Randy Couture's legacy in mixed martial arts was well established before August.
Couture, 47, was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame during his brief retirement in 2006. Couture returned to the Octagon in 2007 to claim the third heavyweight championship, and fifth overall title, of his UFC career.
The past 30 days, however, saw Couture reach new heights, both professionally and personally.
Couture defeated former boxing heavyweight champion James Toney on Aug. 28 in the co-main event of UFC 118 in Boston. Two weeks earlier, Couture saw his son Ryan make his successful professional MMA debut. That same day, Couture's latest movie, "The Expendables," debuted and soon reached No. 1 at the box office.
"It's been an amazing ride," Couture said, "(The movie is) one more reason August was a pretty incredible month for me."
The victory over Toney punctuated a long-standing debate between competitors in boxing and mixed martial arts over which fighting discipline was superior.
"Supposedly the boxers feel threatened and are running their mouths," Couture said of the verbal jousting between the groups of fighters. "I don't see too many mixed martial artists that are speaking out against boxers. That comparison has been there all along. . . . The fight was big in that regard."
Despite the constant battle for mainstream acceptance like their boxing contemporaries, Couture believed a potential loss by him would not have cost MMA any ground in the competition.
"Mixed martial arts was going to continue to explode regardless of the outcome of that fight," said Couture, a graduate of Oklahoma State.
The crowd at TD Garden chanted "UFC" repeatedly during the fight, which Couture won in 3:19 via an arm triangle choke.
"I picked up on (the chant) during the fight, but you don't have time to contemplate it during the fight," he said. "I just thought that it was interesting. Everybody got into it and kind of understood what was going on, and they got behind the UFC."
Couture experienced life on the other side of the cage on Aug. 13 when he traveled to Nashville to watch his 28-year-old son defeat Lucas Stark via submission in the first round during Showtime's nationally televised Strikeforce card.
"I was very proud of him. I've been proud of him," said Couture, who trains with his son at Extreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas. "He's been competing now for about two years. He's had six amateur fights.
" ... I'm proud of the way he's competing and his demeanor. He's wired a lot like I am. It takes quite a bit to get him fired up. It's very cool to see him, after a win like that, get very excited. I know that feeling. I was very, very happy for him." Couture's eventual post-fight career received a boost with his recent role in "The Expendables," which featured many of the action movie stars of the past two decades, including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Jet Li.
Couture identified Stallone as one of the leaders of the project and learned under the former "Rocky" and "Rambo" star.
"He kind of set the pace," said Couture, who will revive his role as Toll Road when the sequel films next summer. "He has a ton of experience. He's been doing this for a long, long time, 30-something years. I definitely learned some things from him. The biggest thing was not to get too caught up with the words on the page and the script. It was okay to make some adjustments and kind of say it how it needed to be said."
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-- UFC president Dana White was recently invited to speak to the members of the Oxford University debate club on Oct. 13, three days prior to UFC 120 in London.
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