On Wednesday night, March 7, new UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture joined hosts Brian Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci live on Between The Ropes on Central Florida's Sports Radio 740 The Team to discuss his win over Tim Sylvia, how he trained for the Sylvia fight, who he would like to defend the title against, and much more.

The interview started with Randy talking about how hectic his life has been since wining the title on Saturday night. Randy said that he didn't get any sleep until Sunday night and that life has been blast.

Randy then talked about his surprising success standing up against Sylvia. "It was crazy. I don't think anybody expected it to go down like that... I stood up for the whole third round. I think everyone was on the edge of their seats afraid that I was going to catch one and get knocked out. I felt pretty comfortable and Tim was having trouble hitting me. He didn't really know if I was going to shoot or hit him. He never really recovered from that opening punch"

Then Randy was asked if his strategy in the stand up heavy third round was to get his energy back after dominating the first two rounds. "I certainly had no intention of giving the round away. I did expend a lot of energy in the first two rounds trying to put Tim on the ground, so I felt a little weary between rounds. But I feel I recovered, I was landing that overhand right and left hook repeatedly and just felt comfortable. I felt like the head movement and the fake shots were working, so I never got into a position where I needed to follow through and take Tim down."

What went through your mind after knocking Sylvia down seven seconds into the fight?

"I think it was apparent that I was as shocked as everybody in the arena. It took me about two seconds to figure out what happened. He was about five feet away and I had to run over there to get on him. The combination that we practiced the whole training camp was a left cut kick with an overhand right and I was supposed to follow with a left hook, but by the time I got to the left hook he was gone and I didn't know where the hell he went."

Regarding his mental process after Sylvia survived the initial flurry Tim said that he had trained to go the whole five rounds and that he was glad that it did go the whole five rounds, because if the fight had ended after his initial barrage some people would have chalked up his win to a lucky punch.

Randy then discussed how he prepared for the fight by training with bigger guys. He said that he hated the first two weeks, but he kept plugging along until he got comfortable with the bigger fighters. Randy also complemented Sylvia's ground game, noting how well he had protected himself during their fight.

Asked whether he could hear the crowd during the fight Randy said he definitely could. He also described the countdown at the end of the fight as "deafening" and "spectacular."

Randy admitted that he did emphasize boxing quite a bit in training camp. He felt that it was crucial to work on angles in order to limit Sylvia's mobility and rage so he couldn't control the octagon. In addition to boxing Randy said he spent a lot of time preparing for the "worst case scenario" in which he would find himself under Sylvia .

The talk then turned to Randy's ability to fight at such a high level despite his advanced age. While Randy didn't attribute his continued competitiveness to any particular thing he did credit the fact that he has not suffered any major injuries, has had no joint surgeries, and stayed fit for many years by wrestling before transitioning into fighting.

Concerning Sylvia's post fight claim that he had an injury coming into the fight Randy said that he initially didn't hear the comment and wondered what Sylvia had said that set the crowd off. He then said that he couldn't think of a single fight that he had gone into were he didn't have some kind of nagging injury

Randy then discussed some other projects outside of fighting that he is working on. He has an autobiography that is close to finding a publisher, as well as having a role in an upcoming Rob Schneider film.

Randy then talked about what fighters were on the horizon for a shot at his title. He said that the winner of the Cro Cop – Gabriel Gonzaga fight was in line for a shot. He then stated that "most people are expecting to see Mirco come out of that successfully, but I think Gabriel Gonzaga definitely has a good shot. He's a good grappler and if he can get the fight to the ground Mirco could have a problem."

On Mirco Cro Cop specifically: "After only one fight in the UFC he has seen some serious hype because of his explosive style. I think he's one of the best strikers on the planet. He'd definitely be a guy that would get me fired up to train and get back in there to defend the title."

Randy was asked about the possibility of another rematch with Chuck Liddell, this time in the heavyweight division. Randy said there was nothing official to those rumors, but "Chuck has expressed interest in coming up and fighting some of the heavyweights. I don't know if he's interested in fighting me again or not…but I think it's just the fans talking about it right now."

The interview then concluded with Randy admitting that his gym saw a spike in memberships on Monday morning.

To listen to the Randy Couture interview, including whether Randy believes he is a more natural fit in the heavyweight division, his thoughts on who should play him in a movie based on his life, as well as the entire March 7 edition of Between The Ropes in streaming audio, visit the show online at http://www.BetweenTheRopes.com. Join us for Between The Ropes for two hours every Wednesday night at 10:00pm ET on Central Florida's Sports Radio 740 The Team and worldwide on BetweenTheRopes.com.

Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news from this site or from our newsletters, please include a link to www.f4wonline.com as opposed to "From F4W", "From Figure Four Weekly" or derivatives. Thank you!

For the most in-depth and detailed news and analysis on pro-wrestling and MMA, always turn to Figure Four Weekly Online! Become a member of F4Wonline.com and get the absolute latest insider news and commentary from WWE, TNA, UFC, PRIDE, CMLL, AAA, ROH, K-1, all the wrestling and MMA independents, Japan, and so much more, all for as little as $1.44 per week. Members get access to the COMPLETE radio show archives dating back to 2005 (Figure Four Daily, The Bryan & Vinny Show, Mike Coughlin's Five Star Radio, the Dr. Keith Lipinski Show, and The Adam & Mike Big Audio Nightmare), the Figure Four Weekly newsletter archive (260+ issues from the past five years), the entire Dragon King Wrestling History Archive, and complete access to every news article and column ever posted on the site. For your convenience, we offer secure online payments using your VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover card or PayPal account. Don't miss out on the fun, sign up now!

Want full access within one minute? QUICK AND EASY $7.99 PAYPAL SIGN-UP!