Inside Xtreme Couture headquarters in Las Vegas, there were some down faces.
The gym, a surprisingly modest facility with just a ring, a cage and some mats to grapple on, was still packed with fighters. But there was a pall over the entire building: In the past few weeks, two of the team's most famous and successful fighters — Forrest Griffin and Gina Carano — had lost high-profile fights in devastating fashion.
For team leader Randy Couture, the general according to the team's tongue-in-cheek military inspired Web site, losses were just an opportunity to get better. And despite both fighters leaving the arena without addressing fans and the media after their losses, no one was taking it too hard for too long.
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"If the worst thing that happens to Gina or Forrest is they lose a fight, they're doing pretty damn good," Couture said in a recent conference call to promote Saturday's UFC 102. "... I don't see that as a negative. It's all part of a learning and growing process. I think the adversity of losing that fight is going to be very important in her development as a fighter. I know from my own experience that the fights that I've lost were very important to me. If I could go back and change them, I don't think I would. I think I learned more and became a better person and a better athlete for having experienced those things. I know that Gina and Forrest are both in the same boat."
Couture has had a whirlwind year, despite a lack of action in the octagon. He's been busy with his fallback career, filming the new Sylvester Stallone movie The Expendables in Los Angeles and Brazil. In the movie he plays Toll Road, a demolition expert.
Ironically, just before he left for the set, he blew up his two-and-a-half year marriage to Kim Couture, serving her divorce papers in April. After his previous divorce from wife Trish, Couture's career spiraled down as he lost his extended network of friends in Oregon. This time, things seem different and he's been able to settle his differences with Kim amicably.
"Unfortunately, I'm going through divorce again, but it's a lot different this time than it was with the 12-year relationship that Trish and I had," Couture said. "... No family, no friends, no business partners involved. Back then, I felt everybody was hating on me all at the same time and it was hard to deal with. This issue is between Kim and I, a two-and-a-half year marriage that's pretty easy to separate and I think things are progressing. The attorneys are doing their jobs and that allows me to just focus on training and get ready for this fight."
While many people in the media were overlooking Couture's upcoming fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, preferring to focus on a potential rematch with UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, Couture realizes his opponent is one of the best heavyweights of all time. In the past, Couture has been famous for bringing in training partners to mimic his opponent's strengths. This time he's been content to rely on in-house help for fine tuning his submission defenses to prepare for a master grappler.
Neil Melanson, a former soldier and air marshall, is working on Couture's ground game for what they expect may be a fight contested on the mat.
While Nogueira struggled in his last fight, a loss to Frank Mir, the Brazilian feels confident that this time he will be able to show American fans his best.
"As a fighter you got to be 100 percent," Nogueira said. "In my last fight, I had a knee injury days before the fight. No excuses, but I couldn't be in shape because my knee was out. It was a very bad time for me to fight. I couldn't move at all and that day Frank caught me with a good left hand three times. He made the fight."
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