CAS CONNECT 2014

Randy Couture was a three-time Academic Al l American member of OSU’s wrest l ing team dur ing his days on campus. 3 These days, his challenges range from writing to broad- casting to acting in feature films. Physical brawn cannot carry the former Cowboys wrestler in such pursuits, but lessons learned in the cage and on the mat continue to pay off. “I think that people have these preconceived ideas of what wrestlers and mixed martial artists are,” Couture says. “They think we’re these big, burly folks who can’t articulate.” For Couture, nothing could be further from the truth. He has worked as a television analyst on MMA bouts, writ- ten or co-written three books, and spent the last decade building a promising career in film, most notably as part of The Expendables franchise. In fact, The Expendables 3 hit theaters in August, and Couture, alongside such action star icons as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, has been involved in all three installments. When he is not writ- ing, broadcasting or acting, Couture spends time with his highly successful Las Vegas- based gym Xtreme Couture MMA, his Xtreme Couture clothing line, and his mili- tary charity, Xtreme Couture G.I. Foundation. Retirement from MMA, it seems, has left Couture as busy as ever. Oklahoma State fans are likely to recall his runner-up finishes at the NCAA wres- tling championships in 1991 and 1992. What they may not remember is that Couture was a three-time Academic All-American and would have made it all four years They call Randy Couture “The Natural,” a moniker bestowed after a swift rise to the peaks of professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting. While his athletic exploits still rate notice, “The Natural” earns his nickname these days by taking on vastly different projects with simi- larly apparent ease. “He’s a jack-of-all-trades.” Those words are intended as a compliment to Couture, but they fall far short. They ignore all the hard work, extreme discipline, and driv- ing focus with which the 1992 Oklahoma State University graduate approaches each challenge. In truth, not an ounce of success came easily to Couture. had freshmen been eligible. A foreign languages and liter- ature major who specialized in German at OSU, Couture entered college at 25 after serving in the United States Army for six years. Part of that time was spent in Germany, but that did not necessarily give Couture a leg up. “I learned a lot of slang,” Couture says. “I didn’t know how to spell, and I really didn’t know how to read [German]. Language skills at that age are a lot of road memory anyway, so then it becomes a function of diligence.” CONTINUES ALL PHOTOS / XTREMECOUTURE