First Round started off with each guy circling. One thing was clear...Lidell was out for blood. He was hitting harder and more agressively than I've seen him before. Couture kept his cool (as is his MO). They both landed a couple of glancing blows, nothing serious, then....in a harmless looking exchange, Couture comes out holding his eye in excrutiating pain. He looked like he was going to drop unconscious from it. It appears that Lidell actually punched him/thumbed him so hard that his thumb went right in to Couture's eye socket (keep in mind, this is like half way through the first round). Couture was still in serious pain a few more seconds in and took a knee. Lidell looked like he was going to jump him, but hesitated. The ref looked like he didn't know what the F to do. Then Couture told him what happened and he gave Randy time to recover. I'm not sure about UFC rules on this, but usually it's up to five minutes to recover. Randy took about 30 seconds and then said he could continue. His eye was watering badly, and he still had a look in his eye like he was hurting. They began again, Lidell jumped right on him with non-stop punches to the face (targeting that right eye of Couture's) He knocked him unconscious in the air, and Randy fell straight on his back out cold on the ground. Lidell jumped him and hit him with two more monster punches to the face (while he was out cold). The ref stopped the fight.

That's what happened.



Raven