Sherdog’s Top 10: MMA’s Greatest Overachievers

7. Randy Couture

One of MMA's greatest legends comes in this list at seventh, and I had him considerably higher, at third. Couture certainly came to MMA in 1997 with some impressive skills. He had been a decorated Greco-Roman and folkstyle wrestler, and had boxed for a few weeks in the Army, which seems meager now but gave him a striking edge over other grapplers. However, he also turned 34 in 1997. It would be one thing if Couture had some success in the late 90s and then faded or retired as MMA evolved and his age creeped up on him but of course, that's not what happened. Couture constantly reinvented himself, becoming a two-time UFC light heavyweight champion and then coming out of retirement to win the heavyweight crown for an unprecedented third time at 43 years old. Through all those years, Couture was constantly sharpening his skills. He developed powerful ground-and-pound as well as the best dirty boxing of his era to make the most of his wrestling, as well as developing bullet-proof submission defense, never losing in that manner after 2001. He developed submission skills of his own, as demonstrated against outstanding wrestlers around his own age, tapping Mike Van Arsdale via anaconda choke and Mark Coleman via rear-naked choke. Lastly, he improved his striking considerably, to the point where he was even winning exchanges on the feet against Chuck Liddell. However, his greatest gifts were his mind and desire. In an era where few fighters were training smart or hard, Couture did both, and came up with brilliant gameplans for matches in which he had no business even being competitive.

The list of occasions when Couture beat vastly younger, stronger, faster, far more gifted opponents is incredibly long. It all started at UFC 15 when he defeated the seemingly unbeatable young Vitor Belfort via ground-and-pound. I wrote an entire article about how he defeated Kevin Randleman at UFC 28, and his rematch win over Pedro Rizzo, victory in the rubber match against Belfort, his first fight against Liddell and his domination of Tito Ortiz all loom large as fights he had no earthly business winning. However, nothing could surpass his victory at 43 over Tim Sylvia, who at 6-foot-8 and walking around at 280-plus pounds dwarfed the 6-foot-1, 222-pound Couture. To truly understand the magnitude of Couture's achievement, we can observe other aging wrestlers from his era. Van Arsdale, mentioned above, is an example of what one could have accomplished with Couture's natural abilities without his keen mind, fighting spirit and constant desire to improve. Yet none of those wrestlers, even those who started MMA much younger and were far more decorated, have come close to Couture's amazing career.

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