|
RANDY
COUTURE The XCAP Factor
©
Marc Wickert Special
thanks to Valerie Haney It’s
10:30 Monday morning in Las Vegas and Randy Couture is at his Xtreme
Couture gym when Knucklepit catches up with him. “The
Natural” is revved up about his new dietary supplements line –
Xtreme Couture Athletic Pharmaceuticals (XCAP). “XCAP is really
starting to get some traction and is providing a safe supplement routine
that a lot of the fighters and I are using here. You can get your
blood analyzed and they’ll tell you exactly where you’re at, what
supplements you need, and what you don’t need. It’s something
I’m excited about and I think it’s going to be huge. We just
launched XCAP about three months ago and it’s really starting to take
off,” says Couture. Randy
has always been a picture of health and his latest outings against
Antonio Nogueira and Brandon Vera were incredible showcases of The
Natural’s cardio and muscle endurance. In
his bout with Antonio Nogueira, Randy lost on points, but he put up an
amazing fight and presented some of the greatest escapes from holds that
seemed inescapable. So was that a fight where both athletes came
out winners? “Yeah,
I think so. Obviously a lot of people were asking questions about
Nogueira and his ability to continue to fight and have battles… ‘Had
he had too many battles?’ … ‘He didn’t look too good against
Mir, did he?’ As a fighter, I couldn’t afford to factor
in any of those questions. I had to assume we were going to see
the best Nogueira we’d ever seen. And I saw that – he was
ready to go and obviously had a great performance as well. “I felt like I did everything I’d trained to do. I prepared for the ground and the situations I thought I might end up in, and I worked a lot on my submission and submission defense with Neil Melanson, my grappling coach, and he had me ready to deal with the kinda situations he knew Nogueira looks for, and he was spot on. We ended up in a couple of those situations and I had answers to get out of them. It was a good fight.”
Randy,
is there a chance we’ll see you against Minotauro Nogueira? “Little
Nog?” Yeah. “Oh,
I don’t know. Right now I’m looking at Mark Coleman, February
6. I signed my bout agreement today and I think Mark has already
signed his, so Super Bowl weekend here in Vegas.” Brandon
Vera obviously did his homework and often prevented you from taking him
down, but you shut down his game plan by dictating the bout with your
close-quarter fighting against the cage. What are your thoughts on
that match? “Again,
I think I was prepared and I don’t think a lot of people were giving
Brandon enough credit for the wrestling ability that he had. I
knew him in the wrestling world long before we started fighting (MMA),
and he obviously was prepared for the situations and the attacks in the
takedown realm that I was going to try for. He had the answers and
I think I got a little tunnel vision – I expected to be able to take
him down and I was going to keep trying to take his butt down if it took
me the whole fight. “My
corner guys recognized that we weren’t getting the takedowns that we
expected to be getting, and therefore we weren’t being as decisive as
we needed to be. I shifted gears in that third round and still
made him think about the takedowns, but opened up and let my hands go
more – especially in the clinch and at that range – and I think that
was the difference. “He
caught me with a good liver kick in the second round and it was a kinda
delayed reaction that doubled me over, but I was thankful to recover
because I think a lot of guys don’t recover from that kinda shot.
I was able to recover, get back up, and finish the fight. Clearly,
I thought I won the first and the third round.” Do
you intend staying at 205, or will that depend on which fights present
themselves? “Yeah, definitely depend on which opportunities arise. Right now I’m going to fight at 205 against Coleman, and we’ll see what happens after that. I’d love a shot at Machida or some of the other guys in that division. There are a lot of great guys at 205 right now.”
Denis
Kang used a lot of steam trying to improve his position against Michael
Bisping in the first round of their bout. You seem to be happy
g’n’p-ing from half guard. Do you think too much energy can be
used on trying to get the mount? “Ah,
I don’t know. Too much energy? I think only the fighter
who’s in there can dictate that and decide when he’s overdone it,
what he’s trained to do, and the situations he expects to be in. “When
I look at the Vera fight, I should have had some more top-notch
wrestlers coming in and spent some more time working with guys who had
very good wrestling skills. I feel I got used to being able to get
to that clinch and take down most of the guys I train with, and I
expected to be able to do the same thing with Brandon, so I think it was
a little frustrating that I couldn’t take him down the way I was used
to taking guys down in training, and that was my fault. I followed
my plan and didn’t give him more credit or prepare better to make
adjustments to take him down. “I
think Denis did the same thing. I don’t know if his camp
prepared him to be able to mount the guy he was competing against and
had him conditioned to spend as much energy to achieve that position, or
whether he wasn’t prepared for that part of the fight and expected to
win or be in other situations.” You
provided a number of segments for Ultimate
Mixed Martial Artists, and your
contributions mainly involved dirty boxing and takedowns. Is that
what Victory Belt specifically asked of you? “Yeah,
I think those were the areas that they were interested in highlighting.
