Randy Couture To Return

Randy Couture announced this past week that he will be coming out of retirement and battling Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight Title on March 3rd. This puts to end weeks of speculation as Couture admitted that he was considering coming out of retirement should Tito Ortiz regain the Light-Heavyweight Title. Many thought that if Couture were to return it would be as a Light-Heavyweight. However this announcement makes for some interesting possibilities.

Couture claimed this week that after retiring and settling his divorce, he began to feel an "itch" to return. Was the competitive fire inside Randy Couture still burning? Or was Randy simply feeling the "itch" for another payday?

Couture left UFC just as their momentum was beginning to build. Couture's last match against Chuck Liddell was UFC's most successful event up until that point doing in the neighborhood of 350,000 buys on pay-per-view. Since then, UFC has gone onto destroy that mark six times and some industry predictions go as high as 1.5 million buys for their most recent pay-per-view, UFC 66 with Liddell versus Ortiz.

Randy wants back in on the action and his return will no doubt be a big box office draw. The story of whether this 43 year-old man could still compete with the Heavyweight Champion will spark curiosity. However, why is Couture signed to a 4 fight deal?

Couture isn't simply coming out of reitrement to fill his wallet with cash and get destroyed by Sylvia. Randy would not have signed a 4 fight contract if he didn't believe he could beat Sylvia. No matter how old Couture is, he is still better than Tim Sylvia on his best day. Tim Sylvia is an average fighter at best and has not shown any dominance since he has become Champion.

Couture will become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion in March. Unfortunately for him, Mirko Cro Cop is now in UFC. The potential match between Randy Couture and Mirko Cro Cop for the UFC Heavyweight Title would be a huge draw and spark major international interest. However, it will also be the closest thing to a live execution many of us will ever see. Cro Cop may be the most unstoppable fighter in the world and no one short of Chuck Liddell on his best day will even have a chance against the former Pride star.

Whether Couture's main motivation for coming back was the money, the competative fire, the potential to be champion, or becuase he thought Rocky Balboa was cool is up for debate. Whether Couture could become Heavyweight Champion is not so much a mystery, as it is an inevitabilty.

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