The best news that mixed martial arts fans could hear may soon be upon us. There are growing signs that Randy Couture will re-join the UFC for a multi-fight deal, and that his first fight would be against Brock Lesnar. There is even a chance that the second would be the long-awaited superfight against Fedor Emelianenko.

All indications are that Couture is making progress in talks about resolving his contract impasse with UFC, and that the first fight in a new three-fight deal would cone November 15 against Lesnar at UFC 91. We noted the possibility after an MMA Junkie report, and and BloodyElbow.com has confirmed the talks.

By all accounts, Couture is training as if he has a fight coming up within the next two or three months. If the Lesnar-Couture fight happens, it would probably be the UFC's most lucrative pay-per-view of the year.

Some training footage of Gina Carano and Kim Couture working on their ground game together at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas:

Carano and Couture are two of the best-known women in mixed martial arts, with Carano serving as the public face of women's MMA because of the way EliteXC has promoted her, and Couture well known because of her husband, Randy.

In reality, they're not the best two women in the sport. I think Carano will lose when and if EliteXC matches her up with Cris Cyborg, and Couture is a novice. But it's still cool to get a look at them going one-on-one.

Via Bloody Elbow.

Tito Ortiz is on tonight's edition of Inside MMA, and even though he's left the UFC and hasn't signed on with any other organization, he suggested that he plans to get back into the cage and have plenty more fights:

"The first time I'm a free agent in 11 years," Ortiz said. "It's an opportunity I've got to get some of the biggest fights of my career, still ahead of me. I'm only 33 years old. Randy Couture started his career at 33, so the sky's the limit for me. ... I still look forward for the next few years to have some powerful fights."

I like Tito and would like to see him fight again, but I most certainly do not believe that the best fights of his career are ahead of him. He'll turn 34 in January, and he hasn't won a fight since 2006. He's still a big name and an interesting personality, but he's no longer a great fighter.

Via MMA Junkie.

WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres told me last week that he expects to fight WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber some day:

I wondered at the time whether a Torres-Faber fight would be on pay-per-view, and there are now indications that it would be. Kevin Iole of Yahoo reports that WEC is heading toward pay-per-view, perhaps as early as May. The single biggest fight that WEC could put together would be Torres vs. Faber.

It's an interesting marketing tactic that as Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson prepares to step in the cage again, he's appearing in videos like this one:

Kimbo talks about how he wanted to be a football player until Hurricane Andrew ruined his senior year in high school, and how fighting was the way he re-built his life. It's an effort to humanize Kimbo, and although it's not the move I would have expected from EliteXC, I like it.

Could Randy Couture end his legal battle by fighting Brock Lesnar at UFC 91?

It's an extreme long shot. It's probably not going to happen. And yet it's a rumor that is picking up enough steam in the MMA community that it's worth at least passing along.

Couture, the UFC's heavyweight champion, is engaged in a protracted legal dispute with the UFC as he attempts to get out of his contract so he can fight Fedor Emelianenko. That dispute is currently in arbitration in Nevada, and there are rumors that the dispute could be settled with an agreement that Couture would fight one more time in UFC and then become a free agent.

When I first heard those rumors I didn't think they sounded credible, but MMAJunkie.com reported today that multiple sources close to Couture say it could happen.

Brock Lesnar has only had three mixed martial arts fights in his career, but thanks to his undeniable athletic talents and his fame as a pro wrestler, everyone in the MMA world is wondering what he'll do next.

Contrary to popular belief, it apparently won't be a fight against Cheick Kongo at UFC 91. I've heard from a couple of sources that Kongo's shoulder is going to make it hard for him to fight in the next few months, and on today's MMA Live, ESPN's Ryan Hockensmith said Kongo is going to have surgery and "You can cross Cheick Kongo off for Brock Lesnar."

So if Lesnar won't fight Kongo at UFC 91, who will he fight? There aren't a lot of great options in the UFC heavyweight division because the division is thin and most of the top guys already have fights scheduled. Gabriel Gonzaga is an option, but I think UFC would worry that Lesnar isn't ready for it, and that a loss to Gonzaga
would damage Lesnar's image. Cain Velasquez and Shane Carwin are possibilities, although I think UFC would like to bring both of those guys along more slowly.

I respect the fact that UFC has thrown Lesnar in with two legitimate fighters -- Frank Mir and Heath Herring -- and not tomato cans like EliteXC is giving Kimbo Slice. But I think UFC might have a trouble finding the right opponents for Lesnar going forward, simply because there aren't all that many good heavyweights available.

I think the UFC's top lightweight contender, Kenny Florian, is getting a bit of a raw deal right now, as he won't be getting a title show any time soon because lightweight champ B.J. Penn is moving up in weight class to fight Georges St. Pierre at welterweight. But Florian said on today's MMA Live that he doesn't mind having to beat Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 before he gets a title shot:

"It's great for me to stay busy and fight good opponents, especially when you have somebody like B.J. Penn on the horizon," Florian said. "I don't think I'm being dissed in any way. The key is to stay busy, to fight great opponents. ... My concern right now is Joe Stevenson."

Chuck Liddell is making the rounds to promote his fight with Rashad Evans at UFC 88, and Liddell had a strange interview today with Dan LeBatard.

At one point, LeBatard asked, "Are you taking a bath? It sounds like you're taking a bath."

Liddell replied, "I'm actually getting my toes done right now." Loyal FanHouse readers will recall that we've talked about Liddell's habit of painting his nails before. Not that there's anything wrong with it.

Liddell also addressed his infamous TV interview in 2007, when many people thought he was under the influence as he struggled to answer basic questions. No problems like that with LeBatard today.

Here's the audio, via Steve Cofield:

Ken Shamrock is a 5-1 underdog in his October 4 fight with Kimbo Slice, but one person who knows both fighters well is confident that Shamrock is going to win: His brother, Frank Shamrock.

Frank Shamrock is an EliteXC on CBS commentator (he might be calling that October 4 fight), and he tells Kevin Iole that Kimbo is nowhere near Ken's class:

"Ken has 10 times Kimbo's ability, so if he can get just 10 percent of that, and he's focused, he can beat him," Frank Shamrock said. "If not, he's going to get clubbed horribly upside the head and fall down, all scary looking."

Now, before you go assuming that it's simply the bond of brotherhood that causes Frank to say Ken is the vastly superior fighter, remember that Ken and Frank Shamrock are adopted brothers who didn't grow up together and don't much like each other. (There's actually a pretty good chance that Ken and Frank will fight each other some time in 2009.)