5 legendary former UFC champions who could still succeed today
Right now, it’s probably fair to say that the quality of the fighters competing in the UFC is as high as it has ever been. The promotion’s champions are among the best we’ve ever seen.
The UFC has seen plenty of great champions in its past, but could some of them compete with the promotion’s current titleholders?
If you could bring any UFC legend back to the Octagon in their prime who would it be and why? https://t.co/Uy4qoecYvX
The answer is almost certainly yes. Some of the all-time great champions could almost certainly hang with, if not defeat, some of their counterparts today. If they were still in their prime, they may still be ruling over their respective divisions.
Here are five legendary UFC champions who could still succeed today.
#5. Randy Couture – former UFC light heavyweight champion
Despite the fact that his feud with Dana White and the UFC’s brass means that he’s essentially been erased from the promotion’s history, there’s no denying that Randy Couture was a genuinely great champion.
‘The Natural’ held the heavyweight title on three occasions and the light heavyweight title twice. During his reign, he made a number of impressive defenses, became the first man to capture gold in the octagon after the age of 40 and pulled off a number of miracle wins during his time.
However, while Couture’s record of 19-11 is hardly the most gaudy on paper, his skills would definitely mean that he could compete in the modern era with today’s best fighters.
Mar3.2007
Randy Couture puts on one of the greatest performances in UFC history,
when he def. Tim Sylvia to once again become the Heavyweight Champion https://t.co/FZTSk9k5eZ
Would ‘The Natural’ succeed as a heavyweight? That’s unlikely due to the size of current fighters like Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane.
As a light heavyweight, though? It’d be hard not to make prime Couture the favorite in fights with current stars like Glover Teixeira and Jan Blachowicz.
Couture’s world-class wrestling skills and ability to abuse his opponents in the clinch were second-to-none. His top game was fantastic, too, as we saw in his clashes with top grapplers like Gabriel Gonzaga and Tito Ortiz.
More to the point, Couture’s gameplanning abilities were also fantastic, meaning he’d always come into a fight with a good idea of what to do in order to overcome his opponents.
Essentially, there’s a reason that ‘The Natural’ is such a revered legend. Despite a mediocre record, in his prime, and even slightly out of it, he was a fantastic fighter who could almost certainly still succeed today.