Randy Couture turns down fight against ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira because of minor elbow surgery
By: MMAmania
Props: SI.com
Quoteworthy:
“I had to. Had to have my left elbow scoped. There were two loose bodies in there! Old nagging injury.”
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture had to decline a fight against former interim division kingpin Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira in the first half of 2009 because of an elbow injury. “The Natural” had two “abnormally large bone spurs” sucked out of his wing following his loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” in November 2008. Pairing Couture against Nogueira is a fight that makes sense, but this latest development bolsters the idea that it wouldn’t happen until summer 2009 at the earliest — Couture is also obligated to a six-week production schedule because of his new acting role in “The Expendables.”
52 Comments »
Damn it Couture.
couture vs. coleman!!!
ok
ASSHOLE oh well .i say now nog vs gonzga if he makes out ok of the shawn cawrin fight
I claim BS> He wanted to fight Nog because he saw a fighter that looked washed up and made the comment right after the fight. Then he finds out NOG had some things going on sickness wise and then changed his mind…
agreed
So silly. That’s not how any fighter’s brain works.
So silly. That’s not how any fighter’s brain works.
So silly how a fighter’s brain works.
Yeah that makes sense, Randy wants to fight Fedor, but he is scared of Nog. Timmy and Mir destroyed Nog standing and Randy spanked Timmy in striking. I’m pretty sure Randy knows he can out strike “no head movement Nog”. I think Randy has better cardio too.
Nicely put Gord.
I don’t think Randy is ducking Nog at all this time. But, the only reason he wanted to fight Fedor was the payday. Not a bad reason as reasons go.
Agreed chefdaddy, money has to be his primary motivation with his career winding down.
For once, I agree with Gord.
Good Call. Randy is too old and would be lucky to still be considered a top ten heavyweight. Gonzaga would beat him silly in a rematch.
Yeah, Randy has fought Liddell three times, Gonzaga, Lesnar, (the list goes on), and he’s scared of Nog, yeah… that’s it for sure! Your guys have him figured our 100%!!!
Please note the extreme amount of sarcasm!
Get real guys. lol
the heavyweight divison really sucks now
the HW division has sucked for a while now, but this sure makes it worse.
fo real, if anyone is going to take the UFC’s HW division seriously they need to sign some real fighters… i mean frank mir and brock lesnar as the champions? youve got to be kidding me? we need overeem, fedor, arlovski, kharitonov, silva… what is the UFC doing?
THats what Im saying brendan!
Randy is a Biatch!
Scratch Silva from that list. He cant roid up in the US, which is why he chose to go and stay in Japan.
i cant see a guy with that much natural size needing to roid but whatever…
I know brendan, you dont seem to see a lot of things too clearly.
If Silva bought his roids from me, he would have never popped positive. Fucking kids these days.
People who think you have to fight outside this country to get away with using steroids are being naive. You can time your cycle to pass a test as well as use one of the numerous masking agents to cover it up. If people want to get away with it they will.
Well Mir and Brock beat Nog and Randy, so it’s not quite the joke you think it is. I suppose the LHW div.is a joke too because Forrest and Rashad fought for the title.
You keep telling them Gord!!
The only good heavyweight that the UFC is missing is Fedor and that’s about it.
I don’t even know why am commenting coz brendan and John are saying everything that needs to be said. Keep up the good work.
Out of Brendans list who he thinks are the top HW. Overeem I do not see a win on his record vs any good fighters, he does have a no contest to Cro Cop a loss to Rua back in 07 and Nogueira in 06. Fedor I would love to see him fight a top HW but he hasnèt fought on in sometime. Tim was good back in the day but he hasnt kept up to the evolving sport, Cro Cop lasted all three rounds vs Fedor and we seen how Cro Cop did vs the UFC HW and now Arlovski who has he beat lately Kharitonov guess he beat Overeem, I dont know wich Silva you a refering to. besides Fedor I donèt think the fighters on your list would crack the top 5 in the UFC.
Some of them would do good for sure Beaver.. Overeem and those guys just needs to beat the steroid tests! Now as far as Randy goes, let’s be real he’s 45 and he should be retired and would be retired if he had made enough money in his UFC career… The reason why Andrei was holding back in his last UFC fights were because he was afraid to lose because he knew he wouldn’t get paid good enough if he wasn’t the champ so he tried to play it safe and not risk losing, now he’s going to try to secure his future in making money in boxing.. that’s the reason why Tito Ortiz kept fighting injured because he needed the money and couldn’t stay out for too long without getting paid.. the money is just not enough for these guys to not care so much about business
overeem has beaten mark hunt, vitor belfort (twice), igor vovchanchyn (who was the man back in the day), and kharitonov… all quality competitors. not to mention he just defeated badr hari in a K1 match which was unbelievable considering hari is a veteran of K1 and overeem crushed him. if you dont think overeem is a threat to ANY HW in the UFC you are seriously mistaken
I hate to think couture is ducking him, but it is really starting to look that way.
