As former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Randy Couture gets ready to step back into the Octagon this weekend at UFC 102 against “Minotauro” Nogueira, another Couture, Randy’s son Ryan, just won the main event at Tuff-N-Uff’s “Future Stars of MMA” this past Saturday night at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.
Young Couture was knocked to the ground early in the bout by his opponent Jimmy Spicuzza. Spicuzza pounced on the downed Couture in an effort to finish him off quickly with ground and pound. However, Couture withstood the attack, and once Spicuzza’s flurry ended, Ryan sunk in an arm bar causing Spicuzza to tap out just 1:22 into the first round.
After the fight, Ryan talked to the Las Vegas Review Journal about getting rocked early by a punch. “He drilled me. He caught me with that overhand right. I knew he had a good one, I just didn’t see it coming,” said Couture. “I was definitely on my heels and reeling and still figuring out where I was by the time he was in my guard.”
Ryan explained how he was able to keep his wits and get the arm bar. “I knew from experience that generally what he does is just flurries of punches on guys, so I was quick to try to get a hold of his head and control his posture and tie his arms up,” said Couture.
“Luckily, I was able to find that angle with my hips on him and lock that arm bar in and get myself out of there because I was definitely still recovering and would have needed a minute to get my bearings about me.”
27-year-old Ryan Couture’s tenacity and ability to bounce back after facing adversity is reminiscent of the opponent his father will face this weekend. Maybe young Ryan will be able to offer his father a few words of advice on how to deal with someone like that.
In addition to the headliner there were two title fights on the card. Jimmy Jones out of Xtreme Couture took on Chris Brady out of Legends Gym for the 135 lbs. title and Chris Holdsworth out of Cobra Kai took on Tapout R & D’s Justin Linn in a 145 lbs. title rubber match.
Oh yeah and some MMA writer named Matt Polly at nearly 40-years-old won his first and possibly only MMA fight. He has been training at Xtreme Couture and Randy and Robert Drysdale were in his corner.
Here are the complete results for Tuff-N-Uff’s Aug. 22, 2009 event:
- Casey Miliken def. Taylor Pausewang by TKO Rd3 (0:40)
- Cameron Ramirez def. Chris Yang by KO Rd1 (1:53)
- Romand Isbell def. Chester Chullen by split decision
- Stephen Tobias def. Michael Martinez by TKO (cut) Rd1 (2:00)
- Matt Painter def. Josh Bannister by TKO Rd1 (0:44)
- Jerry Shapiro def. Correy Jeffers by submission (arm bar) Rd2 (1:38)
- Maurice Senters def. Andrew Lunt by unanimous decision
- Sean Bollinger def. Azamat Umarzoda by submission (arm bar) Rd1 (1:38)
- Rob Anderson def. Joe Tussing by unanimous decision
- Eddie Jackson def. Kings Scott by KO Rd1 (0:47)
- Gil Guardo def. Linden Allen by submission (strikes) Rd1 (1:10)
- Matt Polly def. David Sexton by TKO Rd2 (2:00)
- Josh Peasly def. Jason Walraven by split decision
- Dustin chavalier def. Takshi Munoz by unanimous decision
Tuff-N-Uff 145 lbs. Title
- Chris Holdsworth def. Justin Lin by submission (triangle) Rd1 (1:58)
Tuff-N-Uff 135 lbs. Title
- Jimmy Jones def. Chris Brady by disqualification
Main Event
- Ryan Couture def. Jimmy Spicuzza by submission (arm bar) Rd1 (1:22)
Here is a complete photo gallery from the event. Tuff-N-Uff will be hosting another amateur MMA card this Friday. Check out the Tuff-N-Uff website (www.tuffnuff.net) for more information on their events.
Thanks to MMA Sphere for the fight results.