UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture is settling into retirement, but that doesn’t mean he’s slowing down.

The legendary former champion decided to call it a career prior to his last fight against Lyoto Machida at UFC 129, and since that time, Couture has been keeping busy with several projects including a new book and filming several movies.

Currently in Bulgaria filming for ‘The Expendables 2’, Couture is happy in his new life with fighting now behind him.

“The movie career is going well. I just got to star in my first leading role in Hijacked, which is due out in February. The Expendables 2 is by far the biggest movie I’ve been involved with. The list of stars in this one is even bigger than the first one, if you can believe that. It’s going to be a huge movie,” said Couture.

“I have several other movie project brewing, but nothing set. I should get a little bit of a break after filming closes for Expendables 2 and the book tour. But it’s hard to say because you gotta take the jobs when they come.”

The book tour for Couture revolves around his 2nd publication, this one called ‘The Last Round’, which chronicles the former UFC champion as he comes to the conclusion of his fight career.

The book, co-authored along with photographs by Sara Levin, hits bookstores soon and Couture will embark on a tour to support his latest endeavor.

The process to put the book together was a long one, but something Couture admits was a lot less difficult that he first imagined. He was preparing for his final fight and the last time he’d ever step foot in the Octagon, but he seemed to handle it all with his usual style and grace.

“I thought process was going to be a lot harder than it was,” Couture admitted. “I thought it would have been harder on both myself and Sara to be in such close proximity for the extended time, but it was actually enjoyable. I enjoyed the process of putting words to the pictures for such a hallmark event at the end of a long career and I am real happy with the way it came out.”

“I think the fans can expect some amazing, very artistic photographs, with a behind the scenes perspective of an athlete coming to the end of his career in MMA. The Last Round is a compilation of a lot of images and thoughts that most people would like to have access to, but never get to.”

As far as MMA goes, Couture has been so busy working on The Expendables 2 in Bulgaria, that he’s literally had no time to watch anything lately. He did however hear about his old friend Dan Henderson picking up a big win recently, and looks forward to seeing his fight with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua when he returns home.

“I’ve seen no MMA since I’ve been in Bulgaria. There’s just no place to watch it, unless I want to get up at 4:00 AM on a Sunday morning to watch it on AFN,” Couture joked.

“Obviously, I am very excited for (Dan) Henderson. Dan is really getting the job done. It’s good to see him firing on all cylinders again. I heard his fight with Rua was a war. Many people compared it to my fight with Pedro (Rizzo), as the back and forth nature of it. I’m excited for him. The guys from my team in Las Vegas have been doing well, so it’s been nice to get those results.”

With so much on his plate between his budding movie career and a second book coming out, Couture feels at peace with his decision to walk away when he did.

He’ll still be in action, it will just be alongside Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and others on screen instead of in the Octagon. The Expendables 2 hits theaters in 2012 and ‘The Last Round’ will hit bookstores Dec 18.

For more information on Randy Couture’s book tour check out:

Meet Randy Couture in the UK from Dec 9 to 14. For more details visit www.maavid.net
Meet Randy Couture in New York Dec 17 &18. For more details visit www.mmaworldexpo.com

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