Ron Merrill and Tony Caiazzo
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Ron Merrill and Tony Caiazzo recently interviewed new undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion Randy Couture following his dominating victory over the former reluctant UFC Light Heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz. Here's what Randy Couture had to say:

Ron Merrill: So you're going hunting. I wouldn't think that would be the first thing on the mind of the UFC light heavyweight champion. What brought about that decision?

Randy Couture: Oh, I've been a hunter since I was a small boy. I hunted with my dad growing up. I had to take some time off from hunting when I was running around the country and living in Germany with the service and going through college. But when I moved back to Oregon it was one of the first things I picked back up.

Ron Merrill: Did this fight [with Tito Ortiz] go just how you planned for it to go?

Randy Couture: Yeah, it did. My game plan was to go in and establish a good top dominant position and take him down. No one else had taken him down in any of his fights so I felt like that might be an area that I could exploit him. I told him that several times in pre-fight interviews and he of course said, "this ain't no wrestling match" and "I'm gonna knock you out" and he planned on standing up with me which I thought was hype. He came right out and tried to shoot and take me down so I was prepared for that.

Tony Caiazzo: What was your main concern when you were preparing for Tito? What was the biggest thing that you were focusing on while preparing for that fight?

Randy Couture: Well, I studied him and I thought that his strength came from his ability to take guys down and put them against the fence so that's the biggest thing that we worked on, especially after losing to Josh [Barnett] and Ricco [Rodriguez] basically from the bottom position. I'm sure that he was looking at that and feeling like maybe that was a weakness for me. So I spent a lot of time scrambling and working from the bottom with partner after partner after partner on top of me and in different positions, finding ways to get out and get back up.

Tony Caiazzo: Right. And obviously it worked for you because he wasn't able to get you down.

Randy Couture: Right. The best defense is a good offense. If I can beat him to the punch and set him up and take him down then he wouldn't have that opportunity to begin with. We worked on the possibility that I would get taken down and then I'd have to deal with it.

Ron Merrill: Now you told me in my interview with you prior to this bout that you were going to try to put Tito on his back. When you finally succeeded at that, how did it feel to you?

Randy Couture: It felt good. It felt like that was the way I was gonna win this fight and so I felt all along during the fight each round that it was my goal to go out and set him up, engage as much as I needed to bait him, measure him and find a way to take him down. For the game plan to go well, it always feels good. Coming off the Chuck Liddell fight where the game plan went off spectacularly it felt good to do that again, to have my game plan work and be successful. I was surprised actually that he didn't have more of an answer for that part of the game, that he didn't scramble better or try to get up and wasn't more effective from the bottom.

Ron Merrill: How do you feel about Tito's post-fight comments that he was gassed after the second round and really didn't have much of an answer for you?

Randy Couture: Um? I don't know. He's gonna say what he's gonna say, just like the pre-fight interview - you don't really think much about that. He's got to rationalize his reasons why he ended up where he ended up.

Ron Merrill: Now we saw a little smack-talk from you on your Best Damn Sports Show Period appearance. That's really uncharacteristic for you. Why did you feel the need to go that route?

Randy Couture: Kind of a little pressure to kind of step up, to develop some heat between us and to engage basically... rather than my usual approach of smile and kind of let that stuff roll off. I had a pretty strong opinion about the interim title and why I was there so I didn't figure that I'd have a problem expressing that opinion and expressing it strongly if I needed to. So I stuck to that and expressed my opinion about why we were there and refuted Tito's opinion that the title was a joke or that I was a paper champion. Basically he created the whole situation so that's kind of the way it ended up going.

Ron Merrill: Talk about the spanking in the final 30 seconds of that fight.

Randy Couture: Yeah, we ended up in a little scramble and he tried to roll to my leg and apply an ankle lock and he ended up getting trapped against the fence and was in a kind of a weird position where we were kind of head to foot and I was standing and sitting on the back of his thighs. He was basically stuck there and really the only thing that I could see was his butt. [laughter] So really I don't know why but I just started smacking him on the butt and that's how the fight kind of finished out.

Ron Merrill: Were you ever worried about that being misconstrued by the referee as a tap out?

Randy Couture: No. That never entered my mind. Later a few people said, "oh, I thought you were tapping out and then I realized you were spanking him." There's a big difference between spanking or patting somebody on the butt and tapping out. It's a completely different thing so I was never worried about that.

Ron Merrill: But there's no doubt that you two respect each other, correct?

