He should head back to the WWE and get back on the roids, make no mistake he was definately on them look at him now compared to his WWE days. I hope couture spanks Lesnar like he spanked Tito.
ok wow so lemme make sense of this….brock lesnar randy couture……talk about one sided….sure u got the fags that say oh hes brock lesnar hes jacked hes so strong and all that bullshit…but its fuckin randy couture….honestly does anyone think that rookie lesnar has a chance…i agree with “randomtext” anyone remember the couture/ortiz fight…titos a strong fuckin dude and he had him pinned that whole fight…he even hit him in the ass multiple times at the end basically saying he spanked him which he did…and you’ve got to remember couture and liddell….anyone remember them fights…u guys know he did win one of them…and liddells fuckin awesome and i dont want to hear them rampage lovin homos commenting on liddell cause hes better even though rampage beat him twice i refuse to say rampage is the better fighter…but back to lesnar and couture… lesnar lost to mir….i admit he had that fight ….however mir did get him into a submission HUGE ROOKIE MISTAKE BY LESNAR HEAR THAT PEOPLE….if he even so much as slips into a couture submission u can just write that as a couture win… and for the believers that couture is washed up and old and all that bs….come on a washed up randy couture would still fuckin destroy this “WWE” wish he was a legend whatever the fuck you want to call lesnar….coutures training is amazing too…i still think he’ll be in amazing shape and dominate this fight no problem
randy is the best fighter at heavyweight right now…..lesnar has the takedowns and the hammerfists that will rape. randy’s best bet is goin for a submission. lesnar is too strong and big to try to go toe to toe with or try to ground and pound. could go either way. coutourehas the experience and lesnar has the power its goin to be a good one no matter what. i want to see a rematch of mir and lesnar. this time lesnar wont make a stupid mistake
Randy Couture is still da man even tho he lost i still think he the best. at that age and still fight like that he is really good. i wish you luck randy what ever you plan to do next. good fight bro.