I figured I’d start a new thread for this. Discuss.
I think it should be a really, really interesting matchup. Both have their strengths primarily in their ground games. Gonzaga is much bigger, so one would think that would give him an advantage on the ground, but Randy is very, very experienced, and the size difference didn’t hurt him at all against Sylvia, though Sylvia’s ground game is probably crap compared to Gonzaga’s.
Randy was boxing like a pro against Sylvia, mitigating his reach disadvantage completely, but Gonzaga looks to be much, much faster with his hands (and feet) than Tim.
I’m sure Randy is gaming it out carefully, though, and will come prepared. I really don’t know who to put money on, however.
How could you say Randy is smaller? They are the same height and when Randy was in the ring with him after the fight Randy is the one who looked much bigger; in fact everyone in my house said how big Randy looked. Couture is the master, too much experence and I think he’s more focused then ever.
[quote]powerhouse reno wrote:
How could you say Randy is smaller? They are the same height and when Randy was in the ring with him after the fight Randy is the one who looked much bigger; in fact everyone in my house said how big Randy looked. Couture is the master, too much experence and I think he’s more focused then ever.
George
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Randy must be pushing 240-250.
I don’t know who’s cheerleader to be, I always liked Randy and I am a new Gonzaga fanboy.
[quote]powerhouse reno wrote:
How could you say Randy is smaller? They are the same height and when Randy was in the ring with him after the fight Randy is the one who looked much bigger; in fact everyone in my house said how big Randy looked. Couture is the master, too much experence and I think he’s more focused then ever.
George
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He must be doing his Javorek’s with 135 now
Gonzaga has nasty jiu-jitsu and his standing striking is very good, too. I think Randy’s best chance is old fashioned wrestling and ground and pound, Mark Coleman style. He just has to take Gonzaga down, avoid the jiu-jitsu, and elbow his face in. And lay and pray some when his old age cardio starts failing in the 3rd round or so. He’ll have to coast to a judge’s decision after winning the first 3 rounds, I think.
Or just pull a Gonzaga and knock Gonzaga out by faking a take down or something. He pulled that off on Sylvia, so maybe it would work again.
I’m still not going to give Gonzaga my full blessing here. I still think his win over CroCop was a fluke. I think everyone will agree no matter how good Gonzaga is, anyone who watched the fight last night would call it an upset.
Randy is a hall of famer, there’ no doubt about that, but his best days are over. He beat a lazy and uninspired Tim Sylvia for the title. Here’s my line of thinking: The last two fights against Chuck, Randy didn’t have anything for him. If the two fought tomorrow, I don’t think much would change, even with the weight advantage.
I don’t know how to call this fight, but I will say whoever does win, doesn’t hold onto the belt for very long.
That’s what I think, not saying I’m right, and if I’m wrong you can all tell me I have a very small penis and what not.
Putting a moderately big guy in a well-tailored suit will make him look HUGE. Trust me; you can’t judge his true size when he’s wearing a suit
UFC’s website has Randy listed as 6’2’ and 220, and Gonzaga listed as 6’1" and 242.
[quote]powerhouse reno wrote:
How could you say Randy is smaller? They are the same height and when Randy was in the ring with him after the fight Randy is the one who looked much bigger; in fact everyone in my house said how big Randy looked. Couture is the master, too much experence and I think he’s more focused then ever.
I agree with analog kid, not to take anything away from Gonzaga. I don’t know if he’ll fade into obscurity, but I don’t think he’s gonna reign as champ over the heavyweight division. I almost look at what he did to CroCop akin to Buster Douglas ko’ing Tyson. You put a good fighters best day against a great fighters worst and you have the potential for history.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
I agree with analog kid, not to take anything away from Gonzaga. I don’t know if he’ll fade into obscurity, but I don’t think he’s gonna reign as champ over the heavyweight division. I almost look at what he did to CroCop akin to Buster Douglas ko’ing Tyson. You put a good fighters best day against a great fighters worst and you have the potential for history.[/quote]
I’m really not sure about Gonzaga. I can’t tell if it was a fluke or that he really is good and we just don’t know it yet.