Obviously, that is an area of strength for me.” Including
yourself, there are eleven elite athletes contributing to that manual.
Do you see it as being a bible for anyone involved in MMA, regardless of
their level of proficiency in the sport? “It
is certainly a wealth of knowledge from a lot of top guys, and if you
want to get better or want to know what techniques are pertinent, at
least at the time the book was made, you’ve gotta look at what the top
guys are doing and try to emulate them. There’s some good
information there.” It’s
wonderful that there is so much information available to the average
person, isn’t it? “Yeah,
look at a guy like Evan Tanner who specifically used books to improve
his skills. Books are a good resource.” I
told ring physician Gary Furness that I was interviewing you again, and
he requested I ask you the following question: “For MMA, if you
had to choose a base discipline of either Greco or freestyle wrestling,
which would you feel was more useful, and why?” “I
think Greco is definitely more applicable to MMA because of the upright
posture and the in-fighting and clinch-fighting. There’s nothing
in freestyle where you’re crouched over protecting your legs and hips
like you do in Greco. “Of the wrestling styles that I’ve been exposed to, collegiate-style wrestling and Greco-Roman are the two styles that I’ve found to have the most application for fighting.”
Will
you be coming back to Australia for UFC 110? “I
hope so… I’m up for a part in a movie that starts shooting in the
middle of February, right after my fight, so if I get this part I might
be going somewhere else to work on the movie. But if not, I’d
love to come back to Australia – it’s been a few years.” You
made your Octagon debut at UFC 13 on May 30, 1997. How do the
fights from then compare to the ones of today? “Well,
apart from the fights having had some format changes along with a lot of
the rules and the scoring system, I think we’re dealing with a much
bigger fan base and much bigger crowds that understand our sport a lot
better: They’re not just wanting to see guys beat each other up –
they understand the intricacies of the techniques. I think at my
first UFC I saw as many fights in the stands as I did in the cage.
It’s a little bit different now. In those days they just wanted
to see fights – they didn’t even know who was on the card, so the
sport has changed a lot.” Renzo
Gracie wasn’t one of the guys starting the fights in the stands, was
he? (Laughs)
“Not as I recall.” If
the 1997 Randy Couture fought the 2009 Randy Couture, what would happen? “Well,
I definitely feel like I’m the best fighter I’ve ever been, right
now, improving athletically and technically as a fighter; I’m way
better right now. I’m sure this fighter would beat that
fighter… How long it would take? I was probably a better
wrestler and in better wrestling shape back then than I am today, but
I’m a much better fighter now.” Your
previously published Wrestling
for Fighting
is still selling very well, and deals specifically with basic wrestling
takedowns, Greco-Roman throws, and ground’n’pounding of opponents
into submission. And at the end of this year, Victory
Belt is also releasing Xtreme
Training
by
Randy. Can you give readers a
sneak preview of what to expect from that book, please? “Absolutely.
I’ve had a strength coach training me for the last two and a half
years, Jake Bonacci, and we’ve come up with training regimens and
techniques for working the core and working all the pertinent areas for
fights, implementing cardio, circuit training, plyometrics and all those
things to perform athletically in mixed martial arts. The book is
going to highlight all those things.” What
are you doing for Christmas? “I’m
going to be staying in Vegas, training for the Coleman fight in
February, so I won’t be doing too much, just here on the mat grinding
it out.” For
the Mark Coleman fight, stamina will be a big factor he’ll have to
work on, won’t it? “It
is definitely a strength for me and maybe not so much for him.
I’ll want to make him work early and be attentive and careful early.
