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There is nothing like the atmosphere at a heavyweight title fight. When the 20s roared, Jack Dempsey and the heavyweight title were at the forefront. Few would argue that the grandest of nights on the grandest of stages – Madison Square Garden – was the first time Frazier fought Ali. And when "Iron Mike" or "The Real Deal" or "Big George" headlined in Las Vegas with the strap on the line, I hear the buzz was incomparable. With all due respect to boxing nowadays, the likes of current heavyweight pugilists Wladimir Klitschko, Samuel Peter, Ruslan Chagaev and on and on just don't put the casual fan, much less most boxing or combat sports fans, into a frenzy. Recently, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced a heavyweight title battle that will do just that. UFC Hall of Famer, UFC heavyweight champion and previously the UFC's most disgruntled employee since Tito Ortiz became a free agent, "Captain America" Randy Couture, will face former NCAA wrestling champion and former World Wrestling Entertainment champion Brock Lesnar on Nov. 15 in Las Vegas. This is big. And it will only get bigger. Approximately 500 pounds of chiseled badass will collide inside the octagon. "It is a fascinating matchup: the crafty, multiple-time heavyweight champion versus the younger, bigger, and stronger challenger," UFC President Dana White was quoted as saying. "This one will go down in the history books."  "Captain America" Randy Couture is the national icon of mixed martial arts, broken arm and all. Known in his WWE days as "The Next Big Thing," Lesnar has often talked about being a "true" heavyweight. Fact is, in this day and age of fighting, whether mixed martial arts, boxing, whathaveyou, cutting weight is the sign of the times. Lesnar needs to cut weight to make it under the 265-pound weight limit, while Couture is capable of cutting down to the 205-pound light heavyweight division - which he's done to the tune of two title reigns. But the weight disparity is merely fodder for the David vs. Goliath aspect of the fight, one that follows Couture into the arena every time he wraps gloves around his fists. Fact is, most heavyweights in this day and age are of the couch-potato variety. The biggest of badasses are hard to come by, largely the reason the heavyweight division has long been considered the UFC's weakest division and boxers such as Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield were still main-eventing and fighting for titles years beyond their prime. But the UFC has found a heavyweight tilt worthy of headlines. On top of that is the possible good guy vs. bad guy matchup that everyone eats up. There's a possibility that Couture has angered some fans during his contract tiff with the UFC, but for the most part, he personifies the underdog, the everyman, the professional and the patriot all in one. He's Captain America for a reason. Then there's Lesnar. He's a 6-foot-3, 265-pound freight train of a man that moves with the agility and quickness of a welterweight, hits like a truck, imposes his freakish strength and wrestles like the legit former NCAA champion that he was. Most recently, he utterly demolished a shoe-leather tough Heath Herring. Of course there's how he ended that fight, too - with a point of his finger and an ear-to-ear laugh at his opponent's expense. Whether it's the WWE still in him or he's just a natural bully, Lesnar plays the bad-guy role - or the heel if you're into pro wrestling jargon - to a tee. For example … "I'm hearing all this talk about Fedor Emelianenko, but who gives a (expletive) about Fedor?" Lesnar said during Tuesday‘s conference call. "I don't care. I'm fighting Randy Couture and that's what this press conference is about. I don't give a damn about Fedor. I'm tired of hearing about (expletive) Fedor. All right? Randy Couture is fighting Brock Lesnar Nov. 15. His No. 1 concern should be Brock Lesnar."  Brock Lesnar is a 6-foot-3, 265-pound freight train of a former NCAA wrestling champ. Emelianenko is regarded as the best heavyweight fighter in the world and a dream match with him is what Couture has always coveted. But Brock Lesnar versus Randy Couture is the biggest fight any mixed martial arts company could make. Casual fans and hardcores alike will call their pay-per-view providers. The subplots are plentiful and the hype will swell. "I can tell you this right now," White said. "Couture vs Lesnar will be the biggest fight in UFC history." It'll be bigger than just the UFC, though. It will be the biggest heavyweight fight in a long, long time. Grant Gordon is currently the Sports Editor for the Glendale News-Press, a subsidiary of the Los Angeles Times. You can contact him at
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