Randy Couture: The Hero a Sport Needs

Mixed martial arts has always had an upward climb in this country and right now the sport is coming off of a series of terrible misfortunes. In a time when the sport is facing questions of legitimacy and the desire of fighters to compete, there is one man that can wipe away all the negative thinking about the sport: Randy Couture.

Randy Couture is returning to the UFC on November 15th to face Brock Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight title. Couture, 45, hasn't had a fight in almost 15 months, but he will be facing the strongest and quickest fighter in his career.

To understand what a Couture victory would mean to the sport, we must first review the events that have led up to this fight to make it such a huge event for all involved.

EliteXC's star fighter, Kimbo Slice, was shown to be the fraud many thought he was after being knocked out in only 14 seconds by Seth Petruzelli on October 4th. After the fight, questions were raised about the fight being legitimate when Petruzelli made comments about bonuses he was offered before the fight.

A horrible main event was the least of concerns for EliteXC. Due to high debt and without the prospect of any investors, Pro Elite was forced to cease operations on October 20th.

Five days later Anderson Silva defended his UFC Middleweight title against Patrick Cote in Chicago at UFC 90. It was the worst performance in Silva's career, the fighter that many consider to be the best in the world.

Silva looked disinterested and appeared to mock Cote several times during the bout. On top of that, the bout was stopped abruptly in the third round due to an injury to Cote's leg that left the crowd both stunned and angry.

The WEC put on their latest show this past week with WEC 36. It was a horrible night for WEC. Jens Pulver and champions Paulo Filho and Urijah Faber all lost their bouts. Filho didn't lose his title due to the fact he did not make weight for the fight and he looked unwilling to put forth any sort of effort against challenger Chael Sonnen.

Randy Couture returns to a sport in desperate need of something good to happen to it. Couture has overcome obstacles at every point in his career, none more so than coming out of retirement and dominating Tim Sylvia in March 2007, to win the UFC Heavyweight title.

Couture may be the smartest fighter in the world. He will need to draw on years of experience to find a weakness in Brock Lesnar. Lesnar will have all the measurable advantages on Couture except for the experience factor.

Lesnar currently stands as a small favorite over Couture. Couture will need to have the fight of his life to overcome the mountain of a man that is Lesnar. A victory over Lesnar may be the biggest in a career of big victories for Couture.

It would be a victory not only for Couture, but for an entire sport that desperately needs a hero to rise up and save it.