Michael Rome over at Bloody Elbow reports that Randy Couture will make his return to the light heavyweight division at UFC 105, where he’ll face Brandon Vera in the main event of the evening.
Inside Fights has confirmed the planned bout with sources close to the organization.
The Couture vs. Vera match appears to end a weeks-long search for a main event for the show. The original plan was to have Anderson Silva defending his belt against Dan Henderson, but Silva felt he’d already proved everything he needed to against Henderson and didn’t want to face him again. After the Silva dismissal, they scheduled BJ Penn against Diego Sanchez in a lightweight title bout, but that fight was moved to UFC 107 when the main event for that card fell through.
Randy Couture against Rashad Evans was also explored as a possibility. Couture agreed to the fight, but Evans turned it down. That seems like the smart thing to do, given that Evans has plenty to lose from the postponed Rampage Jackson bout if he were to lose to Couture.
The UFC even tried to book Anderson Silva against Matt Hughes in a middleweight title defense. Hughes agreed to the bout, but the deal fell apart on Silva’s side.
With UFC 105, Couture returns to the division he once dominated. A fight with Brandon Vera isn’t the ideal “big fight” scenario that Couture typically seeks, but he’s a company man and will do what they ask of him. It’s also a chance for Randy to get a win under his belt before moving up the ladder to face guys like Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida.
Inside Fights has also learned that Couture will receive a title shot if he beats Vera. The title shot was promised in exchange for Couture agreeing to help save the show, which was desperately in need of an announced main event before tickets go on sale on Monday. Couture also receives a portion of the pay per view revenue, which he will be foregoing by fighting on the free Spike television broadcast.
