Randy Couture

His last fight with Lyoto Machida marked his 24th fight in the UFC.

He is the fourth member of the UFC Hall of Fame.

He is one of only 2 over the age of 40 to have won a UFC championship fight, having done so four times.

He is one of the few MMA champions to regain a title he had lost, and the only to have done it three times (twice at heavyweight, once at light heavyweight).

Couture was an Olympic wrestling alternate and has lived in Corvallis, Oregon throughout much of his career, where he served as an assistant wrestling coach and a strength and conditioning coach for Oregon State University.

He established Team Quest with Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson, a training camp for fighters, based out of Gresham, Oregon, and headed by coach Robert Folis.

Randall Duane Couture (born June 22, 1963) is an American actor, former United States Army sergeant, former mixed martial artist and former collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler.

During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he became a three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, an interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, making him a six-time UFC Champion and the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament winner.

He is the first of nine fighters to hold two UFC championship titles in two different divisions (along with B.J. Penn, Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, Henry Cejudo, Jon Jones and Alex Pereira).

Couture has competed in a record 16 title fights.

He is tied for the record for the most wins in UFC Heavyweight Championship bouts (6) with former UFC Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

He had the most title reigns in the UFC, with six.

Afterwards he served in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 1988, attaining the rank of Sergeant in the 101st Airborne, where he "wrestled and did a little boxing."

While he was in the Army he applied for tryouts with the U.S. Army freestyle wrestling team; however, due to a clerical error his application was sent to the Greco-Roman wrestling tryouts and rather than wait until the next year he decided to pursue it.

Despite never having competed in Greco-Roman he made the team.

Upon discharge, Couture became a three-time Olympic team alternate (1988, 1992 and 1996), a semifinalist at the 2000 Olympic Trials, a three-time NCAA Division I All-American and a two-time NCAA Division I runner-up (1991 and 1992) at Oklahoma State University.

In 1992, he was the Division I runner-up at 190 lb, coming in second after Mark Kerr.

Being called to the tournament as an alternate on three weeks' notice, Couture made his professional mixed martial arts debut at UFC 13 on May 30, 1997, as part of a four-man heavyweight tournament.

His first opponent was Tony Halme, who outweighed him by nearly 100 lb. Couture immediately hit a double-leg takedown and, after some ground and pound, moved to back mount and secured a rear naked choke submission to win in under a minute.

In the tournament final, he defeated Steven Graham, another larger opponent (290 lb), by TKO at 3:13 into the first round.

On October 17, 1997, at UFC 15, Couture fought Vitor Belfort to determine the number one contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

Couture was an underdog, as 19-year-old Belfort was the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament Champion, winning all of his matches with devastating punches.

After circling away from Belfort's left hand, Couture got the clinch.

The fighters broke up and, when Belfort attempted a flurry of punches, Couture hit a takedown.

He immediately gained side control and landed strikes.

As Belfort scrambled to his feet, Couture landed knee strikes.

He clinched again and wore Belfort down with dirty boxing.

By the 7-minute mark, Belfort was exhausted.

Couture again took him down, and finished him with punches from back mount, for one of the biggest upsets in MMA at the time.

At UFC Japan on December 21, Couture challenged the UFC Heavyweight Champion, Maurice Smith to his second title defense since winning the belt from Mark Coleman earlier that year.

It was a slow-paced fight, and neither fighter significantly damaged the other, but Couture hit several takedowns and held positional control throughout the fight.

After 21 minutes, he won a majority decision and became the new UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Though this win was controversial as many believe Smith did enough to win the fight.

In 2005, he moved to Las Vegas, where he opened his own extensive chain of gyms under the name Xtreme Couture.

He partnered with Bas Rutten to open Legends Gym in Hollywood, California.

Couture is generally recognized as a clinch and ground-and-pound fighter who uses his wrestling ability to execute take downs, establish top position and successively strike the opponent on the bottom.

He has displayed a variety of skills in boxing and catch wrestling.

He is the only UFC fighter to win a championship after becoming a Hall-of-Famer and is the oldest champion in MMA history with his title victory over Tim Sylvia at age 43.

Couture was born in Everett, Washington, the son of Sharan Amelia (née King) and Edward Lewis "Ed" Couture.

He wrestled at Lynnwood High School in Lynnwood, Washington, where he won a state championship during his senior year in wrestling.