He’s going to be powerful certainly in the early parts of the first
round, so I need to find ways to make him work, to make him spend some
of that gas, and I think that will pay dividends as the fight goes
on.” Randy
Couture’s sponsors:
www.xtremecoutureclothingstore.com,
Everlast, Body by Jake www.thetower200.com/default.aspx?adid=twr9003,
and Xtreme Couture athletic pharmaceuticals www.xcap.tv.
For
more on Randy Couture:
RANDY COUTURE Part
13 Wrestling
for Fighting
©
Marc Wickert Special
thanks to Valerie Haney It appears
we’re at a golden age for fight enthusiasts throughout the world.
First it was the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship on November
12, 1993, where fighters from all walks of life were thrown together in
the Octagon to see which unarmed combat systems held their own. Through
subsequent UFCs, eventually a combination of Muay Thai, wrestling and
BJJ seemed to hold the key, enlightening all but those who chose to bury
their heads in the dust. Now many elite
champions of ultimate fighting who have risen to the top, such as Randy
Couture, Fedor Emelianenko, BJ Penn and Anderson Silva, are sharing
their knowledge through the publication of their instructional books.
The result is that a wealth of information is available to the public,
which will certainly help to raise the standard of international mixed
martial arts. To find out more
about Randy Couture’s outstanding release, Knucklepit.com
caught up with ‘The Natural’ in Las Vegas, where he generously took
time out from his hectic schedule. Randy, in your book you
say, “When your opponent attacks, you have three primary lines of
defense – your hands, elbows, and head”. Can you explain that
please? “Well, there
are three ways that you can fend your opponent off – in a wrestling
sense, not in fighting but in wrestling – first they have to get
through my hands; then if I bend my arms they have to get through my
elbows and forearms; then the last thing they have to get past is my
head if I bend it. If I lower my head, he has to get through that
to get to my hips in order to take me down.” You recommend using
short, choppy steps. Is that a weakness in many karate styles,
where they over commit with their stance and stepping? “I think the
wider your base is, the less power and mobility you have, just like in
boxing: You move your feet, keep them under you base, your shoulders and
hips, taking shorter and quicker steps to move in and out. If you
take bigger steps it’s harder to sprawl, get out of the way and be
offensive with your feet spread out.” When doing takedowns,
what is the purpose of “cutting the corner”? Is it to upset
your opponent’s foundation? “Cutting the
corner, we as humans with two legs tend to move forwards and backwards
fairly easily. Changing direction and moving laterally forces my
opponent to move laterally. With our knee joints, it’s easier
for me to overtake my opponent and harder for him to move away from me.
Attacking and moving at angles is more effective as well in grappling
and jiu jitsu, where he can use his legs to pull guard. Laterally,
I can turn the corner and get around his legs.” When you’re “running
the pipe”, is being extremely explosive a key ingredient of this
technique, so your opponent can’t re-establish his balance on his
other leg? “I think it
helps… It’s not as explosive a technique as the high crotch or
double-leg, but you definitely do want to create some motion and come
around the corner, and the quicker you change direction the harder it
makes it for him – harder for him to keep his balance and stay with
you.” You talk about wrist
control, and you demonstrate the baseball grip. Do you do a lot of
grip-strengthening exercises to improve your grip, or does your grip
strength come indirectly through wrestling and weight training? “I think both things are true: Earlier in my career I did a lot of grip-strength stuff – plate hands, where you grab a plate with your fingers and hold it out in the air, and towel pull-ups… a lot of Olympic lifting and pull-ups were very good, rope-climbs were great for your grip. I do a lot less of that as I’ve gotten older because I’m still using the grip strength that I develope every time I train.”
In
the section on the “dirty-boxing clinch” you state that you prefer
using a single-collar tie to the double-collar tie (Thai clinch).