He definitely came in against Cro Cop very well prepared and with a lot of belief. If he can do the same against Couture he’ll give him problems.
[quote]Mr90210 wrote:
I would favour Gonzaga in the fight as in the past Couture had always had trouble with big grapplers such as Rodriguez and Barnett.
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My thoughts as well. Very tough fight, and if Gonzaga is the fighter I think he is (but really he’s an enigma at this point) I think he is stylistially worse for Randy than Mirko would have been.
Against Mirko, Randy had the skill set to apply Fedor’s blue print to trounce Cro Cop, but a big wrestler is the type of fighter that drove Randy out of the heavyweight title picture in the first place.
I wonder if Randy would have been mentally and physically preparing for a striker. Nobody seemed to give Gonzaga a chance.
If he was preparing for Cro Cop, his training will have to change a fair bit.
I really feel that nothing is certain in the UFC now. I thought GSP would get over Serra and would have put the house on Cro Cop. For that reason, I can’t give a tip.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
My thoughts as well. Very tough fight, and if Gonzaga is the fighter I think he is (but really he’s an enigma at this point) I think he is stylistially worse for Randy than Mirko would have been.
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Randy said the same thing. He said that Mirko was much more suited to his style, and that, given a preference, he would not chose Gonzaga.
Up until he ran over Cro Cop, Gonzaga showed me very little.
The first fight I saw of him in the UFC was with an older black guy with dreads…cant remember his name. Possibly the worst fight I have ever seen in the sport(and I’ve seen thousands) up until the superman punch knockout at the end.
Im still convinced the Cro Cop thing was a fluke. Couture/Cro Cop would have been a monster fight. I dont give two shits about Gonzaga/Couture.
There are some similarities between Ricco Rodriguez and Gonzaga, which could be bad for Randy.
Speaking of Gonzaga’s terrible fight with Kevin Jordan that keeps getting brought up, you must under the circumstances. Gonzaga missed the last several weeks of his training camp because he was in the hospital with his wife who was in critical condition after their child died during birth.
Gonzaga had no intention to fight that night, but they desperately needed money to pay hospital bills so he had no choice but to literally take a cab from the hospital to the airport and right into the octagon with no training. It isn’t well publicised because Gonzaga refuses to make an excuse for his poor performance.
[quote]Damici wrote:
Putting a moderately big guy in a well-tailored suit will make him look HUGE. Trust me; you can’t judge his true size when he’s wearing a suit
UFC’s website has Randy listed as 6’2’ and 220, and Gonzaga listed as 6’1" and 242.
powerhouse reno wrote:
How could you say Randy is smaller? They are the same height and when Randy was in the ring with him after the fight Randy is the one who looked much bigger; in fact everyone in my house said how big Randy looked. Couture is the master, too much experence and I think he’s more focused then ever.
George
[/quote]
I don’t want to be a nit-picker here, but it was not just the suit. He is weighing at least, and i stress least, 240 right now. I am an avid fan of MMA, not quite an expert, but close, and I have seen Randy Couture in many different situations, articles of clothing, in-season training, off-season, etc… and that is the biggest he has ever looked, ever.
The suit aside, look at his damn head/face. It is ridiculously full and almost looked like a basketball or something. It was crazy. The second I saw him on the TV I was like “Holy Shit Randy is Huge!!!”
I started a thread on one of the MMA websites I am a member of to see if he is going to stay this weight for his fight or what and no one had any real answers. Hopefully we will find out. It would be interesting.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Speaking of Gonzaga’s terrible fight with Kevin Jordan that keeps getting brought up, you must under the circumstances. Gonzaga missed the last several weeks of his training camp because he was in the hospital with his wife who was in critical condition after their child died during birth.
Gonzaga had no intention to fight that night, but they desperately needed money to pay hospital bills so he had no choice but to literally take a cab from the hospital to the airport and right into the octagon with no training. It isn’t well publicised because Gonzaga refuses to make an excuse for his poor performance.[/quote]
