Shogun hoping to fight the legendary Randy Couture !!

So other than Wandy, who now campaigns at MW anyway, he will fight anyone. Good attitude I think, cant see how he is looking for an easy defence!

Anfields5thKing wrote:Looking for an easy defence. Shameful stuff.

?????????????????????

Dana on Twitter...

“The winner of the Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans fight will get the first shot at Shogun.”

I always thought the winner of Rampage Rashad would get the title shot, I'm sure I remember reading something about it a while back... well, at least it's confirmed now.

Im glad its working out like this, Im actually hoping for Rampage now, Id love to see Shogun put another beating on him to Avenge Wandy!!

Randy vs Lil Nog is a fight ive wanted to see since the Big Nog fight Id love that to happen. Randy should fight once more before he gets a shot and Nog seems most likely... would Forrest and Randy fight?

This has been a great month for MMA, 2 UFC's and SF in the same month!

manschesthair_utd wrote:

Anfields5thKing wrote:Looking for an easy defence. Shameful stuff.

payneNglory1 wrote:
Rua told MMAjunkie.com that he's open to a third fight Machida if need be, and he's just fine taking on Anderson Silva should "The Spider" make a run at 205 pounds. Rashad Evans? A rematch with Jackson? He's fine with it all.

"The only guy I wouldn't fight is Wanderlei Silva because he's a great friend of mine," Rua said. "Other than that, whoever the show wants me to fight, I'll fight.

"I'm a professional fighter, so I don't care."

I want Couture is the main statement he's made. He wants an easy defence before he starts facing the real contenders.

sounds like Shogun is still wanting to fight Randy.

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's manager Eduardo Alonso speaks with Tatame about the champ's next few fights. He also makes mention of Rua fighting Randy Couture some day:

"The motivation is natural as long as the challenges show up. We got great fights ahead: we can have Lyoto in the future, a revange with Forrest Griffin, a fight with Anderson Silva for the future if this is the UFC wish... We’d like Mauricio had the chance to fight the legend Randy Couture before his retirement."

Now that the Rashad and Rampage fight is over and that performance from lil Nog,that I'm sure did him no favours in the eyes of alot of fans and the UFC in getting the next shot and Machida going for other fights before he gets another shot,it looks to me like if Randy gets past Toney with no troubles and Shogun takes care of Rashad,Randy vs Shogun will be Shoguns 2nd defence of his title.

Shogun's calling for it,Randy wants it (theres a good chance that this could be Randy's,for real this time,retirement fight) it will do great PPV numbers IMO,since every Randy fan and alot of casual fans,as small as the chance is,will be tuning in hoping to see Randy upset the odds and pull of another great Title win or you Randy haters will be hoping Shogun finishes him off for good and since there is only a limited amount of time now that the UFC can use Randy to cash in on,they would be daft to give it to someone else,especially when there is no clear no 2 contender in the division at the moment.

Just hope Randy doesn't fuck up against Toney or Shogun loses to Rashad,though would Rashad take the Randy fight if he won?

Forrest can fight Lil Nog

Randy Couture doesn't deserve a title shot. Beating James Toney will not earn him a title shot.

Shogun should be concerning himself with Evans and how he's going to stop the shot and not worry about getting an easy defence against Couture.

Might not be worthy of earning him a shot but it would still be an ex champ on a 3 fight LHW run,who hasn't got many fights left in him,has the majority of the UFC fans loving him and can sell the shit out of a PPV for the UFC.

Who do you have above Randy in the LHW picture,not including Rashad,Machida and Rampage?

Evans, Machida, Little Nog, Thiago Silva, Rampage, Bones Jones.

In that order. Probably rank Forrest above him as well. Won his last fight, and has wins over Rampage and Shogun.

And his back to back wins were 1) a fight he lost, and 2) a fight for which he could have been arrested for molesting the elderly! Vera beat him and then he fought the worst Mark Coleman EVER. Now he's fighting a boxer with no MMA experience in a fight that would not be sanctioned in Vegas.


