Randy Couture on Antonio Silva: ‘You Can’t Play Around with Guys that Size’

By John Heinis on Saturday, May 25th 2013
Randy Couture on Antonio Silva: ‘You Can’t Play Around with Guys that Size’

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture believes that Cain Velasquez is the guy to beat in the UFC’s heavyweight division, but he would never count the 6’4”, nearly 300-pound behemoth, Antonio Silva.

Speaking to MMA Junkie, “The Natural” gave his breakdown of the UFC 160 title fight between Velasquez and Silva.

"I feel like Cain is the guy to beat," Couture said. "Even in his loss to Junior (dos Santos) the first time, I was very surprised it went that way and expected it to go a lot more like their second fight."

Despite heavy praise for the champion, the former two-division titleholder isn’t counting out the Brazilian.

"You can't afford to play around with guys that size," Couture said. "Trust me. I know."

Couture’s final title reign in the UFC ended on UFC 91 in November 2008, suffering a round 2 TKO at the hands of a must larger Brock Lesnar.

Silva looked like a force to be reckoned with after scoring a TKO (doctor’s stoppage) over the legendary February Emelianenko in February 2011.

However, many were led to believe Bigfoot was a gatekeeper after suffering back-to-back finishes at the hands of American Kickboxing Academy teammates Daniel Cormier and Velasquez.

However, the 33-year-old bounced back with consecutive knockouts of hot prospect Travis Browne and former Strikeforce/K1 champ Alistair Overeem.

Velasquez scored an incredibly brutal and bloody TKO over Silva at their first meeting roughly one year ago at UFC 146, but will the challenger’s power and game planning allow him to pull off a massive upset in the rematch?

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