Team Effort Personifies Team Quest
Preparing for Chuck
Josh Gross Apr 15, 2005
Twelve weeks ago, Follis, the architect of Couture’s shocking
performance that saw him stop Liddell to win the UFC light
heavyweight interim title, sat down with Couture and Quarry to map
out a game plan for Saturday’s fight.
“The first thing I want to look at is less at the opponent and more at my fighter,” Follis began. “And to me, a basic concept of what I try and get across to the fighters is we want to try and make that other guy fight your fight.”
For Follis, little can match the feeling of watching his charge
execute in the ring. That’s exactly what happened in the summer of
2003 when Couture, competing for the first time at 205 pounds,
battered Liddell around the Octagon.
“I was excited that we had another opportunity to go out and let it hang out,” said Follis, recalling his feelings after consecutive losses at heavyweight propelled Couture down one division. “And I was confident in the fact that we had made adjustments. I was confident in the fact that we had trained hard. Then you go out and compete and see what happens.”
Despite his reputation as a man who likes to slow a fight’s tempo, Couture and his camp feel Liddell will be an aggressive challenger in the Octagon tomorrow.
Ironically, they contend, it will make for an easier time if the John Hackleman-trained fighter moves forward. “It just means we collide that much quicker,” Couture said. “He’s still gotta hit me, and that creates the opening for me to get under him and take him down.”
“Randy’s game plan hasn’t changed for a while,” Follis explained. “We’ve just refined it. Randy’s gotten consistently better and I think it’s one of the hardest things that guys have to do at that level. When you’re on top, it’s hard to push yourself and expand in new areas because you’re thinking ‘Well, I’m already the champ. What do I need to change? People need to chase me.’ So we’ve continually looked to refine and find areas. When Randy had trouble getting up off bottom we delved onto that and worked the crap out of until we felt like he wasn’t going into a game plan that wasn’t his.
“His movement, execution, conditioning — again, we’ve been working his game plan for so long now, fine tuning it; he’s scary now.”
Couture never allowed Liddell to get comfortable the first time around. Constant forward pressure — or as Follis called it, “controlled aggression” — forced the favorite into mistakes. After 10 minutes elapsed it was no longer a question of if Couture would win it was when.
Scouting Liddell for the rematch, Couture “didn’t see a lot of things different.”
“But,” he added, “Obviously he wasn’t facing me again, so there was no reason for him to change a whole lot of things.
“He’s been pretty successful with what he’s been doing against everybody else. So, just kind of anticipating what he might be thinking and where he might go. When it gets down to it, I don’t see that we’re that different as fighters. He’s still the striker; he still wants to knock me out. I’m still a wrestler that wants to take him down and put him on the ground.
“I’ve got to cut him off and use the cage to corral him. When he gets to that black line that’s two, two and a half feet from the cage, that’s when you go. That’s when you attack and you’re either hitting him or running him into the cage and taking him down.”
If his time peppering Hagen is an indicator, Couture will work hard to keep Liddell grounded when the fight goes to the floor.
It seems odd, a world-class wrestler having to drill keeping an average college grappler on his back, but Liddell is the best light heavyweight in the world when it comes to recovering to his feet.
(Three times in the first fight Liddell managed to Houdini his way to a position where he could strike. If he’s got any shot of pulling the upset, the six-foot-two fighter will have to do that sort of thing again.)
“The first thing I want to look at is less at the opponent and more at my fighter,” Follis began. “And to me, a basic concept of what I try and get across to the fighters is we want to try and make that other guy fight your fight.”
Advertisement
“I was excited that we had another opportunity to go out and let it hang out,” said Follis, recalling his feelings after consecutive losses at heavyweight propelled Couture down one division. “And I was confident in the fact that we had made adjustments. I was confident in the fact that we had trained hard. Then you go out and compete and see what happens.”
On Saturday, Team Quest faces a man who believes he’s made the
necessary adjustments. With the exception of his fight against
Quinton Jackson, Liddell
is unbeaten since falling to Couture. And no argument could rebut
the claim that, among current UFC light heavyweight contenders,
there is no more dangerous opponent than a healthy and hungry
Liddell.
Despite his reputation as a man who likes to slow a fight’s tempo, Couture and his camp feel Liddell will be an aggressive challenger in the Octagon tomorrow.
Ironically, they contend, it will make for an easier time if the John Hackleman-trained fighter moves forward. “It just means we collide that much quicker,” Couture said. “He’s still gotta hit me, and that creates the opening for me to get under him and take him down.”
“Randy’s game plan hasn’t changed for a while,” Follis explained. “We’ve just refined it. Randy’s gotten consistently better and I think it’s one of the hardest things that guys have to do at that level. When you’re on top, it’s hard to push yourself and expand in new areas because you’re thinking ‘Well, I’m already the champ. What do I need to change? People need to chase me.’ So we’ve continually looked to refine and find areas. When Randy had trouble getting up off bottom we delved onto that and worked the crap out of until we felt like he wasn’t going into a game plan that wasn’t his.
“His movement, execution, conditioning — again, we’ve been working his game plan for so long now, fine tuning it; he’s scary now.”
Couture never allowed Liddell to get comfortable the first time around. Constant forward pressure — or as Follis called it, “controlled aggression” — forced the favorite into mistakes. After 10 minutes elapsed it was no longer a question of if Couture would win it was when.
Scouting Liddell for the rematch, Couture “didn’t see a lot of things different.”
“But,” he added, “Obviously he wasn’t facing me again, so there was no reason for him to change a whole lot of things.
“He’s been pretty successful with what he’s been doing against everybody else. So, just kind of anticipating what he might be thinking and where he might go. When it gets down to it, I don’t see that we’re that different as fighters. He’s still the striker; he still wants to knock me out. I’m still a wrestler that wants to take him down and put him on the ground.
“I’ve got to cut him off and use the cage to corral him. When he gets to that black line that’s two, two and a half feet from the cage, that’s when you go. That’s when you attack and you’re either hitting him or running him into the cage and taking him down.”
If his time peppering Hagen is an indicator, Couture will work hard to keep Liddell grounded when the fight goes to the floor.
It seems odd, a world-class wrestler having to drill keeping an average college grappler on his back, but Liddell is the best light heavyweight in the world when it comes to recovering to his feet.
(Three times in the first fight Liddell managed to Houdini his way to a position where he could strike. If he’s got any shot of pulling the upset, the six-foot-two fighter will have to do that sort of thing again.)
Related Articles
