Is storied career winding down for Randy Couture AKA The Man?

Brent Barnes doesn’t remember much about the day he took down The Man.

That was 28 years ago, before Barnes became a legendary wrestling coach at Lake Stevens High School, and before The Man was The Man.

Back then, Barnes was a 158-pound senior wrestler at Rogers High School in Puyallup, and he had no way of knowing that he was facing an opponent who would eventually go on to win a state title, qualify for two NCAA finals, become a three-time Olympic alternate and emerge as one of the best fighters in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

When Barnes knocked off a Lynnwood High wrestler during his senior year in 1981, he had only beaten an unusually strong sophomore named Randy Couture — a.k.a. The Man (at right).

Couture is one of the biggest names in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) history, but it wasn’t always that way. The 46-year-old, five-time UFC champion was a bit of a late bloomer.

“I got my butt whooped pretty good until my senior year,” the UFC legend said via telephone this week while describing his wrestling career at Lynnwood High.

Although he has faced some of the biggest, baddest men on the planet in hand-to-hand combat over the years, Couture rarely takes a butt-whooping anymore.

One of just two fighters to hold world titles in two different weight classes, Couture steps back into the ring tonight when he faces Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the main event of UFC 102 at the Rose Garden in Portland. While no belt is at stake, the event is expected to be sold out and watched by millions of fans via Pay-Per-View television.

While Couture won’t publicly say that this might be the end of a legendary career, his age and recent history — he’s already retired once, in 2006, and, a year later, took a one-year exile from the UFC because of a contract dispute — signal that tonight’s event might have historical significance.

“I entered the sport on a whim, one fight at a time, and I lasted 12 years,” said Couture, who already has fought one match in what is reported to be a three-match deal he signed in 2008. “I’ll keep doing it that way — as long as my body will let me, and as long as it’s still fun.”

Arguably the most popular MMA fighter of all time, Couture needs neither money nor stature within the sport; he has plenty of both. But the Lynnwood native just can’t seem to stay out of the ring.

Since he made a now infamous proclamation to “never wear these gloves, in this cage, again” after a 2006 loss to Chuck Liddell, Couture has returned to the ring three times. In 2008, he regained the heavyweight title, then defended it once before losing to Brock Lesnar in his most recent fight nine months ago.

Couture already has been inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, in 2006, and has fought in an MMA-record 15 title fights. He’s also an actor, has been in several workout videos, owns a chain of gyms throughout the U.S. and Canada and lives in a 3,700-square-foot home in Las Vegas.

Couture certainly has come a long way since his days growing up in Lynnwood.

He said he first got into wrestling when the older brother of a childhood friend, unbeknownst to Couture, signed him up for a wrestling tournament more than 30 years ago. Couture, who thought he was attending the event as a spectator, took the mat and held his own in a successful debut.

“I got my first bloody nose,” Couture recalled of his first wrestling match, “and I pinned the kid with a headlock.”

Couture continued to have moderate success in youth tournaments, and by the time he arrived at Alderwood Junior High, the wrestling coach already had an eye on him.

“He saw me in the hallway and said: ‘See you at practice Monday,’” Couture said of how his junior high school career began.

He was part of an undefeated junior high team as a freshman, but Couture wasn’t having a whole lot of success on his own. He continued to struggle during his first two years at Lynnwood High — including a nondescript loss to Puyallup’s Barnes as a sophomore — and so Couture quit his job as a box-boy at the Farmer’s Market and dedicated himself full-time to wrestling in the months before his senior year.

The rest, as the oft-used cliche goes, is history. Couture went on to win a state title in 1981, his senior year at Lynnwood High. After a year at Washington State University and six more in the U.S. Army, Couture enrolled at Oklahoma State University and became a three-time All-American in Greco-Roman wrestling.

While serving as an assistant coach at Oregon State University in the 1990s, Couture saw his first Mixed Martial Arts video and decided to give the sport a try. Using only his wrestling skills — Couture had no experience with martial arts or boxing at that point — he accepted an invitation to UFC 13 and won two matches in one night. He began a rigorous training program, learned techniques of boxing, Jiu-Jitsu and Muy Thai, and went on to fight in a total of 25 UFC bouts, including a record 15 title fights.

Along the way, the unknown kid from Lynnwood collected a nickname (“The Natural”), a few title belts and a following unlike anyone in the sport. He is arguably the most popular athlete to ever come out of Snohomish County.

Couture said he knew his life had changed, from a public-figure perspective, after beating Pedro Rizzo in a 2001 heavyweight title fight at the MGM in Las Vegas. After a post-fight press conference, Couture headed through the casino and toward an elevator with several family members and friends. Fans seeking autographs and offering congratulations began to descend upon them .

“Almost three hours later,” Couture recalled with a laugh this week, “we finally got to the elevator. That’s when I realized things had changed.”

Tonight, he’ll be back at the center of the UFC’s attention while fighting a few hours from his hometown, where his mother and one of his two sisters still live.

Wherever “The Natural” is these days, the world seems to be watching. And that includes a few 40-something guys, like Barnes, who whooped Couture’s butt all those years ago.

Apparently, neither of them is itching for a rematch.

Said Couture, who now weighs 220 pounds: “I haven’t heard from anyone.”

So how about it, Brent Barnes?

“Not today,” the 49-year-old wrestling coach at Lake Stevens High said earlier this week while driving home following his fifth knee surgery. “I’m having enough trouble with my 140-pound son.”