Is that because you feel the double-collar tie requires too much
commitment? “The
double-collar tie ties up both of my hands. I use the
double-collar tie too, but more to off balance my opponents. If
I’m trying to control the distance and strike my opponents with my
hands, I need at least one free hand to hit him with. In
wrestling, a collar tie is a real common tie and you’re most
comfortable using it for grabbing the head.” So if you’re using
your left hand for the tie, it allows you to deliver uppercuts. “Exactly, and you definitely want to use footwork and keep pressure on the neck and head to keep your opponent off balance and force him to move.” In BJ Penn’s book,
“Mixed Martial Arts: the Book of Knowledge”, he says it’s
important for MMA fighters to stay with their base. Then he gives
the example: “Randy Couture is first and foremost a wrestler. He
is constantly adding strikes into his game, but he does so in such a way
that the new techniques make him a better wrestler”. Do you
agree that fighters should primarily stick to their base? “Most of the
fighters that I see who have a base probably never have to train in
their base solely again – they’re highly regarded in that particular
field, and probably in that area they’re head and shoulders above most
of the guys that they compete against, so they need to spend their time
working on the other systems. For me that was striking and
submissions. I was probably already going to be a better wrestler
than most of the guys I competed with because of my base – my years of
experience wrestling. “I spent as
much time as I could improving my striking and submission skills and
that made me a complete fighter. The better those other pieces
were, the easier it was for me to take advantage of my base. The
better my striking is, the easier it is for me to wrestle because I
become a lot less concerned about getting punched.” Moving away from your
book, with your bout against Brock Lesnar, I thought you had Brock in
deep water at the end of round one. In hindsight, do you wish you
had tied him up in the clinch some more in round two, and exhausted him
more, before going toe-to-toe? “I felt
comfortable in the clinch – that was certainly one option. I
think I could have used more footwork and made him chase me a little
more as well. That would have frustrated him and kept me out of
that range, so both options were there. If anything, I have a
tendency to be overaggressive: I want to fight and that can get me into
trouble.” Would you like a
rematch? “Yeah, I’ve
talked to the UFC about a rematch. Obviously I’ll probably have
to fight somebody else first. Brock’s got the big fight coming
up now with Mir, so he’s kinda tied up defending his title and
unifying the two titles, so we’ll see how all that shakes out.
Hopefully, at some point we’ll get a rematch.” At the time of your
fight, it was believed Brock was about 60 pounds heavier. At the
end of the fight you said you were still learning and improving.
Did it annoy you when it was suggested that age was the deciding factor,
and that you were being written off? “I think every
time I fight they want to make age the factor, but it was apparent that
age didn’t have anything to do with what happened in the fight.
I got out of all the situations that were potentially… his strength,
him on top of me, in the clinch… I didn’t feel overwhelmed anywhere.
I felt good. So I don’t think age had anything to do with it.
I mean I’m used to those questions.” What’s next for you? “As you know,
Nogueira just lost so he becomes a candidate for a fight. I need
to get back into number-one contender status for the title, and
there’ll be a loser from Mir and Lesnar as well. If Lesnar
should lose, maybe I’ll get the rematch sooner in a non-title match
than the other way around.” Are you under contract
to any organization? “Yeah, I do have a few more fights left on the contract; I do have several movie projects that I’m attached to next year, one of which is ‘The Expendables’ with Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Forrest Whitaker and Sandra Bullock, so it’s a great cast. I’m looking really forward to that, and it could be a really big step in the movie industry and that part of my career – what I’ve been doing for the last five years.”
Randy Couture’s
sponsors: “Everlast.com,
Hoyt Archery, Oakley, and Axisshaver.com.” For
more on Randy Couture: www.randycouture.com,
www.xtremecouture.tv,
and www.legendsmma.com. For Knucklepit’s review of Randy’s Wrestling for Fighting instructional book: www.knucklepit.com/mixed-martial-arts-knucklepit%20book%20review.htm.
