15 Rounds has an interesting interview with legitimate legend Randy Couture–a lot is about his role in the forthcoming David Mamet film “Red Belt” but there are some other quotes of note. “The Natural” doesn’t see himself fighting for the UFC again:

I don’t think anything is going to get worked out with the UFC as far as me fighting for them again. More than likely, the courts are going to rule that the contract ends in July. I have a right to work in my profession so I would assume that the courts will uphold that, and I’ll be free from the UFC by July and then hopefully, I’ll be able to pursue the Fedor (Emelianenko) fight and see that happen somewhere in August or early fall.

He also intimates that he’s going to hang it up after he fights Fedor. He did mention that he’s talked to Fedor’s people (eg: the “crazy Russians” in Dana White-speak) and that there may be *two* fights–one here in the US of A in a cage and one in Japan in a ring.

‘To be the man you’ve got to beat the man’

That’s really the fight for me at this stage. I’m 44 and looking at the end of my career. I want to fight the best guy in the world and be considered the best guy as well. That fight is the only way that will happen. It doesn’t make sense – the UFC is criticizing me for not fighting (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira, and I have a lot of respect for Nogueira. I think he’s a great fighter, but he’s been beat by Fedor twice. That fight doesn’t make sense for me right now. If I have more fights left in me after Fedor, maybe I’ll fight Nogueira then, but right now, it just doesn’t make sense.

He talks about Dana White making derogatory comments about him not fighting Nogueira. FWIW, I–along with most of the other MMA sharpies I know–consider Couture to be the legitimate ‘UFC champion’. With all due respect to Nog, and to paraphrase Ric Flair “to be the man you’ve got to beat the man”. As far as legitimate “undisputed” heavyweight champion I’d consider the winner of Fedor/Couture to be just that–you know MMA is a strange business when neither guy has a belt at the moment. He also addresses the current pay structure in MMA:

I’m not surprised by that. He (White) starts making other derogatory comments, and that’s a little surprising that he would need to go there. He wants me to fight for him and make his organization money. At this stage of things, I’d like to see the way fighters get paid change. Fighters are the ones that are putting it on the line. The UFC has done a lot of great things for our sport, but we’re at a point now where the biggest fights need to happen regardless of the organization the fighter is tied up with, and the fighters need to be paid. Why should (Floyd) Mayweather or Oscar De La Hoya make $20 to $40 million dollars for one fight? And mixed martial artists are doing so much in the mainstream in a professional sport and not be compensated in the same way. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

He speaks highly of Brock Lesnar as an athlete (of course how can you not?) and of his potential in MMA. He also channels our own Malakai the Big Samoan in criticizing the UFC’s choice of Frank Mir for his first opponent:

I think he’s got great potential. He was a great collegiate wrestler. Pro wrestling is still very physical. He’s a great athlete. I think the Mir fight was a silly choice, especially for a wrestler, style wise. Put Lesnar in there with a good striker – somebody that he can use his strengths against – and I think Lesnar would have been successful. The one athlete you have to watch for as a wrestler is a world-class submission guy, and that’s who they put him in with – a world-class submission guy. I wasn’t surprised by the outcome, but I don’t think Lesnar will be discouraged. He’ll be back and he’ll be a force.

Q: How do you feel about Lesnar getting such a big contract without having an established name in MMA?

RC: I mean again – the UFC is about selling pay-per-views and putting butts in the seats as they should be, but that’s why I question why they would put him in with Mir and not protect that investment a little bit. I don’t think the UFC thought Frank has a lot of heart left. Some of his performances the past few years have been lackluster, but if you looked at his last fight, he showed that he is getting himself back on track to become the top fighter again.

Good interview and well worth reading:

Randy Couture Q & A @ 15 Rounds