Five-time champion Couture to end career after UFC 129

After a Hall of Fame career spanning five title reigns in two weight classes, 47-year-old Ultimate Fighting Championship star Randy Couture announced Tuesday that his matchup against Lyoto Machida on April 30 in Toronto will be the last fight of his career.

It's not the first time the Las Vegan has decided to step away from the sport, but he said this time it is for real.

"It's about where I'm at in my life," Couture said on a conference call. "I've been doing this for a long time."

He first retired in 2006 but returned a year later and claimed the heavyweight title for the third time at age 43, becoming the oldest to do so. Couture also held the light heavyweight belt twice.

Couture said the timing couldn't be better to retire after UFC 129, which will break the company's attendance record at upward of 55,000. He said his decision is not contingent on the outcome against Machida. Reached via text message late Tuesday, UFC president Dana White made it clear he thinks Couture will continue fighting if he beats Machida.

"I want to go out on my own terms and decide when enough is enough," Couture said. "I think that time has come. I think it's time to focus on the other things I've got going on in my life after this fight."

Couture was going through what he describes as a "messy" divorce the first time he retired. Now, he runs a successful chain of gyms, Xtreme Couture, and is an accomplished actor with two more movies in production and other offers on the horizon.

"When he retired after he fought Chuck Liddell, he was going through a lot of personal things. I didn't feel at that time he was really ready to call it a career," said Ron Frazier, the head coach at Xtreme Couture. "He's in a better place and he'll be able to stick by his guns. He doesn't need this anymore."

Lightweight Gray Maynard is one of the fighters who has thrived under Couture's tutelage at Xtreme Couture. He said Couture has been a role model not just for the fighters he helps train but for all who have gone into mixed martial arts.

"He was the first person that I think tried to make it a sport in all aspects. How he carried himself, how he trained. He helped it evolve into what it is now," said Maynard, who will fight Frankie Edgar for the lightweight title next month. "It doesn't come as a huge surprise just because of his age and where he's at. I think it's a perfect time."

Couture debuted at UFC 13 in 1997, winning two fights in one night to take the heavyweight tournament. He won his first UFC belt later that year.

The former three-time NCAA wrestling All-American at Oklahoma State has amassed a 19-10 record while fighting at a near-championship level almost his entire career. An astounding 15 of his 29 bouts have been championship fights.

Couture is riding a three-fight winning streak that includes a first-round submission of boxer James Toney in August.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.