I think couture has had it myself.
lol at Randy ducking Mino…..No way in hell he takes Randy down,and Randy will out strike him against the cage..the man has an Injury…he`s 45… he`s ducking nobody!!!!
you Mino nutthuggers are insane…some of you still think it was an early stoppage,even though he couldn even stand on his own…i like Nog,and respect him as much as anybody..but the huggers are making me sick
Watch the end of the first round again if you get a chance , Mino was trying too leave the cage after Mir dropped him the 2nd time at the bell in rd 1.
Mino was done then imho. And the call was fine , he still couldnt stand after they pulled him off.
Exactly, Nog was out,his arms were just flopping out to the side as Mir punched him. It was a good stoppage before Mir really hurt him. Nog recovers fast, but not when a 250 lb guy is dropping bombs on his face. When a guy is slow to get up and his legs buckle, he’s DONE.
Well one was obviously Jenna Jameson. Who was the other loose body in there?
Didnt he just finish calling Nog out
Thia fight is bound to happen. But it should of happened a long time ago. In the UFC 93 video blog Dana prides himself on putting togeather the dream fights when fighters are in their primes. While BJ vs GSP is a good example there is an increasing amount of counter examples, Randy vs Nog being one of them. Others include Chuck vs Wandy and Franklin vs Henderson. Those fights all should of happened before, but better late than never I suppose.
Well, you can’t really blame him for Chuck/Wandy coming late. Chuck dropped the ball when Page beat him the first time in PRIDE, and then the little showdown at UFC 62, so I don’t put that one on him. And with Hendo/Franklin and Randy/Nog, they were all in different orgs at the time of their prime, so not much to do about that either. If they got Hendo instead of Anderson at that time, then I’m sure they would’ve put him against Franklin.
even the Mona Lisa is falling apart.
Smaller injuries probably take a bigger toll on the guy since he is older. Give him a break.
NIce little piece of timing to ensure the fight gets on UFC 100
thats good news for nogiera because Randy would give him abeating similar to the one he received from you no who twice in pride
Damn Mania. Calling it “minor” elbow surgery may be true, but I’ve had bones spurs removed from my shoulder (tip of the acromium) and while it may have been “minor” – it sure as hell didn’t “feel” minor for about 8 months. My surgeon compared it to rubbing a piece of meat over sharp coral. That will give you a mental picture.
I’m not saying he’s ducking Nog or not ducking Nog – I’m just saying that when you’re over 40 – those bone spurs have been there for awhile I’m sure. I know 1st hand that it’s not pleasant – orthoscopic or not. My 2 cents . . .
Well if Fedor beats Arvlovski, then I will offically say Fedor is the man to beat, yet Lesnar is still young and inexperienced but in a few years he will be the best in the world, and I even like Gonzaga, that guy is a monster, as for Randy, I am not sure Randy is the same fighter he use to be, politics and money destroy fighters they forget who they are, Vera sat out and look at him now, Couture sits out look at him now, Couture also has a million things going on, so hes ot a 100 percent into his training, Lesnar all day long but that may change with his new profound success, Carwin and Cain will see about those guys, Cro cop and Kongo take those guys down to the ground and its over, Arvlovski ?? I Like Arvlovski well see how he does against Fedor, how his ground game is? And Frank Mir again a question mark, Nogueira I am not sure what was wrong with him, he looked like a deer caught in some headlights, something wasn’t right, I want to see UFC bring back Belfort, I want to see Liddell make a come back, and I want to see anderson silva start destroying fighters instead of what I saw against Cote, if he said he only had six fights left then we may never see any superfights?? Then again there that santos guy KO werdum, and overeem? not sure about him I will always like Couture just maybe think his heart isn’t in fighting anymore please proove me wrong, underdog=Gonzaga, he has gone quiety off the radar after his loss to couture and the UFC needs I mean needs to sign Fedor, if he wins against AA then possibly Barnett then after that no one else, so UFC is a must against Lesnar, Couture, Mir, Gonzaga all those guys
gordon ur a joke bud if u say tim should be back tim sylvia is a chump and likes to blow mexies
Does anyone know when UFC 100 is gonna be?
To say I’m dissapointed is a huge understatement, but you gotta do what you gotta do; sh!t happens and hopefully the elbow heals up quickly. Take care of it Randy and stay healthy, then get back in the cage!
Hey texen i agree with you a hundred percent. Most of you guys don’t know what it is to have that type of injury let alone fighting with it. He just fought a 30 year young 6′3 wrestler, and im suppose to believe he scared to fight Lanky Nogueira. for sure you guys are NUtHUGGERS
i bet lesnar at 45 will be the biggest washup.