Randy Couture is a Giant Among Men...

by The Prophet, ProphetFighting

I'm 42 years old and generally pretty happy with the shape that I'm in. I live in a college town and I could still pull college chicks if I so desired. I date a very attractive 25 year old. From the standpoint of physical conditioning I owe a lot of it to Randy Couture. I keep a picture of Couture on the wall of my office and when I'm feeling lazy in the morning it just takes a nasty look from the fighter they call "Captain America" to get my ass out of bed and on my way to the gym.

The mainstream sports media likes to get excited about anyone who does anything at an advanced age. Sometimes they're nice, feel good human interest stories like Tim Frisby, a retired Army vet with six kids who made the University of South Carolina Gamecocks football team as a 39 year old walk-on. He parlayed this into appearances on David Letterman and Jay Leno, and recently received his college degree. He's a generally classy dude and as a diametric opposite of Michael Vick in the character department is a great role model.


Other "old age" stories involve some seriously impressive achievements such as the "geriatric" dominance of men like Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, or the All Star level play of Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios at age 45. As a passionate boxing fan I may be somewhat biased, but I'd rank George Foreman regaining the heavyweight title at the age of 45 above all of them. The sight of Foreman sinking to his knees in prayer thanking the good Lord for his lead pipe of a right hand is one of the great moments in sports. Still, Foreman was being dominated by Michael Moorer that night before Moorer ignored Teddy Atlas' instructions to stay away from Big George. Moorer paid for it with his consciousness and his world title.

Mixed Martial Arts has become "accepted" as a mainstream sport, but none of the big mainstream media outlets do a great job of covering it. You can thank the folks at the Epic Carnival for having the good sense to bring me--a respected boxing/MMA writer who has been called "the future of fightsport journalism" on board since I'm not going to let you miss out on one of the great achievements in all of sports. The mainstream media may let you down, but The Prophet won't...

If you've never ordered a UFC PPV event before I'd strongly suggest you do so tomorrow night. On paper it should be an entertaining card, but what I don't want you to miss is the man that motivates my lazy 42 year old ass to get out of bed and get to the gym--Randy Couture--who will be fighting at the event. Not as a legend "sideshow attraction" chasing lost glory, and not as a over the hill vet with rapidly declining skills but as a serious fighter. And I want to make sure everyone tunes in to appreciate his accomplishment and what a generally bad ass dude he is.

Tomorrow night 44 year old Randy Couture will enter the octagon in the main event to defend his UFC heavyweight championship against a bigger, stronger, younger opponent in Gabriel Gonzaga. Couture has got a shot, but its a tough challenge for him. Still, the mere fact that he's fighting for a championship at the age of 44 is a monumental accomplishment and one you'll be glad you got to witness down the road.

If you get a chance, try to catch some of the programming that will run on SPIKE TV promoting the event. If you can watch how Randy Couture trains physically, how hard he pushes himself, how dedicated he is in his prefight preparation and not appreciate his accomplishments there's really no hope for you. Couture is not only an inspiration as an athlete, but a class act outside of the octagon. He's a businessman, a husband and a father. Basically, he's a testimony to the results you can achieve from hard work, discipline, toughness, and determination.

I enjoy sports, but by and large I suggest that people look for their role models elsewhere. In most cases, I don't find anything particularly inspirational about guys who get played insane money to play games and who conduct themselves like the villains on "Miami Vice" off the field. The big sports story of this week was Michael Vick, a man who never had the dedication and the drive to leverage his amazing athletic talents by learning how to play QB in the NFL. Off the field, he derived entertainment from torturing and killing dogs among less egregious affronts to human decency. He represents not only the worst of professional sports, but of humanity. With guys like him around its easy to become jaded about sports.

Randy Couture is the "anti-Vick". He's a guy that worked his ass off to milk everything out of his ability, who personifies toughness, heart and character and is a decent guy in real life. While sports may not be the place to *look* for role models in Couture you've got one. Even if the mainstream sports media misses the boat on this, do yourself a favor and watch Couture in the UFC event. It's not every day you get to watch the building of a legitimate legend.