And Couture's PPV numbers are not impressive unless he's fighting Lesnar or Liddell.

The Toney fight has no bearing on Randys 205 title quest. The Toney fight is at a different weight division anyway, its a HW fight. I think Randy is a win against a top 5 opponent away from getting a deserved title shot.


Dont think Rashad would fight Randy, but if Shogun wins then there is only 2 realistic contenders, Randy and Lil Nog. And i think Randy will get the nod.

Dont think they will give Machida a title shot if he beats Rampage who just lost, especially if Shogun is still champ. For sure Machida quest to get to title will be quicker if Rashad is champ as he holds a ko win over him, whereas he fought Shogun twice already and got Ko'ed in the 1st.


So dont be suprised if Shogun wins he defends against Randy, as Shogun seems to really want that fight. As does Randy and i dont think Dana will have a problem with it and will make it happen.

Evans, Machida, Little Nog, Thiago Silva, Rampage, Bones Jones.
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I disagree with 4 of those.

Evans-Yes
Machida-One more win and ofcoarse


Lil Nog no way deserves it, he beat an overated blown up MW and then lost to Brilz, he needs atleast two more wins before he is in the picture.

Silva- Not one top 10 win in his career and is next fighting Boetsch. I don't think so.

Rampage- Why? He lost his last fight and looked shit against Jardine. Two wins atleast.

Jones- Not just yet, he doesn't even want it too soon. Too young right now, after he destorys the Janitor he should face Lil Nog.


I don't want to discuss the fight that has been talked about almost as much as Machida vs Shogun on this forum but I could easily see how Randy won the fight. Besides dropping Randy with one kick, Vera did nothing while Randy got mount, got better of some of the exchanges and controlled Vera throughout. No matter how shit Coleman fought against Couture, he was actually good before that. Probably top 15, maybe just outside.

elmatadorafa wrote:The Toney fight has no bearing on Randys 205 title quest. The Toney fight is at a different weight division anyway, its a HW fight. I think Randy is a win against a top 5 opponent away from getting a deserved title shot.


Dont think Rashad would fight Randy, but if Shogun wins then there is only 2 realistic contenders, Randy and Lil Nog. And i think Randy will get the nod.

Dont think they will give Machida a title shot if he beats Rampage who just lost, especially if Shogun is still champ. For sure Machida quest to get to title will be quicker if Rashad is champ as he holds a ko win over him, whereas he fought Shogun twice already and got Ko'ed in the 1st.


So dont be suprised if Shogun wins he defends against Randy, as Shogun seems to really want that fight. As does Randy and i dont think Dana will have a problem with it and will make it happen.

Nothing deserved about it. He needs to beat a top 10 fighter before getting to a top 5 fighter.

Of course Rashad would take that fight? Why wouldn't he? Rashad would beat Randy pretty easily with his speed and power and he wouldn't have to worry about Randy KOing him so he could just outstrike him for 2 rounds and then KO him.

Machida holds a win over Shogun, he beats Rampage he's the next in line.

Bones and Little Nog are both ahead of Randy and Bader is close behind. A big win next for Bader and he's ahead of Randy in terms of having earned a shot. Jardine is a better win than Vera or Coleman

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:Evans, Machida, Little Nog, Thiago Silva, Rampage, Bones Jones.
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I disagree with 4 of those.

Evans-Yes
Machida-One more win and ofcoarse


Lil Nog no way deserves it, he beat an overated blown up MW and then lost to Brilz, he needs atleast two more wins before he is in the picture.

Silva- Not one top 10 win in his career and is next fighting Boetsch. I don't think so.

Rampage- Why? He lost his last fight and looked shit against Jardine. Two wins atleast.

Jones- Not just yet, he doesn't even want it too soon. Too young right now, after he destorys the Janitor he should face Lil Nog.


