PORTLAND, OR, AUGUST 30 – Couture vs Nogueira video: History in the making. It wasn’t in Manila, but Saturday night at the Rose Garden Arena, mixed martial arts had its “Thrilla”, as veteran heavyweight legends Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture turned back the clock like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier did in 1975, reminding fight fans just what greatness is in a three round war won by Nogueira in the main event of UFC 102.
“It was beautiful to fight him,” said Nogueira, the only man in history to hold the UFC and PRIDE heavyweight titles. “He’s a true champion and he’s one of my idols. It was a beautiful show today.”
“I’m disappointed about losing, but you gotta love this sport,” said Couture, a three time heavyweight and two-time light heavyweight champion.
Both Nogueira and Couture were coming off losses - the 33-year old Nogueira to Frank Mir last December, and the 46-year old Couture to Brock Lesnar – leading many to wonder whether the two had hit the end of the line in their storied careers. But as the old fight game adage goes, the great ones always have one great fight left in them.
And that’s what we saw tonight, as Nogueira outpointed Couture by three scores of 30-27 in a fight that was much more competitive and drama-filled than those numbers would indicate.
The bout began with a spirited standup exchange, and the pace remained high in the early going, with Couture beating Nogueira to the punch. Nogueira remained patient though and soon hit paydirt, dropping Couture with a hard right hand. Nogueira then almost finished things with a choke while on the mat, but Couture gamely fought his way free and the two rose and exchanged punches, with Couture cutting Nogueira over the left eye. As the round entered its final two minutes, the two heavyweights traded blow after blow as the crowd rose to its feet, and one of the best rounds of the year ended with a stalemate along the fence and Couture going back to his corner with a mouse under his eye and Nogueira needing work on the cut over his eye
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