NW Fightscene Correspondent Steve "Spaniard" Valentine spoke with "The Natural" today about fighting in Portland for the first time and more...

NW Fightscene: We love you, everybody loves you in the NW. We're really excited to have you here. How do you feel to be in Portland for this show?
Randy Couture: I'm excited. Yeah I'm very relaxed, feels great. I think its going to be a great show and a great fight.

You guys are both strong in each respective aspect... wresting, jiu-jitsu...

Do you think this might turn out to be a boxing match?
Couture: Its a good chance of that. We'll see. Obviously he's going to want to put me on the ground where he feels strongest. I'm actually strongest on the ground too... we may end up there. I think I may have a slight advantage in the standing position, and maybe athleticism and boxing skills. So we'll see what happens.

The bulk of your fights have been five rounds, this being only your second

 3 round fight...  so a little faster, a little less time... gotta get it done...
Couture: Yeah, I think a three round fight you have to be prepared to go and go hard.  You can't afford to lollygag around. Training represented that pretty well so we'll be good.

You coached Chris Leben, Ed Herman and now you guys are all fighting on the same card. Do you guys have some pre-fight camaraderie going on?
Couture: I saw Eddie yesterday. I haven't seen Chris yet. Obviously Chris moved to Hawaii now and is kind of doing his own thing there. Yeah its cool to be on the same card with those guys. We'll have some fun for sure.

Anything you'd like to add?
Couture: I hope everybody comes to the post-fight party here at the Marriot at the waterfront and supports the Autism Society of Oregon. A bunch of the fighters and Dana White and everybody is going to be here. So you guys go to NaturalUnderstanding.com and check out the event, and come hang out with us.

Definitely. Thanks Randy. 

Thank you very much.