The Couture Vs Nogueira UFC 102 Prediction

Randy Couture nicknamed "The Natural" is a great fighter. He has fought the best in the UFC and has been the only man to take the belt in both the heavy weight and the light heavyweight divisions.

With a background in Olympic-level Greco-roman wrestling, Randy Couture is a very popular fighter, relying on skill and enormous experience to control and defeat his opponents mainly via ground and pound.

Randy has recently faced and lost via a TKO that saw him knocked to the ground and pounded on by the menacing Brock Lesnar, the current UFC Heavyweight champion of the world. Looking very good during the first round, Randy clearly was not able to take some of the brutal elbows and punches from Lesnar and collapsed in the second.

Following this defeat he is now due to fight the Pride FC warrior, Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro. Minotauro, also known as Big Nog, is a black belt in both Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo with decent striking. He has faced nearly every top heavyweight in his time including Mirko Cro Cop and Fedor Emelianenko. Minotauro is an amazing submission artist famous for his comebacks and for his iron chin which apparently runs in the family.

More recently, Big Nog had to face another submission master Frank Mir and surprised his fans with his visibly poor conditioning and even more notably for the first time in his career getting knocked out.

Despite the comments by Minotauro himself that he is in the best shape since four years ago, rumors are continuing to grow that he has been knocked out during training and this is certainly not the Minotauro that his fans including myself remember.

Prediction: Antonio Nogueira by Unanimous Decision

Both of these fighters may risk to put their careers in danger were they to lose this fight and yet at the same time for both this will be a very tough match. Randy Couture as old as he is still looking very good considering the opponents that he has faced while Antonio Nogueira has youth on his side but his current condition raises some serious questions. Is Nogueira ready for this fight? I believe he will do his best to prepare for this battle as it will no doubt affect his legacy as a fighter. The Couture vs. Nogueira fight has been long overdue and now it has come and I think both fighters were waiting for this battle for a long time.

From an analysis point of view, striking-wise, they are probably about even. Both are clearly grapplers with some decent striking but neither is spectacular on his feet. This fight will quickly go to the ground. I think that Minotauro will almost certainly look for a takedown which Randy Couture will try to control and reverse in his favor.

On the ground I would still favor Nogueira although Randy may have some success on top. Nogueira I believe would be very difficult to control and I believe that if Randy makes a mistake, Nogueira will almost certainly capitalize on it. Good luck to them!