Just about a month ago, I met up with MMA fighter Ryan Couture at the Xtreme Couture Training Facility here in Las Vegas. Let me start off by saying that Ryan is one of the nicest people I have ever met. I’m not just saying that either. I had bumped into Ryan a few times before the interview and even a time or two since then and he is the real deal, a genuinely nice guy!
So, other than being a good guy, what can I share about Mr. Couture? Well, of course, I asked him how he got started fighting and I was rather surprised by his answer. I figured that he had grown up watching his dad fight and felt like if he did anything else he would somehow tarnish the legacy of the Couture name. Come to find out, that wasn’t even close!
He told me, “I grew up wresting through school, junior high and high school. Then went to college and took some time off from athletics to focus on school and socializing and then basically getting fat. Then you know I have always been a fan of the sport as long as dad has been doing it; that was obviously my connection to it. And as his career grew, I became a bigger and bigger fan and followed the sport more and more closely. I was always curious about competition but wasn’t in any kind of shape and didn’t really think I would ever get around to doing it. After college, when I had a little more free time, I started taking more of an interest in fitness and getting back in shape. I started grappling and dabbling in a little bit of kickboxing as well. I competed in some grappling competitions and had fun with that. Then when I got the opportunity to relocate to Vegas and work for the gym that kind of stepped up my interest even more. The training went to a whole other level and it just grew from there.”
I asked what other skills Ryan had added to his arsenal over the past couple of years leading up to him becoming a professional fighter and where he felt he was strongest. He says he has to go with his submissions and more specifically his “offensive and dangerous guard”. Ryan was a Blue Belt in BJJ through his gym back in Washington and has since earned a Purple Belt under Neil Melanson here at Xtreme Couture. Even though Ryan has only been fighting MMA since 2009, he racked up an amateur record of 5-1-1 with all of his victories coming via submission! Then, on August 13th 2010, in his professional debut, he was able to triangle choke Lucas Stark for the win in just 75 seconds.
One of the hot topics out there in the MMA world right now is the “lay and pray” fighting style, where a guy goes for takedowns, but ultimately uses them to score points with the judges and control his opponent with little to no effort being put forth to finish the fight. I asked Ryan what he thought of the situation and he said that he can’t fault a guy for wanting to get his hand raised with no injury. I followed that question up with the flipside of that coin. I asked about the pressure on fighters to “perform” because of the entertainment aspect of sports. He said that it is always in the back of your mind and that is why some guys come out and take risks.
When I asked if there were any fighters that he looked up to he couldn’t narrow it down right away. He mentioned a ton of guys at Xtreme Couture. When he did start naming names, it was still quite a list… “Gray, Tyson, Martin, Mike, Jay, Rodrigo, Alessio…”
I was curious if there was anyone out there that Ryan wanted to fight, maybe to avenge his one loss or someone who might be gunning for him because of his name. Turns out there are and somewhere down the line he would like a chance to finish his last amateur fight that ended in a draw. He said that it was a real back and forth crowd pleaser. Let’s hope that comes together for him.
Unfortunately, Ryan was scheduled for a fight this past November 19th, but was forced to withdraw because of a serious infection. He is wrapping up some treatment and said as soon as he is released he will get to fight again. This will probably be some time in March. With 5 fights left on his STRIKEFORCE contract, we will get to see plenty more action from this young up-and-comer! It is going to be exciting to see his career unfold.
Ryan’s main sponsors are www.inflictsports.com and www.itaintchemo.com.
He is a great guy and it was a lot of fun to sit down with him. Look for him on FACEBOOK and TWITTER!