Randy Couture: There's no question about that. We've made that clear on several occasions. A lot of the hype and a lot of the stuff with the fight was just that. I do respect his ability. He's been a long-standing champion in the light heavyweight division and he brings a lot of attention to our sport and that's good for all of us. I haven't always agreed with his antics or some of the things that he says or does but he's his own man and does his own thing.

Ron Merrill: So what do you think is next for you?

Randy Couture: I'm not really sure. They're not really sure what they're going to do in the weight class yet. Obviously Chuck and Tito are still top contenders in the weight class... Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort. You know, Rich is doing a good job of working his way up. Vitor Belfort is out there clamoring for a rematch. I would expect, at least from my perspective and you never know what's going to happen, but I would think that Vitor and Rich would fight to see who is considered the number one contender. Chuck is engaged with the Pride Grand Prix right now and certainly when he wins the Grand Prix that will put him in a position to get a rematch with me having secured the Pride Grand Prix title. That will make it a very big and interesting fight. As far as Tito's concerned, I know he's pushing real hard for a rematch but I don't think that's going to happen until he steps up and fights Chuck.

Ron Merrill: Was there a rematch clause in Tito's contract in the event...

Randy Couture: I have no idea what the contract looked like. I don't really know.

Tony Caiazzo: Between Tito and Chuck, who was the tougher opponent?

Randy Couture: Well, the Chuck Liddell fight went so well because I came out and did exactly what he didn't expect me to do. He never got into the groove of that fight and consequentially I was able to finish that fight in the third round. The Tito fight was a lot different in that I was able to establish a top position and held him down for basically 99% of that fight. I think that as I analyze the two fighters I still think that Chuck would win a fight between the two for the simple reason that even if Tito does secure the takedown and put Chuck on the mat, Chuck was really, really hard to hold down. And if he's able to eliminate Tito's strength, which is his ability to stay on top and use his forearms and punch from the top position then Tito's stuck punching it out with Chuck. Chuck is, in my opinion, a much better striker. That's kind of the way I see that fight going but in the fight game anything can happen.

Tony Caiazzo: A question that I'm sure a lot of people have asked you lately is how much longer do you see yourself doing this?

Randy Couture: I'm 40 years old so that's a natural question. I plan on taking it one fight at a time. I'm still progressing and getting better as a fighter. I'm still able to train and compete at a very high level and as long as that continues and I'm happy with my performance, win or lose, I'll still continue to compete.

Tony Caiazzo: I heard some talk during the broadcast about the Eco Challenge. What is that?

Randy Couture: The Eco Challenge is from Mark Burnett who does Survivor. He started out doing Eco Challenge. It's an adventure race. Basically it's a 300-mile race over a 10-day period. You've gotta do all kinds of disciplines - kayaking, hiking, rope climbing and descending. All kinds of other stuff like mountain biking and so forth. It's an annual event that is shown on The Discovery Channel and USA networks usually. And we put together a team a year ago and were lucky enough to be accepted. Thousands of people entered but only 70 or 75 teams are selected and we were selected. I was supposed to leave 6 days after the Ricco Rodriguez fight and unfortunately for me I had the eye fracture and couldn't go. I did all the training, all the fund-raising, all the hard stuff then I didn't get to go and participate in the event. [laughs] That sucks.

Tony Caizzo: Do you feel that there's anything left to prove in the sport? I mean, your victory list is pretty much a 'who's who', you know?

Randy Couture: I think that I never really had anything to prove before and didn't set out to prove anything. It's really about the competition for me. I enjoy the opportunity to test myself and see what I've learned and what I'm capable of each and every time I go out there. I've been fortunate to win a lot more than I lose and I think that I could have retired four fights ago and been well-thought of in the sport. Certainly that's a much different situation now but it doesn't really matter because that's not why I fight.

Ron Merrill: Randy, actually I have the closure question for you and it's very short and sweet. Very, very important actually. More important than any other question that either of us has asked you tonight. You live in the Pacific Northwest. Bigfoot: true or false? [everyone laughs]

Randy Couture: Oh man! I think it's within the realm of possibility but with the kind of technology that we have right now, I find it hard to believe that something like that exists and we haven't found it.

Ron Merrill: Good enough for me. [laughs] Well Randy, hopefully when you're out hunting deer in the forthcoming days, you'll see that Bigfoot.

Randy Couture: [laughs] Yeah, I'll shoot him for you and bring him back.

Ron Merrill: Well on behalf of InsideFighting, thank you once again for taking the time to do this interview with us.

Randy Couture: Thanks guys.

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