Stephen Quadros is a voice of authority when it comes to MMA. He was a PRIDE commentator for a long time and is now the voice of the IFL and Cage Rage in the U.K. He truly knows the fight game. He is also a Friend of Komikazee’s MMA Smackdown.
So when “The Fight Professor” previews something, it is always worthy of a read. This week he has published a preview of UFC 68. The preview is short and sweet but has some great insites into the Silvia / Couture fight. Here is a snippet of that preview.
UFC heavyweight champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia takes a lot of criticism from fans because he gets conservative inside the Octagon® on occasion. I feel Tim is one of the greatest fighters in his division and he has improved drastically since his first bout on pay per view. Yet people still give him little respect, which is, at least in part, a mistake.
But Randy “The Natural” Couture has never really felt the wrath of those who indirectly pay his salary (the fans)…until now. The nagging multitude of questions surrounding Sylvia/Couture all revolve around the word WHY? Why is Randy coming out of retirement after less than a year on the couch? Why does he think that he can move directly into a title fight, in the larger division, when the last time he was ‘up there’ he got smashed, not once, but twice (both Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett stopped Couture in 2002)? And why is Randy getting an automatic chance to dethrone Tim, instead of Cro Cop or Brandon Vera who have earned it with WINS in their recent bouts?