Randy's Got A Brand New Bag -- And Should Stick to It!

Greetings Fight Fans,
I saw the new, straight to DVD, movie "The Scorpion King 2: Rise Of A Warrior" the other day and was pleased to enjoy a good old Saturday afternoon matinee type action, adventure and revenge flick. It was the standard boy sees evil king kill his dad ---- boy grows up to be a great warrior --- boy kills evil king tale, but it had the requisite bad looking dudes, hot chicks and lots of weapons and empty hand close quarters combat.

The acting was allll -- right, but the costumes and sets were cool and the fight choreography was stellar. Many of the combat scenes were amped up by the presence on the screen of none other than former two time light heavy weight and two time heavy weight UFC champion Randy "The Natural" Couture. Couture plays the evil King Sargon, who kills the father of young Mathayus, a youthful version of The Scorpion King character of the Mummy movie series. The original, albeit older, Mathayus was brought to the screen by professional wrestling legend Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, but in sequel the part is played by young unknown actor, Michael Copon and the lead focus is on the bad guy, King Sargon --- Randy Couture.

Randy was definitely up for the task. His Sargon was unquestionably the baddest man on the screen and undoubtedly the baddest man on the set also. His screen fighting matches his prizefighting skills and this is no easy task as the arts have different goals. Many great prizefighters have not only exhibited embarrassing acting skills, but many have also shown an inability to not actually pound on their fellow actors, as pulling punches and missing them deliberately goes against their instincts. Randy Couture on the other hand has become a master of screen fighting as well as prizefighting.

Randy's acting was a wee bit wooden, but like Dwayne Johnson as the original Scorpion King and before that Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan, Randy was playing a rather wooden character, so his acting skills were up to the task. Both of those other sportsman cum actors went on to improve their acting skills and perform in many motion pictures. Dwayne Johnson's acting skills and performing reputation improve with every project and when Arnold's acting skills topped out he went on to become The Governator. I could easily see Randy as the governor of Oregon ---- perhaps the president of SAG ---------- from there -- who knows!

Randy Couture could seriously have a great and lengthy career ahead of him as an actor. He started slowly playing characters similar to his real life in venues like "Redbelt" and has now moved on to the realm of action movie star. If he should apply himself to the art of acting with the same intensity that he has applied to all other activities in his life his acting skills are sure to grow and their limits are still unknown.

If Randy Couture wants to be sure that he will stay healthy enough to perform his own stunts and remember his lines though --- he should give up the idea of meeting World MMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko in the prizefight arena. Randy already did his old champion returns from retirement and defeats the new young champion for the title, when he came back to the UFC and took the heavyweight title from six foot eight Tim Sylvia. He even then defended it against a young, tough and big, up and coming youngster, when he decisioned Gabe Gonzaga. The fact that he won that one with a broken arm should have been the writing on the wall.

Since then Randy has let contract disputes keep him out of action for over a year and that year was between his ages of 44 and 45. Ring rust just has to be all over him now. Yes, Big George Foreman was a heavyweight champion at those ages, but his ten year lay off/rest was five or six years behind him and the interim years had been filled with small fights to get him back in the groove. Then big George saw something in Michael Moorer and went for it ---- just like Randy saw something in Tim Sylvia and went for it .... but he's already done it now! Also after beating Moorer, Big George knew enough to adroitly avoid the likes of Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe and Lenox Lewis, whereas Randy wants to come off a middle aged long lay off and take on the undisputed baddest man on the planet.

Randy fought hard and long to take Tim Sylvia's belt. Fedor walked into the ring, whacked Big Tim a few times and then choked him out in ever so slightly over a Half Minute! If Randy Couture faces Fedor Emelianenko the match will simply be yet another example of a great champion staying in one too long and getting humiliated by the younger champion. Boxing fans have seen it over and over again as in Floyd Patterson vs. Muhammad Ali, Muhammad vs. Larry Holmes, Larry Holmes vs. Mike Tyson, Mike Tyson vs. Lenox Lewis, etc. Obviously its not an uncommon scenario and the fans will always come out to see the torch passed, but its never a competitive match and it usually doesn't bode well for the older fighter's future.

If Randy vs. Fedor comes to happen, I'll probably be one of the fans who is curious enough as to how the drama will play out to fork out for the pay per view. But frankly (and I'm always Frank - ly) I'd be just as happy to see Randy Couture up on the big screen as an Action Hero For The Ages.

That just how I see it -------- You can think whatever you want------

Good Night -- Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"