Randy Couture WILL go down to Lightheavyweight

Nothing was ever reported, nor has there been any mention of it but I'm playing a bit of fortune teller and I will predict that Randy Couture will be dropping down to the lightheavyweight division. At least as long as Brock Lesnar is the heavyweight champion he will.

It's the only thing that makes sense for Couture since his days are numbered. If Lesnar loses Couture could easily get back into the heavyweight mix but considering the champion fights only 2 or 3 times a year Couture's heavyweight days are numbered. 45 is a great age for a mid life crisis, not a mixed martial artist. Couture has to fight and fight now, which is why the lightheavyweight division makes the most sense.

There are a ton of intriguing matchups since Chuck Liddell is no longer the gatekeeper with Couture's number. Hell, maybe they should fight for a 4th time in a battle of the geriatrics. Given that Forrest Griffin is the champ and is fighting Rashad Evans, throwing Randy Couture in the mix of those guys would show just where the 'TUFers' really stand. You can't say Griffin or Evans aren't elite fighters given one is the champ, and one is fighting the champ, but we've seen these guys from their beginning or since the UFC became mainstream.

Are the old guys ready to pass the torch or is the lightheavyweight division lacking a legend such as Randy Couture. It may be tough for a 45 year old to suck down 20 pounds given his slower metabolism or he might not be able to rehydrate and maintain his stamina for the fight but he would be extremely competitive in the division. So competitive that if his skills don't diminish too greatly over the next year, he could contend for the title.

If Couture drops to lightheavyweight, it instantly thrusts that division as the most competetive, next to the lightweight division. With Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson, 'Rampage' Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell as the supporting cast of the crop of new guys, this division could put on some of the best matchups we've seen in a division.

That all changes if Frank Mir or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira beat Lesnar in the next fight. Or if Couture doesn't want to drop down in weight. I seriously doubt he'll be reading this website considering only about 9 people across America drop in here but if he did, this would convince him to drop down to lightheavyweight. Then again, if he did read this website he would wanna kick my ass considering I've been bashing him for the last 9 months about his 'Superfight' with Fedor. Simply because Fedor would walk through him.

What do you guys think about this option for Couture?

Reality Check: Size DOESN'T Matter

UFC 91 certainly proved that size doesn't mean anything when it comes to MMA. It's a bit contradicting that I just ranted about how size matters but if you saw how easily Kenny Florian dismantled Joe 'Daddy' Stevenson, you would be saying the same thing. Even though they weight the same, or probably not by fight time, there's a huge difference in body type between the two.

Joe Daddy looks like a guy who's been in the gym, has packed some muscle on his frame in thickness and width, and looks like a dude who could scrap. Kenny Florian looks like he's never even touched a weight in his life and resembles someone more suited for the chess club.

Well throw all that out the window because Kenny Florian is one of the baddest men in the UFC. You can't tell me that Florian is stronger than Stevenson yet when the two tied up, it was Florian who threw Joe Daddy down and worked a vicious ground game that would make any jiu jitsu practitioner proud. Within minutes Florian was tapping out Stevenson with a rear naked choke in his most dominating victory of his career.

Joe Stevenson is not a pushover. He's an all world fighter and will beat 95% of the lightweight division. He just happened to match up against a better fighter who might be the only threat in the lightweight division to give BJ Penn a run for his money. I can't imaging Florian beating Penn but nothing Kenny Florian does will surprise me anymore. The way he's been fighting it just proves that SIZE DOESN'T MATTER.

Reality Check: Size DOES Matter

Did UFC 91 really tell us who the better fighter is between Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture? I'm not quite sure if it did. As a matter of fact, I think the fact that Lesnar is already the UFC heavyweight champion in only his 4th professional fight definitely tarnishes the belt not just a bit, but a lot.

If Lesnar and Couture fought 10 times, Lesnar would easily win 7 of them, have a tough time in 2 of them, and possibly lose one of them on a fluke. The guy really is just too damn big.

The main reason it tarnishes the belt simply is that Brock Lesnar is no where near the fighter that Randy Couture is. Yet he now holds a belt that was once the most coveted in MMA. Don't get me wrong, Lesnar is a freak of nature who is a superior athlete as well. That doesn't mean he's the best mixed martial artist in the world in only 4 fights. It puts a big black eye on the integrity of the UFC heavyweight championship belt.

