UFC 129 Fight Card Prediction: Randy Couture to Suffer KO Loss

Randy Couture is a crafty, experienced, and tough to knock out fighter, but that is exactly what I think will happen to him this Saturday night at UFC 129: Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields.

As much as Couture is revered as a cerebral fighter who loves befuddling game plans and styles, I believe that his opponent Lyoto Machida has a style that is too much for the aging legend.

I also believe it will end in Couture losing consciousness.

It is also very possible that Machida could win a decision by staying at range and picking Couture apart with better striking, but Couture almost never lets that happen.

Couture has said he needs to "get his hands on him," and he has done a great job of that in the past and roughing his opponents up in close quarters.

Machida, however, is just as schooled as Couture and his techniques are too advanced to allow him to get sucked into bad positions for extended periods of time.

Aside from his main discipline, Karate, Machida also studies other disciplines with rigor, and has shown an advanced ability to reclaim positional and situational control.

With Couture being unable to "keep" his hands on Machida, I see him eventually running into a fight ending strike.

As seen in his bouts with Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva, Machida has more than enough power to put his opponents to sleep.

As seen in his second and third bouts with Chuck Liddell, Couture can run into power strikes when chasing a great striker with good defensive grappling.

Couture has surprised fans on more than one occasion, but stylistically, the odds are against him and I see Machida putting Couture, and his career, to sleep on Saturday.

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