Couture vs Nogueira
Couture vs. Nogueira at UFC 102: Is This an Old Fashioned Loser Leave Town Match?
I don't know how many of you were Pro Wrestling fans back in the 1980s and watched wrestling on the Superstation, TBS, but in the old NWA they used to have 'Loser Leave Town' matches where the loser leaves the organization or retires. Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, Ric Flair, and Tully Blanchard would have been likely competitors in these matches. After Couture and Nogueira's last matches and considering their age, the UFC 102 bout has taken on this feel.
Couture's last match ended in a hard knockout at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Couture is 46 years old, yes I said 46 and it surprised me too. He has fought in many hard wars including two brutal knockout losses to Chuck Liddell. Albeit, Randy looked great in his two victories over Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga prior to the Lesnar match; father time may have finally caught up with Randy Couture. A victory in Randy's home area would be a great way to end a legendary MMA career, and Randy still has much to give to the sport through his training and commentary.
Nogueira is only 33 years old, which was surprising to me based upon his amount of fights and his appearance in last bout. He looked heavy and slow in last appearance in which he was dominated by Frank Mir. Mir handed Nogueira his first stoppage in his career. Nogueira did not resemble the fighter in the Pride Fighting Championships that mixed it up with the top Heavyweights in world like Fedor Emeliamenko, Mirko CroKop, and Josh Barnett to name a few. Nogueira made for difficult matches for each of these Heavyweight icons, holds victories over CroKop and Barnett, and was nearly impossible to stop by KO or submission.
The Couture Nogueira bout could prove to be the end of one of fighters careers or at the very least their current run in the UFC as a top contender. Conversely, an outstanding performance could earn one of the fighters a title shot with Brock Lesnar, although it is unlikely that a Couture rematch will spark much fan interest. The bout has a lot riding on it for the future of these two MMA legends, and the loser may very well be pursuing other interests outside of actually fighting in the Octagon.
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