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Blog: Couture-Nogueira Test Run?


Couture-Nogueira test run?
By Loretta Hunt (lhunt@sherdog.com)
Scott Doctor/Splash News

Will Couture get a test run?
Sunday, 12:10 a.m. ET: If Sylvester Stallone has his way, Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will lay hands on each other long before they enter the Octagon.

The legendary couple is slated to face one another in a heavyweight contest at UFC 102 on Aug. 29 in Portland, Ore. But before fans see the former UFC champion and his Pride counterpart come to blows, Stallone might orchestrate a test run in his new film “The Expendables,” currently shooting in Brazil.

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Couture -- a budding thespian who’s had roles in “The Scorpion King 2” and the CBS military series “The Unit” -- plays “Toll Road,” one of five mercenaries sent to South America to overthrow a dictator alongside action movie staples Jet Li, Jason Statham, and Stallone, who also directs.

Nogueira, and his twin brother Rogerio, also play soldiers in the flick.

Couture finished his initial scenes in Brazil this week, where the 45-year-old’s rigorous training schedule evidently came in handy.

“We shot from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m., and I was so jacked up,” Couture told Sherdog.com. “I never felt tired and had to wind down for an hour or so before I could go to sleep.”

Couture is on a two-week hiatus until May 10, when reunites with the team in New Orleans to continue shooting for the adrenaline-laced blockbuster. Select scenes have been re-scheduled to go down in the Big Easy due to inclement weather and production issues in Brazil.

As for working with the big screen’s original underdog?

“Sly was very intense, but also very in tune with the other actors and what needed to come across in the scenes,” said Couture. “Shooting went great.”

“The Expendables” is scheduled to swoop into theatres in April 2010.


Maynard 1; critics 0
By Jake Rossen (jake@sherdog.com)
Jose Valenzuela/Sherdog.com

Bryan Fry vs. Kyle Maynard
Sunday, 12:14 a.m. ET: An able-bodied but ineffective Kyle Maynard impressed critics but not judges Saturday when he met Bryan Fry in an Auburn Fight Night mixed martial arts competition held in Auburn, Ala.

Maynard, who fights at 135 pounds and was carried into the ring on piggyback, slipped punches with ease but was unable to close the distance and spent the majority of the nine-minute bout running sprints at Fry’s legs. Fry earned 30-27 scores for the decision, but appeared unwilling or unable to mount any sustained offense against Maynard, landing less than a half-dozen strikes to his head and torso during the fight.

Prior to the opening bell, it was announced that Maynard couldn’t secure his gloves, possibly due to arena humidity, and was therefore not allowed to strike.

It’s worth noting that Maynard, by virtue of his missing limbs, is likely substantially stronger than slimmer peers in the 135-pound class, and that his upper arms are calloused blunt-force instruments that appear to pack some power in training footage. It’s also worth noting that Maynard makes me feel like an inadequate, lazy slob.

The extent of Maynard’s exile -- to Alabama, a state with no athletic commission to veto his goal -- was on ready display during the morbid $14.95 Internet broadcast, which resembled a snuff film thanks to the grainy stationary camera pointed at a square cage. The action was halted early on for an opponent to retrieve a missing tooth; “Big Willie’s Hot Dogs” was thanked during commentary; the commentators grew increasingly inebriated as the night wore on. Carnegie Hall it wasn’t.

I would hope and expect Maynard has had his fill of MMA: not getting seriously hurt seems to be a point well proven. No one climbs Everest twice.

Well, some people do, but those people are insane.

Achievement recorded, Kyle. Now don’t go giving your mother another anxiety attack.


Maynard Update/Correction
By Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com)
Update 04/27/09: It has come to my attention that announcers during the Auburn Fight Night web stream made reference to a “Fatt [sic] Willies Hot Dog Stand,” not “Big Willies” as previously reported.

While I find the latter to be far more memorable, I regret the error. I also deeply regret having kept the volume turned up during the broadcast.

Check the blog all day for more entries.





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