Inside Xtreme Couture headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, there were some down faces.
The gym, a surprisingly modest facility with just a ring, a cage, and some mats to grapple on, was still packed with fighters. But there was a pall over the entire building; In the last two weeks two of the team’s most famous and succesful fighters, Forrest Griffin and Gina Carano, had lost high profile fights in devestating fashion. To the team’s leader Randy Couture, their General according to the team’s tongue-in-cheek military inspired website, losses were just an opportunity to get better. And despite both fighters leaving the arena without addressing fans and the media after their loss, no one was taking it too hard for too long.
“If the worst thing that happens to Gina or Forrest is they lose a fight, they’re doing pretty damn good,” Couture said. “…I don’t see that as a negative. It’s all part of a learning and growing process. I think the adversity of losing that fight is going to be very important in her development as a fighter. I know from my own experience that the fights that I’ve lost were very important to me. If I could go back and change them, I don’t think I would. I think I learned more and became a better person and a better athlete for having experienced those things. I know that Gina and Forrest are both in the same boat.”
Couture has had a whirlwind year, despite a lack of action in the Octagon. He’s been busy with his fallback career, filming the new Sylvester Stallone movie The Expendables in Los Angeles and Brazil. In that movie he plays Toll Road, a demolitions expert. Ironically, just before he left for the set he blew up his two and a half year marriage to Kim Couture, serving her divorce papers in April. After his previous divorce from his wife Trish, Couture’s career spiralled down as he lost his extended network of friends in Oregon. This time things seem different and he’s been able to settle his differences with Kim amicably.
“Unfortunately, I’m going through divorce again, but it’s a lot different this time than it was with the 12-year relationship that Trish and I had,” Couture said. “… No family, no friends, no business partners involved. Back then, I felt everybody was hating on me all at the same time and it was hard to deal with. This issue is between Kim and I, a two-and-a-half year marriage that’s pretty easy to separate and I think things are progressing. The attorneys are doing their jobs and that allows me to just focus on training and get ready for this fight.”
While many people in the media were overlooking Couture’s upcoming fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, preferring to focus on a potential rematch with UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, Couture realizes his opponent is one of the best heavyweights of all time. In the past, Couture has been famous for bringing in training partners to mimick his opponent’s strengths. This time he’s been content to rely on in-house help fine tuning his submission defenses to prepare for a master grappler. Neil Melanson, a former soldier and Air Marshall, is fine tuning Couture’s ground game for what they expect may be a fight contested on the mat.
While Nogueira struggled in his last fight, a loss to Frank Mir, the Brazilian feels confident that this time he will be able to show American fans his best.
“As a fighter you got to be 100 percent,” Nogueira said. “In my last fight, I had a knee injury days before the fight. No excuses, but I couldn’t be in shape because my knee was out. It was a very bad time for me to fight. I couldn’t move at all and that day Frank caught me with a good left hand three times. He made the fight.”
It was one in a series of disappointing performances for the former PRIDE Champion. After dominating the competition in Japan, Nogueira has had a hard time hitting his stride in the UFC. He’s struggled in wins over Heath Herring and Tim Sylvia and lost in an upset to Mir in December.
“I have three fights in the UFC,” Nogueira said. “I can tell I couldn’t show my best performance yet, you know? I think I’m getting there. I’m getting good shape back, same shape I had in Pride. I still have a lot to show.”
Couture is not anticipating an opponent off of his game next week. On August 29, he expects one of the very best to be face-to-face in the Octagon with him in his triumphant return.
“I think I have to prepare for the best Minotauro we’ve ever seen,” Couture said.
