How OSU wrestling helped turn Randy Couture into an MMA superstar

STILLWATER — Randy Couture remembers well the first time Oklahoma State recruited him.

It was a phone call during the summer of 1988. It was from Tommy Chesbro, who was no longer the wrestling coach but was still helping the Cowboys recruit.

What's more, it was collect.

"I teased him about that for a long time," Couture said of Chesbro. "'You called me collect.'"

But things worked out well for the Cowboys. They ultimately signed Couture, who became a three-time All-American and an anchor on the 1990 national championship team.

And on the weekend Couture is honored by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as its Outstanding American for 2018, it's safe to say that things worked out well for him, too. He used his wrestling prowess to transition into mixed martial arts, becoming one of the sport's original superstars and one of the most successful fighters the sport has ever seen.

It is a path Couture believes wouldn't have happened had he not been a Cowboy.

"It was a very important time in my growth as an athlete and a man," he said.

Couture arrived at OSU having already spent six years in the Army. He wrestled as a kid growing up in the Seattle area, even won a high school state title in the state of Washington, but with a child on the way, he joined the military in 1982.

"Kind of figured wrestling and athletics were out," he said. "It was time to get busy taking care of a family and living a regular life.

"Lo and behold ... I ended up back wrestling."

Couture was stationed in Germany. There were about 5 million American soldiers in Central Europe then during the height of the Cold War, and because the military's sports programs were important for the morale of those soldiers, Couture landed on the wrestling mat.

It was the first time he'd wrestled Greco-Roman or freestyle, but he excelled. He won a U.S. Army Europe title, then made the All-Army team and competed against teams from other branches of the military. Those inter-service tournaments were extremely competitive, but Couture won a couple of them, too.

All that led an invitation to the U.S. Olympic trials in 1988. He didn't make the team, but he performed well enough to be an alternate.

Couture also performed well enough to catch the eye of some college wrestling coaches who realized the soon-to-be discharged soldier had four years of eligibility. He took recruiting visits to Cal State-Bakersfield, Clemson, Southern Illinois and OSU.

"Kind of knew as soon as I walked into Stillwater and Oklahoma State that that was the right place for me," he said.

He recalls arriving in town in the fall of 1988, pulling over his little Ford Escort and asking someone for directions. He'd been in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where everything revolved around the Army base. People had a strict, direct way about them there.

In Stillwater, he immediately felt a warmth.

"People were so friendly," he said. "It felt like home right away."

Because Couture arrived as a 25-year-old who'd been a sergeant in the 101st Airborne Division, he took on a leadership role even as a freshman. But he still had lots to learn, still had room to grow.

Wrestling during his time in the military, he developed the confidence to compete at a high level.

"But I don't think until I started wrestling for the Cowboys in Stillwater that I developed a confidence and an ability to realize I could win at that level," he said.

He won his first U.S. national championship in Greco while he was at OSU. He made the first of four world teams, too.

Developing that winning attitude wasn't the only thing at OSU that changed Couture's life.

His freshman year, one of his training partners was a senior heavyweight named Don Frye. Several years later after Couture had graduated and gone into coaching, he realized Frye had gotten into mixed martial arts. The sport was in its infancy then, largely unregulated and often brutal, but seeing Frye compete intrigued Couture.

He decided to give it a try.

A decade later, he was a UFC world champion six times over. He fought in a record 16 title bouts, is the only fighter to hold titles in both the heavyweight and the light heavyweight divisions and was only the fourth fighter inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

Estimates have Couture's net worth north of $15 million.

Nowadays, some of the biggest names in mixed martial arts are former wrestlers. It is common to see college champions transition into the sport.

Couture, 54, was one of the pioneers.

"Being a professional athlete in our society is a pretty big deal, and really, amateur wrestlers ... don't have any real professional outlet," he said. "Unlike a collegiate football player who can aspire to go on and be a professional football player in the NFL, we didn't have those outlets for wrestling.

"I think we kind of shed a light on what kind of athletes the sport of wrestling produced, and those athletes now have a professional outlet in mixed martial arts."

Even with all that he accomplished in MMA, Randy Couture counts his years at OSU as some of his greatest.

He never did get back the money for that collect call, though.

He laughed.

"I think I more than made out on that situation," he said.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.