And The Rumor Mill Continues to Spin
October 4, 2008 at 3:34 pm by Jason Hatcher in News
(Pictured Above) An unlabeled photo used by the Houston Chronicle showing Randy Couture with a broken arm following his 2007 fight with Gabriel Gonzaga.
COUTURE AND LESNAR INJURIES RUMORED TO BE RUMORS WITHIN A CYCLE OF RECENT RUMORS
Rumors. Yes indeed, rumors. Rumors continue to abound. Several rumors have circulated the web claiming that both Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar are nursing serious injuries only a month out from the UFC championship bout on November 15, 2008. If true, the UFC 91 fight card is in danger of a cancelled main event. But really? Thus far the news (or rumors more accurately) have come by way of random blog sites. And in contrast, news has also made the rounds regarding a potential impersonator of UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta calling up gyms such as Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas as well as people in the media and spreading what is alleged as false injury reports. Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated recently reported that the reports of such injuries are outright bogus.
In a recent article Gross stated:
“It’s amazing the things people ask sometimes. Last Saturday at Strikeforce’s card at the Playboy Mansion, a spectator said he’d heard a rumor in the bathroom: Randy Couture had injured his leg and wouldn’t be able to fight Brock Lesnar.
It seemed like one of those things you hear and generally dismiss. But there were a lot of industry insiders at the Mansion that night, and who knows what was going on in the bathrooms? So it was worth looking into.
Turns out, Couture was fine. In fact, he had a tremendous week of training and was taking the weekend off to hunt in the mountains of Colorado, according to his wife, Kim.
But, on Thursday, Kim Couture rang about another crazy rumor that was going around. Someone, doing his best Lorenzo Fertitta impersonation, called the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas. People inside Xtreme Couture scrambled when the fake Fertitta claimed Lesnar was injured, and the Nov. 15 fight was off. The rumor, however, was quickly quashed after confirming Lesnar, all 280 pounds of him, was fine.
Nothin’ like a little MMA amusement.”
Yet, in light of Gross’ recent report, Jared Barnes of the Houston Chronicle continues the rumored reports that both Couture and Lesnar are actually injured and the UFC 91 bout is in jeopardy.
In a recent blog, Barnes stated:
“The main event between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 may be in jeopardy. According to 3 different sources that are either involved with the Lesnar or Couture camp, both fighters are currently battling serious injuries. Lesnar sustained a hamstring injury, that he’s trying to cover up and work through, and Couture is having major shoulder problems.
This is tough news for both fighters as neither one of them seems to have much room for error going into this UFC heavyweight championship fight. Since details on the injuries are being held close to the vest, it’s difficult to judge the severity of each injury and which fighter it’s going to affect more. All I know is no matter how big of an opportunity it was, or how big the pay day was, I wouldn’t have any interest in fighting Couture or Lesnar if I wasn’t at 100%.”
Certainly if there were any truth to these rumors, the news would be plastered on the front pages of MMA sites across the web. Not to mention that MMA writers such as Josh Gross and Kevin Iole would be right on top of it. The absence of such legitimate reports obviously reveal the answers for most. It is interesting that The Houston Chronicle and Jared Barnes baited its report with a file photo of Randy Couture nursing a broken arm from over a year ago following his victory over Gabriel Gonzaga. The use of the old photograph led many at first to believe that the recent injury rumors are true. Some folks thought it was a fresh photo of Couture during his current training.
So I say, “Hey Houston Chronicle. Put a caption on that file photo.”
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