I don't want to discuss the fight that has been talked about almost as much as Machida vs Shogun on this forum but I could easily see how Randy won the fight. Besides dropping Randy with one kick, Vera did nothing while Randy got mount, got better of some of the exchanges and controlled Vera throughout. No matter how shit Coleman fought against Couture, he was actually good before that. Probably top 15, maybe just outside.

Nog is a blown up middleweight?? You do realize that his IDENTICAL TWIN BROTHER IS A HEAVYWEIGHT???????? You've come out with some ridiculous statements in your time, but that might be the best one yet. Over-rated because of one fight against an unknown opponent? Don't be ridiculous, look at his career record! He's on a 7 fight win streak.

Thiago hasn't beaten a top ten LHW, but neither has Couture and Jardine is higher ranked than Vera or Coleman(who was never top 15 don't be ridiculous)

Rampage did just lose, after over a year off and to a guy who's in the top 4 in the weight class. Before that he had back to back wins and was coming off being losing his title after a good winning streak. Page is clearly far far ahead of Randy.

Couture lost to Vera who won almost every exchange, mounted Couture and dropped him. All Couture did was his usual wall and stall routine.

Cane is the overated blown up middlewight i think ^

Anfields5thKing wrote:

elmatadorafa wrote:The Toney fight has no bearing on Randys 205 title quest. The Toney fight is at a different weight division anyway, its a HW fight. I think Randy is a win against a top 5 opponent away from getting a deserved title shot.


Dont think Rashad would fight Randy, but if Shogun wins then there is only 2 realistic contenders, Randy and Lil Nog. And i think Randy will get the nod.

Dont think they will give Machida a title shot if he beats Rampage who just lost, especially if Shogun is still champ. For sure Machida quest to get to title will be quicker if Rashad is champ as he holds a ko win over him, whereas he fought Shogun twice already and got Ko'ed in the 1st.


So dont be suprised if Shogun wins he defends against Randy, as Shogun seems to really want that fight. As does Randy and i dont think Dana will have a problem with it and will make it happen.

Nothing deserved about it. He needs to beat a top 10 fighter before getting to a top 5 fighter.

Of course Rashad would take that fight? Why wouldn't he? Rashad would beat Randy pretty easily with his speed and power and he wouldn't have to worry about Randy KOing him so he could just outstrike him for 2 rounds and then KO him.

Machida holds a win over Shogun, he beats Rampage he's the next in line.

Bones and Little Nog are both ahead of Randy and Bader is close behind. A big win next for Bader and he's ahead of Randy in terms of having earned a shot. Jardine is a better win than Vera or Coleman

Machida needs more than one win to entice the UFC to give him Shogun again after getting knocked out in the 1st last time out. The fact that they have already fought twice (back to back) will make it more difficult because they are looking for new match ups for Shogun if he wins of course.

Now if Rashad is champion, people will be interested to see how Rashad would deal with Machida in the rematch having been ko'ed by him before.

Bones wont get a title shot for atleast 1 or 2 more years according to UFC, and Bader isnt really that well known yet and for sure needs a few more wins against top 10 guys.


I dont think Rashad wants to fight Randy, in the press conference he said that Randy was one of few guys he idolizes and after 114 he thanked Randy for the great help and advice he gave him a few years on the MMA Live show after the UFC 114. Also he turned down a chance to fight Randy before. I think they will fight for title or no.1 contender though.

