Former UFC champion Randy Couture ventured north of the border to Toronto this past weekend to promote the opening of the seventh installment of his namesake gym, Xtreme Couture, and the first of its kind in Canada.
Xtreme Couture in Toronto is massive — 33,000 sq. ft. and boasts a full health club, yoga and spinning rooms, sauna, steam rooms, as well as an enormous mat area, ring and cage.
Owner’s Doug and Robert Urch — along with Len MacDearmid — have designed a twist on the typical mixed martial arts training facility, bringing in a full health club to appeal to a much broader clientele. Hardcore MMA practitioners, however, can still get top-notch instruction from the likes of Mark Bocek, Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick.
Couture was on double duty during his trip to Canada. He was also up for Yahoo! Canada’s Round 5 launch party. He was joined by former lightweight champion Sean Sherk, who was fresh off his loss to BJ Penn at UFC 84: “Ill Will.”
Round 5 has produced Series 1 of its action figures with the release of Quinton Jackson, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hughes and Randy Couture all being molded into composite collectibles. “The Muscle Shark” was on hand as he will have his own toy to open soon with the proposed fall release of Series 2 along with the likes of Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva.
Round 5 was at a loss as to who would fill the final spot on the Series 2 roster and had Randy and Sean square off in an arm wrestling match with the winner getting their pick as the fourth personality to be released in the fall. Sherk had in mind either Forrest Griffin or Wanderlei Silva and Randy was dead set on seeing “The Prodigy” in toy boxes across North America.
Sean put up a fight, but BJ will be able to re-enact crisp jabs into Sherk’s face until his heart is content come the fall.
Randy and Sean were both generous with their time and I had a chance to catch up with both of them. Randy talked about the fight with Fedor, his dedication to seeing fighter’s rights and working environment improved. Sean, on the other hand, discussed his fight with BJ and his thoughts on the Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta showdown scheduled for UFC 87.
To check out the entire interview click here.
Sean McManus is the Director of Media Relations for MMACanada.net. For more information on the MMA scene up in Canada check out MMACanada.net.
30 Comments »
This is great!..This will help fighters out of my home-town(Toronto), get the proper backing to help them get into MMa promotions…good good!
I’m not the biggest BJ Penn fan, but he definatley gets the nod for having his own action figure before Forrest Griffen. I don’t even know how he wouldn’t have been in the first group. He is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. Top 3 IMO. I may not like him, but I do not disrespect his fight game.
Agreed!
Forrest Griffin? is this a joke? Its a shame cause I used to like Forrest, but all this undue attention like he is actually a top 5 fighter right now is starting to piss me
off. i guess its not Forrest’s fault….I didnt expect him to turn down a title shot, regardless of if he actually deserves it or not…..NOT!!!!!!
Machida would make him look so silly!
IMO, Forrest should stilll be fighting guys like Tiago silva….NOt the CHAMP!!!
Not sure why GSP and Chuck don’t have figures yet. Those things would sell like hotcakes.
yeah, GSP’s could be doing the splits!! lol
And Chuck Liddell’s figure can grow a beer belly when you put it under hot water.
And for a limited time, when you buy the belly growing liddell doll you get the John Hackleman doll for free, LOL!
That’s hilarious lol
Yeah, i can’t believe Chuck is not in the first round!!! He is arguably the most popular fighter ever.
I am also surprised that Chuck wasn’t in round one. Surprised they are including Sherk here also. Although he does have the action figure build on a marketing stand-point I would think:
Chuck
GSP
BJ
Toss up between Franklin and Forrest
What do these things run anyway??
They retail for $16.99 in the States and in Canada.
Thanks, boss.
They put Sean Sherk against Randy Couture in an arm-wrestling match to determine who picks?
Did Sherk even have a chance?
He’s like half the man’s weight.
well my take on it was this: Randy’s an owner of Round 5 and I think it was more for promotion than an actual arm wrestling match - Sherk did alright though and the fans got a good kick out of it…
GSP
Chuck
BJ
Rich
I wonder when the UFC is going to finally strip Couture of the championship.
They have to wait for all the legal stuff to pass.
Yeah Mania you refered to Randy as the Former UFC HW Champion. Have they stripped him yet? Just wondering.
No they haven’t stripped Randy yet. Dana White said in an interview a while back that he would even consider keeping it an interim forever until Randy comes back.
I was there on the 31st, very nice gym, not all set up yet but the weight room was very impressive. The visit with randy was brief but I got a picture with him, his handshake is crushing. Hope he’s there more often, but I can’t complain being under the instruction of bocek and hominick.
Their teachers have name recognition, but the best doers aren’t always the best instructors.
I think the gym will be a hit.
It will make money, but I still don’t think it’s the best place to train in Toronto.
BJ BJ BJ!!!
Stop it, Adam! Sherk gets knocked down by BJ again. He is just getting his nose rubbed in it now…
Seriously, it is too bad Sherk didn’t hook up with Randy two months ago. Randy is the master of game plans. He certained wouldn’t have had Sean participate in a jab contest with a guy with a 5 inch reach advantage. I still feel robbed we didn’t get to the real fight. Not saying it would have been a different outcome but still wanted to see who would best who on the ground.
at least there was no broken forearms in the arm wrestle, i would have betted on sherk, his arms are a lot shorter, usually that means alot in arm wrestling, i wonder if they half-assed it……probably.
No way. The shorter arms would hurt his chances. Less leverage. Over the top!! Spin the hat around, Randy.
Is sherk on a step stool.