RANDY COUTURE Part
12 Why We’ve a Lot Riding on Randy
UFC
Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture ©
Marc Wickert On
July 21, 1969, former test pilot Neil Armstrong took a monumental flight
in Apollo 11 and became the first man to walk on the moon, stating at the
time, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” On
November 15, 2008, 45-year-old Randy Couture will be stepping into the
Octagon and putting his UFC Heavyweight Title on the line when he defends
his belt against Brock Lesnar. Now
on the surface (Earth’s – not the moon’s), this might at first
glance be of less significance to mankind than Yeager’s or Armstrong’s
efforts, but in reality Randy’s appointment in the Octagon is probably
of far more significance to the majority of us. The
Facts Whilst
breaking the sound barrier and landing on the moon are important events in
history books, few of us have supersonic jets parked in our garages, and
even fewer of us will walk, or leap, in Armstrong’s footsteps on the
lunar surface. However,
all of us do have bodies in varying states of fitness, health and
strength, and all of us are getting older. The age barrier is much
more relevant to most than the sound barrier. When Randy Couture
(45) takes on Brock Lesnar (31), he will not only be facing an opponent 14
years his junior, but Couture is expected to be 45 pounds lighter than the
265lb-Lesnar, who is a giant of a man by anyone’s standards. Sure
there have been boxers who have fought in title shots whilst in their
forties, but this isn’t some carnival sideshow: This is ‘As Real as it
Gets’. Randy Couture has defeated the best of the best, including
Gabriel Gonzaga, Tim Sylvia and Tito Ortiz. Now he’s putting
everything on the line against the number one contender for UFC’s World
Heavyweight Title. Mixed
martial artists are generally regarded as the fittest athletes of any
sport – their cardo and full-contact conditioning are second to none.
The moment an MMA fighter has a split-second lapse in concentration, he is
body-slammed to the ground, and the rounds are of five grueling minutes’
duration. Randy
Couture is also seen as the thinking man’s fighter: His strategies often
shut down a seemingly unbeatable adversary. I’d back Randy against
Stormin’ Norman in the think tank on any given day. And the reason a lot of martial artists took up a self defense discipline in the first place was to learn how to defend themselves against the bigger guy. If Randy Couture can overcome the odds against the bigger and younger Brock Lesnar at such a high level, then there’s not only the benefit sportspeople will gain from this bout, but there’s also the example he will be setting for all people wanting to live their lives to the fullest.
Chatting
with Randy Couture Randy,
what workout did you just do? “Boxing
training this morning at 8 o’clock with Gil Martinez.” How’s
your dog, Sake, doing? “He’s
going good. He got jumped a few weeks ago by a couple of bigger dogs
–weimaraners – after I let him out in the neighborhood. But
he’s doing just fine now.” How
is Kim’s preparation going for her Strikeforce bout on November 21
against Lina Knokov? “She’s
doing really well; it was a little short notice on the fight – just four
weeks, but she’s been training and she got cleared two weeks ago to
spar, so she’s been sparring a few days a week with some of the smaller
guys, and grappling with her girlfriend who’s a world champion in jiu
jitsu. Kim’s also been working on her kickboxing.” What’s
it like being in the same game together? “It’s
actually nice, and she has a better understanding and appreciation of the
game now.” You
coach her in wrestling, don’t you? “I’ve
coached her a little bit along the way with her wrestling. She’s
like a sponge absorbing all the skills from everyone.” Is
it hard to coach Kim when she’s your wife? “No
(laughs); it’s not too difficult. She gets frustrated with me
sometimes. I try to push her pretty hard: I don’t let her stop and
talk. The guys get irritated with me too, but they don’t have to
go home with me.” You
played a major role in The
Unit, and you had plenty of script: You
were very convincing. What other acting roles do you have coming up? “I’m
attached to two TV shows and a couple of movie projects. It’s an
interesting business and I try to keep my cards close to my chest until
things actually happen because things can fall through, and if you say
things are going to happen and they don’t, you look like a jackass.” Did
you enjoy doing Human
Weapon? “I
did have fun with that show. Bas is always a hoot to be around and
we had fun with the crash dummies. We got some interesting feedback
there.” How
long did you spend on the set? “We
were there for a week.” Where
was it filmed? “In
Long Beach (California).” Do
you intend going all the way with acting, down the track? “Yeah,
I think so. I realize that I have a limited number of competitive
fights left and acting is very intriguing to me.” What
did you think of Tyson’s bout with Sean Sherk? “It
was a great fight. I felt that Sean was obviously working on his
hands and his skills. It was a very, very close decision.
There is only one of the judges that I have an issue with – he had it
30-27 for Sean. I think the determining round was probably the
second round of the fight: I thought that Tyson won the third round and
Sean, having taken Tyson down and gotten his back, Sean may have won the
first round, so in my mind the second was the determining round of the
fight. That’s where the controversy stands.” And
Gray Maynard against Rich Clementi? “Gray
has come a long way having gained patience as a fighter. He was
typically overzealous and would get himself into trouble, or he would be
overaggressive and would forget to breathe a little. I think that
Rich, being a veteran of forty fights, did a nice job of tying Gray up on
the ground to avoid any damage. Gray used his wrestling and his
boxing skills to control the whole fight. But he is his own worst
critic: He’s a little hard on himself, and the ‘boos’ upset him at
the end of the fight. ” If
it’s going to be “As Real as It Gets”, it’s not always going to be
as exciting as choreographed professional wrestling, is it? “Absolutely.”
