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Mega-fights are often years in the making. Fans will clamour with a gradually rising intensity and the media will lobby for a certain match-up to be made until the two fighters are standing across from each other, ready to do battle.
Sometimes, however, the opposite is true, no one has considered a possible high profile match-up, but when it surprisingly happens it surpasses all expectations and a riveting rivalry is born.
Such was the case between Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture and Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell.
The build-up
Tito Ortiz had been the long term UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion, but when he refused to fight his former friend and long time number one contender Chuck Liddell the UFC decided to create an Interim Title between Chuck and another opponent.
Tito would fight the winner or be stripped of his belt. It all sounded great but there was one problem, who would they shoehorn in to face The Iceman? There was no viable opponent in the division, both Tito and Chuck had run through almost everyone at 205 pounds, the UFC needed someone with name recognition which would sell a match and make Liddell work for his presumed victory.
Enter Randy Couture.
Randy was a former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion and two-time Olympic alternate wrestler, he had a solid following with the hardcore fan-base and a large enough profile to cover one half of a main event.
The match-up had not really been considered due to Randy’s permanence in the heavyweight division and the fact that he had been stopped in his last two title fights against Josh Barnett and Rico Rodreguez, how much more did he have left in the tank?
In the run up to the contest, few were giving Randy much of a chance, he was in his 40s and this was his last hurrah. It was clear who the UFC establishment expected to win as company mouthpiece and commentator Mike Goldberg confidently expected The Natural to fall victim to Liddell’s brutally powerful strikes.
The fight
From the beginning it was apparent that Couture was unexpectedly comfortable standing with Liddell, and began landing straight punches which neutralised the Iceman’s trademark looping hooks.
Commentator Joe Rogan picked up on this straight away, mentioning how comfortable Randy looked “in the pocket”, a range where both fighters can strike the other. This confidence in standing led to a big double-leg takedown by Couture and though Liddell regained his feet soon after it was clear it was not going to be an easy night for the pre-fight favourite.
Round 2 followed a similar pattern to the first with Randy landing strikes from standing setting up takedowns before Chuck re-set to a standing position. It was becoming apparently, however, that consistently being taken down and forcing the fight back to a standing position was beginning to fatigue Liddell as Couture continued to grind down his younger opponent.
This strategy paid dividends in Round 3 as Randy hit another takedown and for the first time achieved full mount. Strikes from top position followed as a gassed Liddell struggled to deal with the onslaught, forcing referee John McCarthy to step in at 2:39 of Round 3.
Randy Couture had just won the Interim Light-Heavyweight Title and become the first man to win UFC Titles in two weight divisions.
The aftermath
Both fighters would move forward from this fight and through their eventual trilogy of contests become pivotal figures in the sport of MMA in years to come. Couture would defeat Tito Ortiz in the unification bout and go on to regain the Heavyweight crown a number of years later, becoming one of the enduring figures of the UFC, eventually retiring aged 49.
Liddell would also learn from this fight and defeat Randy in a further two rematches and in doing so become one of the first true mainstream stars the UFC had created.
The intense yet respectful rivalry these two men shared was one of the catalysts which allowed MMA to firmly take root in the USA. To this day most younger people will be aware of Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, and it all started in that first pivotal fight at UFC43.
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