Former UFC champion Randy Couture ventured north of the border to Toronto this past weekend to promote the opening of the seventh installment of his namesake gym, Xtreme Couture, and the first of its kind in Canada.
Xtreme Couture in Toronto is massive -- 33,000 sq. ft. and boasts a full health club, yoga and spinning rooms, sauna, steam rooms, as well as an enormous mat area, ring and cage.
Owner’s Doug and Robert Urch -- along with Len MacDearmid -- have designed a twist on the typical mixed martial arts training facility, bringing in a full health club to appeal to a much broader clientele. Hardcore MMA practitioners, however, can still get top-notch instruction from the likes of Mark Bocek, Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick.
Couture was on double duty during his trip to Canada. He was also up for Yahoo! Canada’s Round 5 launch party. He was joined by former lightweight champion Sean Sherk, who was fresh off his loss to BJ Penn at UFC 84: "Ill Will."
Round 5 has produced Series 1 of its action figures with the release of Quinton Jackson, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hughes and Randy Couture all being molded into composite collectibles. "The Muscle Shark" was on hand as he will have his own toy to open soon with the proposed fall release of Series 2 along with the likes of Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva.
Round 5 was at a loss as to who would fill the final spot on the Series 2 roster and had Randy and Sean square off in an arm wrestling match with the winner getting their pick as the fourth personality to be released in the fall. Sherk had in mind either Forrest Griffin or Wanderlei Silva and Randy was dead set on seeing "The Prodigy" in toy boxes across North America.
Sean put up a fight, but BJ will be able to re-enact crisp jabs into Sherk’s face until his heart is content come the fall.
Randy and Sean were both generous with their time and I had a chance to catch up with both of them. Randy talked about the fight with Fedor, his dedication to seeing fighter’s rights and working environment improved. Sean, on the other hand, discussed his fight with BJ and his thoughts on the Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta showdown scheduled for UFC 87.
To check out the entire interview click here.
Sean McManus is the Director of Media Relations for MMACanada.net. For more information on the MMA scene up in Canada check out MMACanada.net.
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