Evans is 1st in line because its been confirmed
Machida should be 2nd in line if he beats Rampage
Nog is probabally 3rd assuming Rampage looses.
Forrest is 5th or 6th depending on how Rampage does...
T.Silva is next because he fought Evans Injured so UFC owe him.
Rampage even if he looses against Machida is still higher ranked

Couture is way way down the pecking order, Id put him ahead of Bones because he is young and ducked Nog, Bader could be argued like Anfield says blowing away Jadrine is better than getting dropped by Vera... Bader has a good case I think Randy should be made to take a hard fight like Bader or Bones or someone similarly ranked to him before he gets into the title picture again... Regardless of age or fights left.

elmatadorafa wrote:Cane is the overated blown up middlewight i think ^

Ah i mis-read. Sorry Chelski. All the rest of it is true though.

elmatadorafa wrote:

Anfields5thKing wrote:

elmatadorafa wrote:The Toney fight has no bearing on Randys 205 title quest. The Toney fight is at a different weight division anyway, its a HW fight. I think Randy is a win against a top 5 opponent away from getting a deserved title shot.


Dont think Rashad would fight Randy, but if Shogun wins then there is only 2 realistic contenders, Randy and Lil Nog. And i think Randy will get the nod.

Dont think they will give Machida a title shot if he beats Rampage who just lost, especially if Shogun is still champ. For sure Machida quest to get to title will be quicker if Rashad is champ as he holds a ko win over him, whereas he fought Shogun twice already and got Ko'ed in the 1st.


So dont be suprised if Shogun wins he defends against Randy, as Shogun seems to really want that fight. As does Randy and i dont think Dana will have a problem with it and will make it happen.

Nothing deserved about it. He needs to beat a top 10 fighter before getting to a top 5 fighter.

Of course Rashad would take that fight? Why wouldn't he? Rashad would beat Randy pretty easily with his speed and power and he wouldn't have to worry about Randy KOing him so he could just outstrike him for 2 rounds and then KO him.

Machida holds a win over Shogun, he beats Rampage he's the next in line.

Bones and Little Nog are both ahead of Randy and Bader is close behind. A big win next for Bader and he's ahead of Randy in terms of having earned a shot. Jardine is a better win than Vera or Coleman

Machida needs more than one win to entice the UFC to give him Shogun again after getting knocked out in the 1st last time out. The fact that they have already fought twice (back to back) will make it more difficult because they are looking for new match ups for Shogun if he wins of course.

Now if Rashad is champion, people will be interested to see how Rashad would deal with Machida in the rematch having been ko'ed by him before.

Bones wont get a title shot for atleast 1 or 2 more years according to UFC, and Bader isnt really that well known yet and for sure needs a few more wins against top 10 guys.


I dont think Rashad wants to fight Randy, in the press conference he said that Randy was one of few guys he idolizes and after 114 he thanked Randy for the great help and advice he gave him a few years on the MMA Live show after the UFC 114. Also he turned down a chance to fight Randy before. I think they will fight for title or no.1 contender though.

He turned down the chance to fight Randy because it would have been a backward step. Couture needs to beat someone ranked 6-10 before he can consider a fight with a top 5 guy.

According to who?? UFC?? UFC doesn't make statements. Dana White makes statements and then changes his mind 3 months later. Bones is ahead of Couture ranking wise and is more deserving of a title shot than Couture. If he beats the Janitor he'll get a big name fight. Bader won TUF! Of course he's well known. He's most likely going to fight a top 10 guy next and then he'll be one fight away from the titleshot.

Shogun got an instant rematch after losing, Machida will get one if he beats Rampage or whoever next. The UFC have to handle Machida very carefully or risk him leaving when his contract expires. He's one of the top p4p fighters in the world, they won't risk him leaving.

Im not the biggest Machida fan but he is still the number 2 Lhw nearly everywhere. If Evans beats Shogun its obvious thta Machida should be the man to fight Evans, if Shogun beats Evans it sets up a rubbermatch, whatever peoples views on the 1st fight Shogun and Machida are 1-1 and the two top guys in the world.

For Sure I think Randy has at least 2 guys to get behind in the Queue... So I think he should try to fight a ranked opponent after Toney, he has plenty of time to kill...

Would Forrest and Randy fight? They train togreather but Id love to see them scrap and Forrest is a step in the right direction for Randy.