Lesnar has major holes in his game, and he's extremely green in this sport yet he's already the champ??? The problem is he's too big for anyone to expose the holes in his game and that's what puts a damper on his winning the title. He cuts down to 265 lbs to make weight and then shows up to fight at about 285 lbs. Who knows when he's gonna lose since the champions only fight about 2 or 3 times a year. There's no one in the heavyweight division that can actually match the strength of Lesnar so regardless of their fighting capability, they may just get bulled around the cage until he wears them out. The only way someone will knock out Lesnar is gonna be by a miracle. I'm not saying it won't happen but it won't happen easily, or by anyone currently in the UFC. Randy Couture said in his post fight interview that Fedor would tear up Lesnar. What does that say about that superfight between Couture and Fedor then? That fight will probably never happen after what has transpired. If it does, there will be absolutely no shred of hype left and it should be on public television.

I'm still shocked that the UFC would give a newcomer a shot at the title so quickly which is why the belt is tarnished. But it just goes to prove, SIZE DOES MATTER.

The Real UFC 91 Re-cap

Massive heavyweight Brock Lesnar (3-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) defied the odds and earned one title while dropping another.

With a stunning second-round TKO of the legendary Randy Couture (16-9 MMA, 13-6 UFC) Lesnar can finally put to rest the moniker of WWE-import in lieu of UFC heavyweight champion.

Lesnar looked patient throughout the round-and-a-half it took to dispatch of the 45-year-old Couture. "The Natural" controlled Lesnar in stretches by forcing his adversary against the cage. But the former collegiate wrestling champion used a heavy right hand to crumple Couture to the mat.

Once the former champion had fallen, Lesnar followed with a barrage of punches. Referee Mario Yamasaki gave Couture all the respect one could ask for, and the crowd favorite was given plenty of time to recover. The offense did not cease, and Yamasaki was forced to halt the contest at 3:07 of the second round.

Following the bout, the always-outspoken Lesnar told announcer Joe Rogan he liked the sound of his new title.

"It sounds good," Lesnar said. "I can't believe it. I want to thank (UFC President) Dana White, the UFC, and I want to thank this guy, Randy Couture.

"It takes a lot of balls to take a year off and come back and fight a young buck like me."

Lesnar also addressed the personality traits that have made the former professional wrestler a heel in most MMA fans' minds.

"I just believe in hard work and that it pays off," Lesnar said. "I may come across as a cocky SOB, but I'm just confident."

Gracious in defeat, Couture admitted the massive difference in size proved too difficult to overcome.

"There was some big ass ham hocks coming at you," Couture said of Lesnar's oversized hands. "It's hard to get out of the way of those."

"That's just a big son of a bitch, that's all there is to it."

When pressed regarding his immediate future, the 11-year veteran said time will tell.

"We'll let things settle out and figure out what we want to do," Couture said. "I still feel like I'm getting better as a fighter. We'll see what happens."

Meanwhile, Kenny Florian earned his second shot at the UFC's lightweight title. Again.

Three months since a unanimous-decision victory over Roger Huerta in a bout to crown a No. 1 challenger for B.J. Penn's lightweight belt, Florian again had to prove his top contender's status. And Florian (11-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) did it in swift and convincing fashion with a first-round submission victory over Joe Stevenson (29-9 MMA, 6-3 UFC).

The fight, which served as UFC 91's co-main event, remained relatively close through the first half of the first round. However, once Florian scored a late-round takedown, he easily transitioned into full mount, took his opponent's back when Stevenson rolled over, and sunk in the fight-ending rear-naked choke during "Joe Daddy's" last-ditch effort to escape.

The tap-out came at the 4:03 mark.

Florian, who's now six consecutive fights since an October 2006 loss to Sean Sherk for the vacant title, remained polite in the pre-event build-up. But he made a bold statement once the fight was over and clearly stated his intentions to challenge for Penn's title.

"I want B.J.'s belt," Florian said. "I consider you the master. I want to kill that master."

Penn, though, will first move up a weight class to fight Georges St. Pierre for his welterweight belt on Jan. 31. The duo kicked off a press tour today in Las Vegas to promote the fight. They next head to Toronto and wrap up the tour later this week in Hawaii.

In an intriguing welterweight bout that was promoted to the televised main card last week, Dustin Hazelett did nothing to hurt his goal of setting a career UFC record for Submission of the Night bonuses.

Two months after he was awarded his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, and five months after he won first career Submission of the Night bonus (and Fight of the Night bonus -- in the same night), Hazelett (12-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) defeated fellow prospect Tamdan McCrory (9-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) with a slick arm-bar submission at 3:59 of the first round.

