5oz of Fury: Couture on Cro Cop, and More

Columns, News

RANDY ON CRO COP
Randy “The Natural” Couture has been quite the talk of the MMA world lately, the belle of the octagon if you will. As a result, he’s been doing interview after interview, the latest being this one with NBC Sports. This may shock you, but after running through the basic “how does it feel” and “when will you start training again” questions, they asked him about his upcoming fight against Mirko Cro Cop (providing he wins at UFC 70…giggle).

So if you’ve ever wondered how you would prepare for a guy that many consider to be one of the top TWO heavyweight fighters in the world…

“I think first of all in analyzing Cro Cop, he’s a southpaw, so I have to get ready for dealing with another southpaw. His straight left hand is just as dangerous as his left high kick. I’m sure he’ll be trying to set up his punch first and his kick second. He tends to throw higher body shots than head kicks with his legs and he’s very, very quick, so those are all problems he poses that I’ll have to come up with answers for. I know he’ll be concerned about being taken down and controlled on the ground and against the fence. He’ll probably use a lot of footwork. It’ll be interesting.”


He just makes it sound so easy. Cro Cop, for his part, will probably focus on kicking Randy in the head and knocking him out cold. This is just an educated guess on my part, but I’m going to assume this fight will take place at UFC 73 sometime in August.

JOSH HAYNES ON LUKE CUMMO
One of the preliminary bouts scheduled for UFC 69 (huh huh, “69”) is Josh Haynes vs. Luke Cummo (516 holla back). “Bring the Pain” did an interview with MMAFighting.com, and he had a few words for his opponent:

“I honestly don’t think his stamina is all that good. He gassed out fighting Jonathan Goulet early on. He has average stamina. If you look at anybody in the UFC they are going to be in good shape. Three, five minute rounds shouldn’t be beyond anybody that signs the contract for that show. I’m not concerned about his conditioning or what he is bringing because I train it everyday. He isn’t going to bring anything that is going to surprise me or shock me. Unless, he does some Jedi mind trick or something like that.”


He then went on to say that if he has his way, he’ll “…put such a beating on Luke that the rest of the night will be all downhill for his camp!” I can understand talking a little of the smack against your opponent, but going after Pete Sell and Matt Serra too? You just f*cked with Long Island, pal. I now want you to lose and I want you to lose bad. I want you to lose so bad, that when they don’t renew your contract, you wind up as the token reality star on VH-1’s “Surreal World” and tap out to Vanilla Ice.

Josh Haynes, you are now my enemy. I say good day to you sir.

MICHAEL BISPING ON…GOOD QUESTION
The Count posted a new blog on UFC.com this week, and he mentioned a former TUF 3 dropout was calling him out. He didn’t give the guys name, but here’s what he said:

“Do you know who I’m on about? I can picture his face but still can’t remember his name but I remember personally sending this novice to the hospital with a busted arm and my mate Kendall Grove – a middleweight – knocked him silly with a high kick in sparring. I also recall that he went to the hospital three times during TUF 3 and each time came back to the TUF house with his tail between his legs. He spent more time in bandages than King Tut.”


It sounds like he’s talking about Matt Hamill, who I know fought in one of the un-televised bouts at UFC 68. If that’s the case and it was indeed “The Hammer” calling him out…what the hell is that guy thinking?

QUESTION
Any early predictions for UFC 69 (huh huh, “69”)? Here’s the card…

Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra
Diego Sanchez vs. Josh Koscheck
Thales Leites vs. Pete Sell
Alan Belcher vs. Kendall Grove
Roger Huerta vs. Leonard Garcia
Mike Swick vs. Yushin Okami
Heath Herring vs. Brad Imes
Marcus Davis vs. Pete Spratt
Josh Haynes vs. Luke Cummo