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History · 2002 · UFC 39: The Warriors Return · Ricco Rodriguez vs Randy Couture
From the tape · 27 Sep 2002

Ricco Rodriguez vs Randy Couture

UFC 39: The Warriors Return · Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
Result

Ricco Rodriguez beat Randy Couture

Method
KO/TKO
Round
5 of 5
Clock
3:04
Heavyweight TitleTitle fightMainReferee · John McCarthy

We published no prediction for this bout. Everything on this page is the official record and the tape it was fought on — the result, the round-by-round counts, the judges’ cards where they exist and the sportsbook line where one was published. Our graded calls start in 2026 and live on the public record.

RR
Red corner RiccoRodriguez“Suave”American Fight Club · Staten Island, New York
VSOn the tape
RC
Blue corner RandyCouture“The Natural”Xtreme Couture · Corvallis, Oregon
Heavyweight Title5 rounds27 Sep 2002
The story going in
  • Comes in on a 4-fight win streak.
  • Has finished 5 of 7 UFC wins.
  • Every one of Rodriguez’s 4 UFC wins came inside the distance.
  • 8 UFC bouts deep — 4 more than Rodriguez.
53-25
Record
19-11
−14 yr25
Age
39
+3″6' 4"
Height
6' 1"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
4
UFC bouts
+48
+29%4/4100% of wins
Finishes
5/771% of wins
American Fight Club
Gym
Xtreme Couture
Staten Island, New York
From
Corvallis, Oregon
Vitals, record, nickname and camp come from the public UFC fighter register and are current, not a snapshot of fight night. UFC bouts, finish rate and every storyline line are counted off the official UFC fight record. A tick marks the side holding the raw edge in that row — longer reach, taller, younger, more bouts, a higher finish rate. It is a fact about the tape, not a prediction, and rows with no clean comparison (record, stance, gym, hometown) carry no tick at all. Any row we cannot fill on both sides is left out rather than half-drawn. Streaks, bout counts and finish rates are as they stood going into this fight — this bout and everything after it is excluded from the count.

Round by round

Every round the fight went, shaded by where the significant strikes actually landed — and the takedowns, control time and knockdowns beside them.

UFCStats · per round

5 rounds of tape

Round 15:00 of action
Ricco Rodriguez6 sig landed
HEAD33%2 of 12BODY50%3 of 6LEGS17%1 of 1
Randy Couture10 sig landed
HEAD70%7 of 19BODY20%2 of 3LEGS10%1 of 1
6 of 19
Sig.
strikes
10 of 23
1 of 2
Take-
downs
2 of 2
1:18
Control
1:40
0
Sub
attempts
0
Distance 4Clinch 2Ground 0
Where it
happened
Distance 5Clinch 3Ground 2
Round 25:00 of action
Ricco Rodriguez2 sig landed
HEAD100%2 of 2BODY0%0 landedLEGS0%0 landed
Randy Couture12 sig landed
HEAD92%11 of 28BODY8%1 of 1LEGS0%0 landed
2 of 2
Sig.
strikes
12 of 29
0 of 0
Take-
downs
2 of 2
0:00
Control
4:53
0
Sub
attempts
0
Distance 1Clinch 0Ground 1
Where it
happened
Distance 0Clinch 0Ground 12
Round 35:00 of action1 sub attempt
Ricco Rodriguez3 sig landed
HEAD100%3 of 6BODY0%0 landedLEGS0%0 landed
Randy Couture9 sig landed
HEAD67%6 of 9BODY22%2 of 2LEGS11%1 of 1
3 of 6
Sig.
strikes
9 of 12
1 of 1
Take-
downs
1 of 1
2:37
Control
1:56
1
Sub
attempts
0
Distance 2Clinch 0Ground 1
Where it
happened
Distance 2Clinch 0Ground 7
Round 45:00 of action
Ricco Rodriguez16 sig landed
HEAD94%15 of 32BODY6%1 of 1LEGS0%0 landed
Randy Couture4 sig landed
HEAD100%4 of 7BODY0%0 landedLEGS0%0 landed
16 of 33
Sig.
strikes
4 of 7
1 of 1
Take-
downs
0 of 0
4:29
Control
0:18
0
Sub
attempts
0
Distance 0Clinch 0Ground 16
Where it
happened
Distance 0Clinch 0Ground 4
Round 53:04 of actionEnded 3:04
Ricco Rodriguez12 sig landed
HEAD100%12 of 20BODY0%0 landedLEGS0%0 landed
Randy Couture4 sig landed
HEAD100%4 of 7BODY0%0 landedLEGS0%0 landed
12 of 20
Sig.
strikes
4 of 7
1 of 1
Take-
downs
0 of 0
2:40
Control
0:00
0
Sub
attempts
0
Distance 0Clinch 0Ground 12
Where it
happened
Distance 2Clinch 2Ground 0

Significant strikes, takedowns, control time, knockdowns and submission attempts exactly as UFCStats recorded them for this bout, round by round. Zone percentages are that round’s landed head, body and leg counts over their own total — raw arithmetic, nothing modelled or smoothed. A round in which a fighter landed nothing shades empty and reads zero; it is never filled in from the round before.

How it ended

This bout never reached the judges. Here is the finish, as the official record has it.

Won inside the distance

Ricco Rodriguez

Round
5
Clock
3:04
Method
KO/TKO

This bout did not reach the judges, so there are no official cards for it. The round-by-round tape above is the whole record of what happened. Referee: John McCarthy.

Takedowns

Takedowns

The level change — head to head

Career UFC takedown rates. Red corner left, blue corner right.

Ricco Rodriguez

2.30takedowns / 15 min
2.30 / 15m
TAKEDOWNS
2.78 / 15m
5.90 / 15m
ATTEMPTS
6.04 / 15m
39%
ACCURACY
46%
1.00 / 15m
SUB ATT
0.50 / 15m

Randy Couture

2.78takedowns / 15 min

Career UFC takedown rates exactly as UFCStats publishes them: takedowns landed per 15 minutes, completion rate, submission attempts per 15 minutes, and the share of takedowns tried on them that they stuffed. Attempts per 15 is the one derived figure — landed ÷ completion rate — and it is omitted wherever either input is missing. UFCStats writes 0% where no attempt was recorded at all, so a percentage of exactly zero reads “n/a” here rather than as a measured rate. “Field” is the average fighter in that weight class, or across every division where a class is too small to average. Rate bars run to the population’s 95th percentile (5.32 takedowns / 15m); a fighter above it pins the bar. Percentages are drawn on their own axis.

Ranked roster-wide

The market story

What the market did on the way to the cage — the price, not our model. This bout is settled; the window below is closed.

We hold no market price for this bout — no captured price series, and no opening or closing line in the sportsbook record we fall back on. So there is nothing to show, and we would rather show nothing than draw a line that was never there.

Ricco Rodriguez vs Randy Couture.

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