Couture would ‘think hard’ about unretiring to fight Emelianenko

MMA legend Randy Couture says he’d “think hard” about leaving retirement to fight Fedor Emelianenko.

MMA legend Randy Couture says he’d “think hard” about leaving retirement to fight Fedor Emelianenko.

Couture appeared on SI Now Wednesday and told SI’s Maggie Gray the opportunity to fight a fellow MMA giant—who just came out of retirement—is tempting.

“It’s a fight that, in our heyday, I think would have been an amazing fight, and a crossover fight for that time,” Couture said. “Whether or not I’d be willing to step out there now at 52 years old and come back out of retirement after four years of working on all the other stuff in my life, I don't know, that’d be something I’d really have to think hard about.”

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Still, Couture wouldn’t rule it out. The news came out this week that Emelianenko, 38, has begun training again and will return to MMA with a career record of 34–4.

“Can you ever say no?” he said. “Can you ever say absolutely not? I don’t think there’s anything that’s absolute in the world.”

Couture said watching fights makes him antsy but said that he’s confident in the decision he made four years ago to step away from MMA. He’s gone on to focus on his career as a Hollywood actor, participating in Dancing with the Stars in 2014.

- Jeremy Woo