Randy Couture needs no introduction. He is a true pioneer of Mixed Martial Arts, the first-ever two-division UFC Champion and a decorated Army veteran. Not to mention a Hollywood movie star. “The Natural” was gracious with his time, and an excerpt of our conversation is transcribed below. It was an honor to interview a living legend.


GrapplerMag: I haven't even mentioned yet that you're a Hollywood movie star. My dad is an old-school action fan and we love The Expendables. Without a doubt, one of the strongest ensemble casts ever put together. What was the general vibe like on set? 


Randy Couture: It was amazing. Obviously, I think Sly (Sylvester Stallone) set the bar for all of us, and he’s probably one of the few guys out there that had the juice to pull all those guys together. And Expendables One, I mean, that's the first time you saw Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Bruce Willis all on the same screen. They were always in cahoots or in competition with each other for the box office numbers up to that point. So I think that's one of the things that made that movie very, very unique and it was a throwback action flick from the ‘80s. 

You know, Sly wrote the first script for Expendables One and directed it. I don't know when the guy slept for the three months we filmed that because he was doing, you know, in front of the camera, doing all the dailies, doing all the rewrites. I'm like, ‘Good Lord, when is this man sleeping?’ It was pretty crazy, but a fun film and the number-one film in the box office that summer. 

I don't think anybody does that better than Sly. I mean, we've had four Expendables now. How many Rockys did we get? How many Rambos have we got? I mean, nobody does that as well as he does. He just knows his wheelhouse. He's an amazing writer, super smart, and just manages to get it done. 

Everybody assumes there'd be a bunch of, you know, frankly, dick measuring on that set with a bunch of alphas, yeah. And it was not like that at all. It was like being back on your favorite team. Or you're getting suited up and going out to play the game and telling gnarly jokes and having a blast. It was fun. 


GM: Cool, just the camaraderie, yeah? 


RC: Yes, exactly. 




GM: Did you hit it off with anyone in particular? 


RC: I spent more time with Terry Crews and Dolph Lundgren than probably anybody, and then got to spend some significant time with Jason Statham as well. All three great guys. But to a man, I mean, just all of us, we just had such a good time…just fun being on set, fun making those movies, just a blast. 


GM: You did Cradle 2 the Grave with Jet Li before that, right? Was that your first acting credit? 


RC: That was my very first motion picture. Yeah, we got the call through the UFC. They wanted authentic cage fighters for that scene in Cradle 2 the Grave in the early 2000s. And I had already done a Nation's Bank commercial going into the ‘96 Games. They were a big sponsor. And that was actually a SAG [Screen Actor’s Guild] gig. So I was grandfathered into my SAG card. I just never paid dues because there was no reason to. 

So then that movie came along. They wanted authentic fighters, [they] called me, Chuck and Tito [Ortiz] for that film. I said, “Heck yeah, I'll do that. That sounds like fun.” So I actually went out and paid my SAG dues and got my SAG card and started taking some acting lessons and just looked at it as an opportunity for something to do down the road when fighting wasn't an option anymore. 


GM: Jet Li is super underrated. 


RC: He was great. 


GM: I'm a huge pro wrestling fan as well. I love Stone Cold Steve Austin. What was it like working with the Texas Rattlesnake? 


RC: Oh my gosh, he's awesome. Great guy. I would ride almost every single day to set with him in the van. We worked nights that entire movie. And so, we're coming into the hotel at, you know, six, seven in the morning, getting our workout in and then going straight to bed. Sleeping for a few hours, and then get up to have lunch. And then you're getting picked up to go back to set for the next night's work, and we work six nights a week during that film as well. 

But man, he knew every stat on every fighter at that time. He asked me a million questions about fighting, and I think if he'd have been a little bit younger or his knees had held up a little bit better, he would have been fighting in MMA. That's how much he loved the sport. He was a great guy. And he was a huge fan of the sport. 


GM: That's cool he's a real one. 


RC: Yeah, absolutely. 


GM: I love that fight scene. You hit him with the Superman punch while he's burning alive. That’s cinema.


[laughs] 


RC: It was a fun one for sure. And that was the 87Eleven guys. Chad Stahelsky and all those guys that now are responsible for all the [John] Wick movies in the Wick world and, you know, Chad was just a stuntman back then and now he's a very accomplished director. So it's been interesting to see that whole thing explode as well. 



Tim Kline

Brandon Ibarra

Brandon attended the College of Journalism at the University of Florida. He has one stripe on his white belt.