Pro Wrestling Chronicle

I just watched one of the greatest Sports stories of the year last night. I was watching Rocky on my TV set, except the Rock was real. And sadly, when I woke up this morning, Mike Lupica wasn’t talking about it on ESPN’s Sports Reporters, and my local newspaper didn’t put it on the cover of the sports section. But last night, in front of 18,000 in Columbus Ohio and an estimated 700,000 on Pay-Per-View, Rocky Balboa won the heavyweight title. But this time Rocky’s name was Randy Couture.

Tim Sylvia may have come out to the Kanye West hit Jesus Walks (to a chorus of boos I might add), but it was “the Natural”, Randy Couture, who came away to the masses with messianic accolades.

I can not understate how big this win was, on a personal level for Couture, or on a business level for the UFC. Couture, at 43 years old, had no business being in the ring with the younger heavyweight champ, Tim Sylvia. He gave up six inches in height, more in reach, and 40 pounds in size and strength. And yet he willed himself to win. He won every moment of a five round fight that had people on their feet from the first moment, when he almost knocked the Monster-like Sylvia out with a flurry of punches. I sat there yelling and screaming at a TV set with fellow columnist Paul Siegfried. “Oh my God” we said as Sylvia went down. “OH MY GOD” we said in unison again, moments later, when we realized what this could mean. The scene was repeated in bars across America, where the PPV was beamed live, like the Mike Tyson fights in my youth, proving the drawing power of this story.

It’s an emotional connection to fighters and their circumstances that attaches us as fans to sports figures and their games. It’s called Human drama, and it’s a device our culture uses to tell stories. Last night, UFC gave us one of the biggest stories in years.

The scene in Siegfried’s home wasn’t unique. Friends and acquaintances were texting everyone at our party with thoughts as the fight went on. “Did you see that?” “They’re going nuts!” “Can you believe this?” and finally, “Greatest ever?”

When it was over we jumped up and down like little kids. You got a sense in those final minutes that’s what everyone was doing. In the stands, in a bar with hundreds, or by yourself at home. It was a scene out of a movie, much like Rocky, where they cut to the sports bar in his hometown, or to the old trainer, tear in his eye, listening to the radio or watching with his dog. Joe Rogan turned to fellow announcer Mike Goldberg in the final minutes of the fight, listed the accomplishments of the warrior-like Couture, and then after a deep breath said, “Can you believe this is happening?”

He might as well have been talking about the road that UFC has taken since the night Couture originally retired in February 2006. It was his last fight that helped fire UFC popularity into the stratosphere. And after 25 minutes of domination, it was “The Natural” who was finally back to share in those spoils.

No, Randy Couture won’t be on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. But they’ll be more coverage inside then ever before. His highlights and analysis won’t be the top story of Sports Center all day. But it will be mentioned. Couture’s win should be treated as any other fairy tale-like victory in Sports that we show over and over again to make ourselves feel good. What it will be is the story that forces every major media outlet to cover the UFC as a legitimate sport in much greater detail. Fox, NBC, ABC, ESPN, SI, the AP, and so many others are slowly caving in. This was the tailor made feel good story to put it over the top.

Much like when his retirement fight triggered the UFC boom, last night Couture was the straw that broke the camels back again. Couture didn’t just amaze and inspire again. He made it possible for the next UFC poster boy to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.