‘If you live by the sword, you die by the sword,’ the old adage proclaims, and the 10 UFC legends featured in this article certainly proved that to be true, experiencing the highest of highs in the sport, only to then have their career’s ended in brutal fashion inside the Octagon.
Randy Couture
Randy Couture appeared to defy the aging process for many years in the Octagon, winning title fights well into his 40’s, but time would eventually catch up with ‘The Natural’ in the end.
Couture was 47 when he fought former 205lb champion Lyoto Machida, 15 years his junior, at UFC 129 in 2011.
Couture had been fighting aging veterans in the twilight of their career’s prior to this bout, defeating the likes of Mark Coleman and James Toney, but though Machida was coming off back-to-back losses he was still in the prime of his career and hungry to get back to winning ways.
The speed difference between the two fighters was stark from the opening bell and for the first time Couture really began to show his age as he struggled to lay hands on the ever-elusive ‘Dragon.’
Early in the second round, Machida brought ‘The Karate Kid’ movie to life by launching into a crane kick, landing a perfectly placed foot directly to Couture’s chin, knocking him old cold and sending him into retirement once and for all on the wrong end of a classic highlight-reel finish.