AH come on ,you'll all be crying when a nearly 50 year old Randy gets his deserved shot over lil Nog and dominates Shogun or Rashad and becomes the champ of champs once again.

Come on Captain America

Nog is a blown up middleweight?? You do realize that his IDENTICAL TWIN BROTHER IS A HEAVYWEIGHT???????? You've come out with some ridiculous statements in your time, but that might be the best one yet. Over-rated because of one fight against an unknown opponent? Don't be ridiculous, look at his career record! He's on a 7 fight win streak.

Thiago hasn't beaten a top ten LHW, but neither has Couture and Jardine is higher ranked than Vera or Coleman(who was never top 15 don't be ridiculous)

Rampage did just lose, after over a year off and to a guy who's in the top 4 in the weight class. Before that he had back to back wins and was coming off being losing his title after a good winning streak. Page is clearly far far ahead of Randy.

Couture lost to Vera who won almost every exchange, mounted Couture and dropped him. All Couture did was his usual wall and stall routine.

Ye ofc I was talking about Cane, I would have had to lose my mind if I was talking about Lil Nog, he is one of the bigger LHWs around.

Thiago has never, ever beaten a top 10 opponent in his life. Randy has, he has beaten top 5 LHWs/HWs in his career, no matter how long ago. So far Silva has faced two top opponents and the first time he was destroyed and against Evans he was comfortably beaten. Jardine and Vera are very close in the rankings.

Rampage looked god awful against Jardine who was beaten more comprehensivley by Silva and Bader. Wandy was terrible in that fight, he swung in with his chin in the air and his arms down. Two wins atleast and he is going to lose to Machida so he isn't close right now.

Bader was meant to fight T Silva but he got injured. He is out injured right now and needs about two wins before he gets close to a title shot. I would love for Bader to get an oppurtunity but right now he is out and needs 2 wins.

Jones after the Janitor could get it after one more win but does he want it? I don't think he does right now.

Machida if he beats Rampage ofc deserves one and I think Dana will be forced to give it to him. Likewise with Rampage if he wins.

So right now we have:

Evans as the number one contender

Rampage/Machida after him with the loser out of it for a while

and then

Lil Nog/Randy

I see no reason why Lil Nog deserves it more than Randy.

Coleman was higher than Cane, and lets say Randy did lose to Vera (which I still don't beleive he did). Lil Nog lost to Brilz, and Vera is certainly higher up than Brilz was.

Both need two wins, I don't know what happens here. If Randy beats Toney he is one win away. Either he faces Lil Nog for the number one contender spot or Randy gets the shot while Jones fights Lil Nog. Thats considering that Jones wants it, if he doesn't then Lil Nog will fight Randy which is fair.

I hope Couture and Lil Nog are matched up, there wouldnt be any complaints from anyone if that happened. Though I wouldnt mind seeing either of them fight Griffin either, cant rule him out of the title picture seeing as he has a win over the Champ.

Hang on, you're trying to give Couture a title shot based on beating people 5 years ago??

In that case Yushin Okami should be number 1 contender for the MW title. And Vera should get a HW title shot.


Couture has to beat Toney and then win AT LEAST 2 more fights before he can even be considered for a title shot.

Forrest and Randy im sure wont fight (probably ), Rashad Randy would fight if it made sense eg. Title or no.1 contender.

Bader needs i would say 2 wins against top 10 guys to get a title shot, eg. Forrest & Randy.

Yeah it was Dana who said that about Jones wont be ready for title shot for atleast some time yet.


I think they will match up Lil Nog and Forrest next, there is still some time till Randy fights Toney, so if Lil Nog wants to fight soon and not have to wait till Forrest gets better or wait till Randy beats Toney, then Nog should fight Bader next.


I think in the end, the next title contender will come down to, who is available at the time and who isnt already scheduled to fight someone.

How funny would it be if after all this speculating and planning, they give the next title shot to Anderson?