Randy Couture Vs Brock Lesnar: Experience Vs Youth and The Age Old Argument

By now the news is all over the MMA world: Randy Couture (15-8-0) returns to the UFC after nearly a year of legal woes and inactivity with a three fight contract.

On November 15th he will be facing rising star Brock Lesnar (2-1) for the UFC heavy weight title. Lesnar has a huge following and more potential to be a great MMA fighter than any Heavy Weight in a long time.

So what does this mean in the HW division?

Well lets break that down first: we have Couture vs Lesnar for the HW belt followed by Frank Mir vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim HW title.

The winner of Mir vs Nogueria will face the winner of Couture vs Lesnar. This has been advertised as a Heavyweight tournament to see who is the best in the UFCs HW division. It is a solid plan for their weakest weight class.

Now, lets analyze the fight between Couture and Lesnar.

Lesnar comes with a lot of raw talent, a freakishly strong physique, explosive speed, and a wrestling background. He has the most potential to be a great MMA fighter of any newcomer, but this might be too much of a test for the rising star.

Young and new to the MMA game, he lacks experience, but has shown improvement in a recent bout with Heath Herring. Does he now have enough experience to beat Randy Couture?

Lets look a little bit closer at the fight Lesnar had with Herring.

Lesnar drops Herring with a powerful right hand that literally sent him rolling over backwards into the cage. Great power I thought at the time, but then Lesnar proceeds to hold Herring in a weak guillotine instead of finishing the fight.

Throughout the remainder of the bout, Lesnar shows his wrestling prowess by maintaining dominance over the veteran Herring. This is both good and bad for him in the MMA world.

Herring has been noted for his lack of ground skills and left numerous opportunities for Lesnar to go for a submission, but he didn't. 

Nor did he do more than simply hold him down and hit him with a few flurries and some nice knees. But, that's what we get with an improving MMA star with raw talent. To me, he showed he is coming along, but throwing him in against Couture is to soon in my opinion.

Now lets look at Randy Couture.

The guy is fighting time at 45. But then again, he was fighting that battle seven years ago when everyone thought he was done at 38.

So if the only question for Couture is if he is to old, then he has less to worry about then Lesnar.

Couture has made a legacy of causing upsets, starting way back with his dismantling of Pedro Rizzo at UFC 31 & 34 in 2001.

After losing to larger Heavyweights Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez, he moves down to Light Heavy Weight and takes out Tito Ortiz at UFC 43 and then Chuck Lidell at UFC 44 in 2003. Those were two more fights he was "supposed to lose."

He then loses to Lidell in rematches in 2005 and retires. A return in 2007 sees him defeat Tim Sylvia for the HW title, followed by a defense of said title against Gabriel Gonzaga. Add two more matches to the upset pile.

I stopped counting him out long ago; he has proved that age is merely a number and strategy and experience are strengths that should not be underestimated. I think he poses a serious threat to the enormous Lesnar.

So let me explain why I believe this to be Coutures fight.

Most people favor Lesnar for wrestling skill, power and, athleticism.

But, this is a fight in Mixed Martial Arts and, while power is a great factor, it's far from the only one.

Lesnar will most likely attempt to drop Couture using a huge right hand followed by attempts to take this fight to the ground.

The stand up battle goes to Couture, who will use his boxing ability to confuse the inexperienced Lesnar and try to put him on the fence like he did with Gonzaga.

Now, the ground battle is compelling since neither is noted for submissions.

Randy is a crafty fighter and will turn Lesnar's strength against him.

Brock is a wrestler while Randy is an MMA fighter. So, Lesnar will go for control out of habit.

Now, Couture will be hitting him from all sides at every chance he gets. He is well rounded and been in the fire many times.

In the end I say Couture by unanimous decision or stoppage in the middle to late rounds. He will frustrate Lesnar and win, mostly because he has likely forgotten more about MMA than Lesnar will ever know.

I know many will say it's total crap and that Brock is an unstoppable force.

Ask yourself a few questions though—Can Brock take a punch? Has he become well rounded enough or is his still one dimensional ?  How will he fight if he is not dominating his opponent ? Can his power alone win a fight?

All the unanswered questions about Lesnar will be answered when he fights Couture.

We will find out on November 15th 2008 and perhaps get to see a truly compelling fight come out of this in Randy Couture vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria.

That, in my opinion, is the best fight in UFCs HW division. Legend vs Legend.