The fight resembled a Muay Thai contest early on (aided by Hazelett's recent work with training partner and striking stand-out Dorian Price), but after forcing the fight to the mat, Hazelett secured McCrory's right arm. For the next minute, he methodically and masterfully went to work looking for a way to force the submission. Although an omoplata at first appeared possible, Hazelett ultimately settled for an arm-bar submission -- one that had McCrory in obviously agonizing pain.

Prior to UFC 91, Hazelett had never appeared on a televised UFC card. The opportunity arose only after "The Ultimate Fighter 7" winner Amir Sadollah was forced out of his bout with Nick Catone due to a leg infection.

Hazelett has now won five of his past six fights -- all in the UFC and all but one via submission. In fact, he's posted nine submission victories with his 12 career wins.

At just 22 years old, Hazelett's undoubtedly become one of the welterweight division's most promising prospects.

Gabriel Gonzaga (10-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) wants another title shot, and though the title picture is tied up until at least mid-2009 with the current four-man heavyweight championship tournament, Saturday's victory over Josh Hendricks (15-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) will keep "Napao" near the top of the contenders list.

Gonzaga dropped Hendricks with an early right and followed with a few punches for good measure. Referee Steve Mazzagatti stepped in to halt the bout and awarded Gonzaga the victory just 61 seconds into the first round.

Gonzaga has now earned back-to-back victories since an August 2007 title loss to Randy Couture and a subsequent TKO defeat to Fabricio Werdum six months later.

"I want a title shot, and next time I'm going to get the belt," Gonzaga said.

The loss snapped an 11-fight undefeated streak Hendricks put together over the past three years.

In the night's first televised bout, Demian Maia (9-0 MMA 4-0 UFC) made suprisingly quick work of veteran middleweight Nate Quarry (10-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and forced a tap-out via rear-naked choke at 2:13 of the first round.

After a slick transition to take his opponent's back, Maia locked in a body triangle and soon secured the fight-ending choke.

The victory, which was the undefeated Maia's fourth in the UFC, obviously forces the fighter into the middleweight division's title picture. But Maia's not sure if a fight with current champ Anderson Silva is a lock.

"It's up to Dana White and (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva," Maia said. "There are many tough guys (in the division)."

In the meantime, Maia may have other plans. With the UFC searching for a coach to oppose Michael Bisping on the upcoming eighth season of "The Ultimate Fighter," candidates Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson don't seem especially interested in the position.

But is Maia?

"Maybe Michael Bisping is a good fight for me," he said.

The coaches typically meet in a post-show fight. Could a Bisping vs. Maia fight crown a top contender?

PRELIMINARY CARD

In a lightweight fight that won over the live crowd, Aaron Riley (27-10-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) dropped the first round to Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Jorge Gurgel but won the next two for a close but unanimous decision victory. All three judges scored the fight 29-28 for Riley, who returned to the UFC for the first time since January 2006. Sticking with recent tradition, Gurgel opted to keep the fight standing. Riley, though, couldn't truly capitalize until the final round -- the only round either fighter decidedly won.

UFC newcomer Rafael dos Anjos continually took the hard-hitting and energetic Jeremy Stephens to the ground and out of his comfort zone through two rounds of action, but "Lil' Heathen" exacted his revenge in the third. Connecting on one of the most brutal uppercuts in recent history, Stephens (14-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) followed dos Anjos (11-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) to the mat and delivered a barrage of punches before Mazzagatti could halt the bout. It was the 11th knockout victory in 13 career wins for Stephens.

Persistence paid off for Mark Bocek (6-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC), who transitioned from submission attempt to submission attempt during his lightweight bout with Alvin Robinson (9-4 MMA, 1-3 UFC). In what was his most impressive UFC performance to date, Bocek eventually forced the tap-out via rear-naked choke at 3:16 of the third round.

Ryan Thomas (9-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) controlled the first round with takedowns and ground and pound, but late replacement Matt Brown (7-6 MMA, 2-1 UFC) secured an early arm-bar submission in the second and forced the tap-out just 57 seconds into the round. Brown, who replaced an injured Matt Riddle on just two weeks' notice, is now 2-1 since appearing on "The Ultimate Fighter 7." The lone loss came to undefeated Dong Hyun Kim via close split decision.

UFC 91 Re-cap

I told you so. Just kidding but I did tell you so. I'll be providing an actual re-cap a bit later. Check back this evening.