Randy Couture turns down UFC HW Title Defense

First, the bad news... Randy Couture turns down UFC Heavyweight Title Defense.

MMAWeekly.com reports that Randy "The Natural" Couture has opted out of a title defense fight against former Pride Heavy Weight Champion Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira. It looks like with this move he has also vacated the UFC Heavyweight title. The UFC matchmakers are now working on putting together a HW contenders match to fill the vacated title.

The good news is it looks like the UFC and The Natural are mending up their relationship. It was reported that Randy will slow down his career and spend more time with his family and "smelling the roses" as he says, but will work with the UFC and his current contract with Zuffa.

My opinion... I like this move. Randy isn't a spring chicken. Yet he has proven just about all he needs to prove already. Laying back and hoping one of the two following situations comes to fruition seems like a smart move to me; 1) Wait to see if M1 fails as a competing organization and Fedor swallows his pride (no pun intended here) and comes to the UFC to fight Randy, or 2) Zuffa works out a fighter sharing contract with M1 to put on what many believe to be the fight of the century.

What ever happens out of this latest move, I think everyone can at least somewhat breathe a sigh of relief knowing now that the chances of seeing one of the best heavyweight mma competitors fight again is more likely than it was 2 months ago.