Couture amazing story, but No. 1 contender?

I'm a firm believer that age isn't measured in years. It's about how you life your life, take care of your body and apply to your craft while making the required adjustments to cope with bones and muscles that tend to bark a bit louder as your chronological number increases. There is a small part of it, though, that's up to a greater power: God's genetic programming.

Mark Coleman is 45 years old. Randy Couture is 46. Saturday night showed that Couture is aging like fine wine while Father Time is demanding Coleman, "Enough is Enough." Coleman is a decorated fighter, the UFC's first heavyweight champion, and a man of dignity. And it's sad to see him go out this way. Coleman offered little to no resistance against The Natural, yet said afterwords he still wants to fight. Dana White made it clear it won't be in the UFC - against Tito Ortiz or anyone. There's an awful lot The Hammer can contribute to the sport, but he no longer belongs inside the Octagon.

Couture is an incredible athlete and an amazing story. He's 2-2 in his last four fights, which includes the stiffest test anyone's provided Brock Lesnar, a heart-and-soul battle against Minotauro Nogueira, and a controversial decision over Brandon Vera. He appears to be on course for a shot at becoming a three-time light-heavyweight champion, a goal that if accomplished would put Captain America on the immortal level.

But is Couture a legit No. 1 contender? On paper, not yet. I'd like to see him in a rematch against Vera; to this day The Truth believes the judges screwed him out of a win at UFC 105. Coleman's heart is admirable, but his tools of today is not the ideal litmus test that Vera or even Jon Jones would be.

That said, does Urijah Faber deserve a shot at Jose Aldo over Mike Brown? I don't think so, but the UFC/WEC at times places a premium on a compelling matchup over merit (unlike Dan Hardy's fair chance at Georges St. Pierre). You can make an argument for Rashad Evans if he defeats Rampage Jackson, but also point out Evans' 0-1 record against champion Lyoto Machida. Then again, Brown is 2-0 against Faber, yet he's on the undercard of WEC's first pay-per-view while Faber-Aldo is the bout between two of world's most exciting featherweights that everyone wants to see.

Couture could benefit from timing. Beyond Evans and Vera (if he defeats Jones), there's no light-heavyweight that's ready for a title fight. If Vera wins he could draw the lucky number, but those convinced that Couture won that fight would probably want more proof out a rematch too. This puzzle can take well into the summer to complete.

UPDATE 12:04 p.m. Dana White confirmed that Couture is in the title picture. Machida's second defense against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 113, as well as the Evans-Rampage Jackson showdown expected to be settled at UFC 114 in May, will have to sort itself out.

"There's some unfinished business in the light heavyweight division," White said. "We've got to do Rashad and Rampage. We've got to do the Machida and 'Shogun' fight, and Randy falls in the middle of that whole mess somewhere. We'll see what happens. I've got to see what happens with the next couple fights."

Intangibles the attraction for Couture-Coleman

Jake Rossen is one of best MMA reporters and bloggers in the business. As always his primers serve as a valuable quick-hit information tool to generate interest in an upcoming event. He makes a fair point in his UFC 109 primer over the lack of fan enthusiasm over a card headlined by two fighters in their mid 40s.

"If fan enthusiasm is dull for Saturday's card, it might be blamed on mismeasured expectations: Standards that apply to 25-year-olds should not be heaped on men nearing 50 who have fought as frequently as some athletes have sparred. If you expect to watch Couture-Coleman and be dazzled by radical, hyper attacks, you will quickly grow disappointed; if you accept that two veterans will engage in a game in which nasty tricks and a takedown or two can alter the outcome, you probably will walk away satisfied."

Here's a reason to actually look forward to this fight: Sometimes when two old, great warriors tangle, you watch a war of attrition where ultimately heart and guts trumps any diminished skills. I recall the Thomas Hearns-Sugar Ray Leonard rematch in 1989. Since it was eight long years after the classic contest that Leonard won with a TKo in the 14th round, many fans looked at the ridiculously overdue rematch as one between two dinosaurs way past their prime. What both Hearns and Leonard proved was that, to quote analyst Larry Merchant during the broadcast, "there's no quit in either of these great warriors."

I also look back at Couture's bout with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Minotauro is only 33 years old, but a veteran of 38 MMA fights who entered the bout off the TKO loss to Frank Mir that left most to wonder how much he had left in the tank. Not only did Nogueira win, it was UFC 102's Fight of the Night.

Moral of the story: Don't expect to be blown away by Couture-Coleman, but watch it with an open mind and know that you're getting the privilege of seeing two active Hall of Famers defy age and provide a fight not aesthetically pleasing, but a blood-and-guts battle of wills which sometimes turn out the better story to be told.