MMAVu

The word out of Randy Couture’s camp is that he has accepted a bout with former intermin Heavyweight Champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in August, at UFC 101.The UFC had attempted to set this match up a few months earlier at UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany, but that fell through due to Couture’s participation in Sylvester Stallone’s new movie, The Expendables. Couture was actually stationed in Germany for about four years and speaks fairly fluent German, so he would have been a natural guy to market.

Now we await Nogueira’s camp. It’s hard to imagine that Nogueira would turn the fight down, with Couture being one of the biggest names in MMA and the two have much mutual respect for eachother.

I also bet both guys are chomping at the bit to get back at it, after their respective sub-standard showings in their last fights.

Couture suffered a TKO loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 91, dropping his Heavyweight title in the process; Nogueira looked 42 instead of 32, also losing by TKO to Frank Mir at UFC 92.

A heavyweight tilt is on tap for UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany on June 13, as top prospect Cain Velasquez takes on the grizzled vet, Heath Herring.

Seems to me like they’re grooming Velasquez for bigger and better things, as Herring is pretty much a gate keeper into the top of the division. The UFC tried to build up Herring, but he has consistently come up short against the top dogs, with a 2-3 record inside the UFC. Wrestlers also appear to be his kryptonite, as he couldn’t stuff a take down if his ever lovin’ life depended on it.

Enter Velasquez, a mountain of muscle who happens to be an NCAA wrestler, who has learned to strike very, very effectively. Should his stand-up not do the trick against Herring, his wrestling certainly will. Herring’s five fights have all gone to decision, but barring a lucky punch, this one is ending before then, in favor of Velasquez.