Ryan Couture Q&A: Xtreme Couture, Banking and Shopping for Records

Ryan Couture is coming off a unanimous decision win over Haim Gozali at Bellator NYC in June of 2017 in a bout where he made his welterweight debut. The 35-year old son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture takes a few minutes to speak with Tony Reid of MyMMANews.com as he eagerly awaits his next fight with Bellator MMA.

Tony Reid – If you could fight anyone in any weight class who would you choose to fight and why?

Ryan Couture – “There is a fine line between ‘that guy would really hurt me’ and ‘that would be an interesting puzzle to try to solve.’ To get to an elite level in the sport and test myself against an Anderson Silva or a Jon Jones or somebody like that would be great. They would probably hurt me really bad but it would be an amazing opportunity to get the chance to step in there against one of the greats. If I could fight dad that would be fun. I would have to try to keep it at range and out strike him.”

Tony Reid – If you weren’t a professional mixed martial artist what would you be doing for a living right now?

Ryan Couture – “I would probably still be working at the bank in Washington where I was before I moved out here. I didn’t love the job but they treated me well and I didn’t have a good reason to leave it. I suspect, knowing me and knowing how complacent I can be, that I would probably still be doing that. It was fine it was a job but luckily it didn’t turn out that way.”

Tony Reid – Many professional athletes have strange superstitious habits. Do you have any we should know about?

Ryan Couture – “Not really. In the gym I am generally just struggling against my nature to be on time and ready for practice at 4:00 every day and not get yelled at. I used to, as an amateur when I was always here in Vegas, I used to like to get up early the morning of fight day and go to the record store and just shop around for used records. That usually really cleared my head. I worked at a record store in high school. It was my first job and that has always been something I loved. That always cleared my head and put me in a good frame of mind to go and fight later that night. Now that I’m on the road most of the time for fights I don’t get to do that anymore.”

Tony Reid – What is the most amazing thing you have seen in regards to the growth of MMA since the beginning of your career?

Ryan Couture – “There are so many but the one that sticks out for me was the first time I saw someone walking around the Fred Meyer where my bank branch was in Washington state, someone was walking around the store wearing an Xtreme Couture t-shirt. That was the one that spun my head the most out of everything. It was weird getting used to having fans come up and recognize dad in public. That took some getting used to. But that little college town up in the northwest corner of Washington state, seeing in the middle of a Fred Meyer, my last name, dad’s last name, on foil on a t-shirt spun my head around that first time I saw it years ago. It’s been really cool watching it grow and become this huge thing that it is today.”

Tony Reid

In July of 2008 Tony Reid launched an MMA inspired clothing line that he named Reid Fight Wear. He saw a need in the MMA clothing market for a more classic, clean and timeless design and less of the dated styles seen then. In the process of major life changes, Tony cashed out his 401(k), emptied his bank account and put his heart and soul into building the brand. In August 2009 Tony began writing for TapouT and MMA Worldwide Magazines. There he created Rattling the Cage, an MMA specific news site and home for all of his work. In May of 2012 Reid began writing for Ultimate MMA Magazine, launching an MMA Legends and MMA Officials Series. Also in May of the same year he started appearing regularly on ESPN 92.3 WVSL as the MMA Insider. In early August of 2012 Reid was named General Manager of UFC Fighter Tim Boetsch’s Barbarian Combat Sports in Sunbury, PA. By December 2012 Reid started contributing to Fighters Only Magazine. "The World's Leading MMA and Lifestyle Magazine" is sold in over 30 countries around the world and has the largest reach of any international magazine of its type. In May of 2013 Reid became a monthly segment host on Sirius XM Radio. Appearing the first Thursday of every month on TapouT Radio on SiriusXM (Sirius 92 XM 208) in a segment he created called "On Blast!" where he puts people in the MMA world on notice. In June of 2013 Reid began writing for the UK based MMA Uncaged Magazine. In August of 2013, Reid launched "Rattling the Cage with Tony Reid" a talk radio show he hosted on ESPN 92.3 WVSL "The Valley's Sports Leader". The show aired over 100 episodes and featured some of the biggest and brightest stars in the world of combat sports. It was one of the most successful shows in the station's history. In May of 2016 Reid became a feature writer for FloCombat. In September of the same year Reid began writing for ONE Championship, Asia’s largest global sports media property in history. Reid is happy to now join the team at MyMMANews as a contributor.

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