How significant was Randy Couture vs Tito Ortiz at the time?

[brickhands]

Even after his fights with Rashad, Vitor and Forrest?

obviously before

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

Here you go again with this crap. Silva has been fighting for four years and had a record of 11-2. The fight was less than 6 months before he joined Pride and less than a year before he fought Sakuraba the first time.

How convenient for old Pride fanboys that wand was pre prime in UFC the first time, and post prime the second time. Apparently his prime coincided EXACTLY with his time in Pride and during any other period he was not in his prime.

What a joke.

Well, to be fair, Wanderlei really didn't hit his prime till he got to Pride. The rules, ring, scoring system, and absolute lack of anything remotely resembling a drug test really helped him find his niche. Make no mistake, Tito would always have been a tough fight for Wanderlei, but when they met Wanderlei hadn't really filled out yet. Again though, it's important to remember Silva was juiced to the tits throughout his prime

 

[IIIIIIII]

This was the biggest fight North American MMA could cobble together at the time. Liddell/Tito would have been bigger, but Randy had to go and beat the crap out of Chucky before that could take place. It was a huge fight and cemented Couture as arguably the best LHW in the world... very arguably.

As far as the actual fight goes, it was an amazing display from Randy Couture, in my opinion his finest performance. It was also one of the best displays I've seen of pure wrestling in the Octagon, particularly Randy's clinch work. Keep in mind Tito had never been taken down before and he'd been in there against Matyushenko (who defeated Kevin Jackson and Dave Schultz on the freestyle worlds circuit) and Randy just ragdolled him at will and defended every one of his takedown attempts. Tito loved working from the clinch ordinarily, but Randy was just on another level in terms of wrestling skill and I was truly shocked at how badly he beat Ortiz.

The light spanking at the end was hilarious too, but not as hilarious as Tito's intense crying face at the end of the fight as Randy was being announced the winner. Seriously, he looked like a raped ape there.

perfectly stated.

 

[007]

I wasnt around then but i watched the fight. If someone can explain to me the beef and everything it would be great.

I see some similarities between that and DC/Jones. Could be way off though.

This pretty much ended Ortiz