Who is the best fighter Randy Couture ever faced?

Fedorgasm said:
Yup. 19-11 doesn't look like a great record, but when you consider that literally 50% of his fights were for the title, it changes your view a bit. You're bound to lose sometimes when you fight that much top competition. Unless you're GSP.
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Except unlike GSP, Randy actually took some risks.

The dude actually got into a striking match with young Vitor for God’s sake.

And WON.
 
CleverNameEh said:
Hard to pick just one, as they all were great in different ways, and he fought so many, many of which were "dethronings" at the time.

Silva, Chuck, and Tito, were all dominant at the time of their dismantling, Nogeira was on the decline but was a dominant champ in his prime, Machida was a killer and champion, Brock was a monster when Randy faced him, etc, etc. He faced Rizzo and Maurice Smith when they were killers, and the list goes on and on. If not for the ufc feud controversy at the end of his career, and the couple KO losses before he bowed out, and the fierceness of the competition, he would be firmly in the GOAT talks.

He's still one of the truly greats though, only just short of GOAT.
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Agree with this, and think that (especially at heavyweight) you need to think about this question more as “biggest challenge for that particular fighter at that particular time.”

Say what you want about Brock, but he was a massive challenge at HW, especially for an undersized wrestler like Randy. He got beat if you could quickly put a hurting on him standing, but if you couldn’t?

Then guys like Chuck, Vitor and Machida who all knew how to grappler but could knock you out at any second (and were all quicker than Randy)?

Nog and Barnett, who were equally good grapplers with a little size on him?

Tons of very tough challenges and I’m not sure how to rank them.
 
IndyCovaHart said:
Except unlike GSP, Randy actually took some risks.

The dude actually got into a striking match with young Vitor for God’s sake.

And WON.
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This is just an organic way for his career to come about. He is from the old wild west days of MMA,where the oppurtunities were.."different" to say the least. If he tried to have a normal career,which we could say about GSP,he simply stayed the champion and defended it against all comers,it wouldnt have worked for Randy.

Randy was different. If he tried to have a career like that,he would have been gone a long time ago. UFC realized that Randy's epic underdog status was a liscence to print money,and they kept throwing him in title fights based on his past reputation of taking the sport from tears to fuckin glory.

So its not just that Randy took risks...he was in a great position with the company to take those risks,and he had enough losses,that he had less to protect and less to lose than GSP.
 
ricains_cretins said:
That thumb going for the kill from Sylvia
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Definitely Overeem....
 
Zebra Cheeks said:
Based on the fighter at the time randy faced them, I have to go with Machida. A lot of the newer fans might role their eyes at me. But machida Had this mystery around him, and a sense of being unstoppable. It wasn’t just that guys couldn’t beat him, they couldn’t HIT him. He was certainly something else.
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Machida wasn't champion when he beat Randy
 
HHJ said:
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I am curious what responses we will get out of this random question.

My vote goes for Nogueira,but keep in mind that Couture also fought the likes of Josh Barnett,Liddell,Machida etc.

Many top fighters,some of who were at their best when he fought them.
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Nog by far
 
Barnett, Nog, and Brock. HWs are better fighters than 205ers.
 
Mr Fahrenheit said:
Agree with this, and think that (especially at heavyweight) you need to think about this question more as “biggest challenge for that particular fighter at that particular time.”

Say what you want about Brock, but he was a massive challenge at HW, especially for an undersized wrestler like Randy. He got beat if you could quickly put a hurting on him standing, but if you couldn’t?

Then guys like Chuck, Vitor and Machida who all knew how to grappler but could knock you out at any second (and were all quicker than Randy)?

Nog and Barnett, who were equally good grapplers with a little size on him?

Tons of very tough challenges and I’m not sure how to rank them.
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Honestly style wise I think Brock wasn't too bad a fight for Randy, he could stuff his takedowns and force him to exchange standing which wasn't his forte although obviously he did have power. Randy was I think clearly in decline by that point as well, not nearly as fast as his prime years.

Nog though would always have been a bad fight for him IMHO because there was nowhere Randy could take the fight and have an advantage, standing Nog was the better boxer with a much better chin, on the ground Nog could threaten from his back. I think actually by that point Nog was more declined than Randy was dispite being younger.

Barnett was perhaps a bit before his peak by that point but still probably the best guy Randy faced, style wise maybe a bit better than Nog in that he wasn't as good on his back but still he was hard to hurt there and far more dangerous in top position.

My feeling is Randy would have had almost no chance against Fedor, even worse matchup than Nog for him.
 
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If we're talking simply names then Nog would be my pick. But within the context of when the actual fight itself took place then I think 25yo juiced Barnett was probably his best opponent
 
At the time he fought them I'd say Vitor or Chuck.
 
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