MMA Roots: Wanderlei Silva vs. Randy Couture

Some matches enter the imaginations of fans as dream superfights. Wanderlei Silva-Randy Couture was without a doubt one of them. It never materialized due to the whims of fate, but for a time, they were the greatest light heavyweights in the world. Silva was the king of Pride Fighting Championships, while Couture reigned with the rival Ultimate Fighting Championship.

UFC President Dana White, along with Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, agreed to loan a UFC fighter to Pride for its 2003 middleweight grand prix. However, because Couture had just won the interim UFC light heavyweight title and was set to face reigning champion Tito Ortiz in a blockbuster unification bout, Chuck Liddell was sent to Japan instead of “The Natural.” He started off the tournament on the right foot when he knocked out Alistair Overeem in a little more than three minutes but wound up being eliminated by Quinton Jackson in the semifinals. Silva went on to stop “Rampage” with a series of knees in the grand prix final.

White staged a promotional stunt involving Silva and Couture in 2004. Silva appeared with his Pride belt at UFC 49 and entered the cage to congratulate Couture, who had beaten Vitor Belfort in their rematch to reclaim the UFC light heavyweight title. The two best light heavyweights in the world stood side by side, but progress stalled. White only managed to move forward with his desire for UFC-Pride fights after the UFC’s parent company purchased the Japanese organization in 2007. Yet White’s dream of seeing Silva and Couture face one another inside the Octagon never came true.

After losing to Liddell at UFC 57, Couture decided to move back to heavyweight and proceeded to upset Tim Sylvia for the title at UFC 68. Meanwhile, Silva soldiered on at 205 pounds and made his return to the promotion to collide with Liddell at UFC 79. Interestingly enough, Silva had chosen to leave Chute Boxe and relocate to Las Vegas in October 2007, mere months before he was to face Liddell; and at Couture’s invitation, he undertook his training camp at Xtreme Couture. Arriving there without speaking much English, Silva linked up with Ronaldo Souza and Robert Drysdale, who assisted him with his assimilation.

I was in Las Vegas a few weeks before the fight to follow Silva’s adjustment to moving to American and was fortunate enough to see one of the sparring sessions between “The Axe Murderer” and Couture—sessions many fans would have paid a pretty penny to see. They engaged in three three-minute rounds of boxing with takedowns. Couture took down the Brazilian twice. Silva responded by accelerating the pace, landing a cross and securing a takedown of his own. They continued to respectfully engage one another until the end, at which point they hugged and switched partners. Silva was paired with Forrest Griffin, who had submitted the Brazilian’s longtime Chute Boxe stablemate Mauricio Rua a month earlier. Their sparring session was not so friendly. Silva flipped “The Axe Murderer” switch and briefly turned training into a real fight, complete with knockdowns and black eyes. Two weeks later, Silva lost to Liddell in one of the UFC’s most memorable fights. Griffin went on to capture the UFC light heavyweight championship with a stunning victory over Jackson at UFC 86.

Silva opened his own gym in Las Vegas in 2008 and continued to operate for another 10 years before retiring at the age of 42. Couture lost the heavyweight championship to Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 and later retired at the age of 47 in 2011. Silva and Couture were both enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame, but their dream superfight will be forever relegated to the imagination of fans.