"I think I have the ability to put him in a whole bunch of places. Punch him in the face, kick him in his legs, kick him in his body. Take him down, put him on his back and see how he deals with it," Couture commented yesterday during a media workout.
Added trainer Shawn Tompkins: "Randy Couture will test him. He'll hurt him, he'll hit him and he won't be there when Brock wants to hit him."
Lesnar, the behemoth who used to let legendary mouthpiece Paul Heyman do his talking for him in wrestling, fired back with, "By the looks of it, to me, Randy looks like he took a year off," Lesnar quipped, "But we're not underestimating Randy Couture. Not at all. He's a pioneer, he's the man. He's got something I dearly want."
While Couture has avoided any trash-talking, trainer Tompkins took a chance to take a shot at Lesnar on Wednesday, saying "We respect him, we respect that he's big, we respect that he's athletic. But we don't respect the fact that he's getting a (UFC Heavyweight Championship) shot. He's not at this level yet. He doesn't deserve to be here. Maybe one day he will, but not today."
The mammoth Lesnar expressed his own thoughts, saying, "I respect Randy and I like Randy, you know, but Saturday night I don't have any respect for him, nor do I like him. It just has to be that way. This is business and he's got something I want. That's the bottom line."
Couture did, however say, "I think in a lot of ways that brash kind of bravado is covering up a little of the insecurities that he's carrying into this fight because he knows he doesn't have all the skills that he needs."
Tompkins added, "A lot of guys would have broke already, just thinking about fighting a guy like Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture won't break mentally. He's been in there before with bigger guys. This is his game. So I think Brock's in for a world of trouble."
Size won't matter, Tompkins adds, "if the bigger man is losing."
But Lesnar also insisted the pressure is all on Couture.
"I've got nothing to lose. I'm not the title-holder—yet. I'm not feeling any pressure at all—honest to God, I'm not."
Saturday's winner will take on the winner of the Dec. 27 bout between Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who won what the UFC called the interim heavyweight title while Couture was at odds with the organization.
The match between the UFC champion and the interim champion will take place sometime next year.
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