What’s
it like to have a fight coming up again? “It
feels good; it feels good to be in camp and put a bunch of the negative
crap behind me, like a weight being lifted off me, and it’s great to be
back at the gym, training.” Did
the Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring match give you extra incentive for this
fight? “At
that time I didn’t know that Lesnar would be in my sights. I
worked with Heath a little bit in preparation for that fight, but he
didn’t get a chance to use any of the wrestling. I’ve watched
the fight for my own preparation for Brock, and it was typical wrestling
that Brock used. He’s big, he’s got takedowns… everything is
real straight ahead.” What
will you do during the day of the fight? “I’ll
probably eat a couple of times, relax: I’ll probably sit around with my
wife. My family and friends often drop in and relax with me. A
lot of the time we sit around and watch a movie. I don’t do any
training, that’s for sure. We’ll probably get to the arena about
six, get all the gear in line, get suited up and taped up before getting
our warm-up underway about 45 minutes before the fight. The warm-up
will take about 20, maybe 30 minutes, and then we’ll spend about 15
minutes cooling down.” Do
you glance at the monitor to see what’s happening in the opening fights? “We
definitely watch the show to see how things unwind.” When
you arrive at the arena, do you go straight to your dressing room? “Security
usually escorts us from our hotel rooms, down the back walkway to the
backstage area, and they usually pick you up on camera walking in, as
I’m sure you’ve seen before. We spend about three and a half
hours in the dressing room, so we’re pretty happy to have the fights on
the monitors – it’s a good way to pass the time.” Do
you ever have pictures on the walls to focus on or to psyche yourself up? “No,
I have all the pictures I need in my head – I don’t need them on the
outside really.” Between
rounds, as you were saying before, they often switch across to main-event
fighters. Is there a camera there the whole time or can you escape
the prying eye? “No,
the cameras usually just come in for those shots.” What
is your mood generally like at the stadium, and what are you thinking
about? “I’m
usually relaxed, laid back and having fun. We enjoy ourselves: I like the
job and enjoy what I do.” And
when you get the call that it’s time and the crowd roars, what does that
feel like? “Well,
it’s pretty exciting – you definitely know you are alive.” You
touched on this before, but do you think Brock will want to come straight
in and bulldoze you the way he did against Heath? “I
would suspect that: I think he’s confident in his ability to run anybody
over – my being a smaller athlete in the heavyweight division.” Your
debut in the UFC was against a bigger opponent. Obviously I don’t
want detail, but are you confident you can deal with his power? “Yeah,
I believe I have the skills.” How
do you see Fedor vs. Andrei going? “That
should be a very interesting fight. Andrei is looking as sharp as
I’ve ever seen him look. He’s got all the tools to make it an
interesting fight. He’s a great athlete – very explosive, and
has tremendous striking, probably the most pure boxing in mixed martial
arts. And Fedor has such an unorthodox striking style. It
should be an interesting clash.” Will
we see Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko? “Well,
I really don’t know. It’s hard to say: I can’t spend time or
energy worrying about it. If it’s going to happen it will
happen.” Will
technique and experience be your main weapons against Brock? “I
think technique, experience and conditioning.” Randy Couture’s sponsors: Everlast.com, Matt Hughes Archery, Wallbangers.com, and Axisshaver.com.
For
more on Randy Couture: www.randycouture.com,
www.xtremecouture.tv,
and www.legendsmma.com. For
Knucklepit’s review of Randy’s Wrestling for Fighting instructional
book: www.knucklepit.com/mixed-martial-arts-knucklepit%20book%20review.htm.
For
more on UFC 91: www.ufc.tv.
RANDY
COUTURE “I’m Definitely Ready to Deal With Gabe.” |
|
knucklepit.com |
|
Thanks for visiting knucklepit. Be sure to come back soon for new UFC, MMA, & Self Defense articles. |