Randy Couture On What CM Punk Could Have Done Differently To Succeed In The UFC
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture was on today's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Couture is a UFC legend who has nearly seen it all in his near 15-year career. During their interview, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Couture his thoughts on AEW star CM Punk's UFC career, and Couture explains what Punk could have done differently.
"The fans can be brutal. That's just a fact," Couture stated. "You're only as good as your last fight, and that's how you distinguish your real friends and true people that are in your circle. Fans want to see winners, and they're very critical. That's more of an American thing, honestly, than anything else. They're not so much that way in Japan and some of the other marketplaces. He jumped right in at the highest level, and he kind of tried to pull a James Toney and jump in at the highest level.
"And you got to give James Toney his credit for his boxing credentials but some of that does not translate to MMA, and I think CM did a good job of trying to train, trying to learn as much as he could, but he jumped into fights that were that were, frankly, a little over his head. I think he could have given himself more time to technically train and get some foundation, a solid foundation, for fighting under his belt before he jumped into some of those bigger fights. He may have had a little more success."
James Toney was a multi-time boxing champion across three weight classes. At the age of 42, Toney signed with the UFC, but he only fought one fight. Couture defeated Toney in Toney's UFC debut via arm-triangle choke in the first round, and Toney was released after backlash over the fight.
Punk has recently admitted that he was "too old" when he started his UFC training, and he has admitted he should have built his way up in MMA before making the jump to UFC.
Couture is set to star in the upcoming movie, The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre, along with fellow MMA legend Bas Rutten. Couture has starred in many movies across his career, and he discussed getting into character for the role of grizzled pro wrestling veteran Thump Hanson.
"Well, realistically, pro wrestling and pro MMA aren't that far apart," Couture noted. "Obviously, pro wrestling is choreographed, and so you know the outcomes going into the match, which is not the case in MMA, at least for the most part. I think they're a little more in tune with doing some worked fights. I've seen some of that where I thought, oh wow, this fight's a work, which is obviously a term for pro wrestling.
"I know that's where Bas had a lot of his experience pro wrestling was in the Japanese market. It's a little bit different over there. Hugely popular and crosses that line between MMA and and pro wrestling, the make-believe entertainment type of fighting vs. the real fighting. You look at some of those organizations, organizations like Shooto and some of those where they fought in rings.
"They used rope escapes and some of the things we're used to from pro wrestling, but it was still real MMA. So certainly in the Japanese market there's a little crossover. Bas was the King of Pancrase, and I went to one of those shows for the very first time in Japan and it was fun. The crowd was amazing, and they got into it and it was fun to watch."
Couture has also fought in Japanese combat sports federations like RINGS in the late '90s and in 2000. Couture later commented on whether he will appear in the sequel to the movie, The Manson Brothers Satanic Vampire Deathmatch.
"I think Mike Carey just likes creating these tongue twisters for all of us to try and say. I mean, that is a mouthful for anybody, but I'm excited that he's developing a sequel. He's in the process of writing that script now, and he's got such an amazing sense of humor. He comes from a very unique mindset in place with the way he writes. If you've been around him at all, the jokes he tells, just who he is, he's a very unique, unique guy, and I really like him.
"He's fun to be around, and I think he's going to come up with another really, really good one. I did die in this one, but I don't think that matters. I don't think it matters to Mike. I think he wants to bring back a lot of the same actors to play different characters in this movie. That's just the way Mike thinks. I really like that, certainly would be happy to work with these guys anytime in anything.
"We just got to premiere the movie a couple weeks ago in Chicago, at a horror festival there, which was a lot of fun. Just sitting around that place, signing autographs and taking pictures with people was worth the trip and then we got to obviously premiere the movie, and they really enjoyed it. Huge ovation for the film after it was done so it definitely taps into that horror mindset in that horror crowd."
The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre will be released on September 10 in select theaters and via VOD.
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