Randy Couture

RANDY COUTURE

Date of Birth: June 22, 1963

Randy Couture is more than just an American actor. He is also an important icon in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Born in Washington, Couture began wrestling in middle school. He continued to wrestle throughout high school as well, winning State Championship in his senior year. After graduating, he served in the U.S. Army for six years, where he took up boxing in order to balance out the Army’s standard physical training program. After Couture finished his service, he worked at Oregon State University as an assistant wrestling and strength conditioning coach.

At the age of 33, Couture made his professional fighting debut and was victorious in the UFC Heavyweight division. Soon after, Couture became known as Randy “The Natural” Couture after he gained a Technical Knock Out victory against Brazilian fighter Vitor Belfort. In 2002, after two consecutive losses to larger opponents in the Heavyweight division, Couture moved down to the Light Heavyweight division where he spent the rest of his career.

A former two-time UFC Light Heavyweight champion and three-time UFC Heavyweight champion, Couture is the only UFC competitor to hold titles in both of these divisions. In June 2006, Couture was the fourth professional fighter to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. At the same time, Couture also announced his retirement and his intention to begin a career in acting. He retired from the MMA at the age of 44.

In 2003, Couture had his first acting role in Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), starring Jet Li and DMX. He then began to make guest appearances on television series such as The King of Queens and The Unit and had the opportunity to perform stunts for HBO’s Oz. Following this, Couture was cast in bigger film roles such as in Redbelt (2008) with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tim Allen, The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior (2008) with Michael Copon and Karen David, The Expendables (2010) and The Expendables 2 (2012) with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Jet Li, and Setup (2011) with 50 Cent, Bruce Willis, and Ryan Phillippe.

Couture runs his own chain of gyms, Xtreme Couture MMA, and a successful clothing line, Xtreme Couture MMA Clothing. His other passions include motorcycles and hunting. He resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Filmography:

3 Geezers! (2013)
The Expendables 2 (2012)
Hijacked (2012)
Setup (2011)
The Expendables (2010)
The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior (2008)
Redbelt (2008)
Big Stan (2007)
Invincible (2006)
Today You Die (2005)
No Rules (2005)
Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)