Couture-Higgins Slated for Strikeforce Challengers 14

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MMA’s most famous son has an opponent for his second professional fight.

Ryan Couture will face fellow undefeated neophyte Lee Higgins at Strikeforce Challengers 14, which goes down Feb. 18 at the Cedar Park Center in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park, Texas.

The matchup, first reported by MMAJunkie.com on Wednesday, has been confirmed by Sherdog.com with a source close to the event. The show will be headlined by a lightweight clash between undefeated Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm and former Maximum Fighting Championship welterweight king Pat Healy.

The son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, Ryan is perfect through his nascent professional MMA career. Fighting at a much lighter weight than his father, Couture also fights with a much different style. A slick jiu-jitsu player, Couture amassed a 5-1-1 record as an amateur and debuted professionally at Strikeforce Challengers 10 in August. That night in Phoenix, Couture applied a textbook triangle choke to opponent Lucas Stark and earned a submission victory just 75 seconds into the bout.

Couture, who trains at his father’s Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas, was originally supposed to return to action against Juan Zapata in November at “Challengers 12,” but the 28-year-old Couture was sidelined with a staph infection and had to withdraw from the contest.

A product of Houston’s Urban Jungle Self Defense, Higgins has put together two dominant victories as a professional, cinching up a pair of first-round rear-naked chokes in less than a month. Higgins will make his Strikeforce debut against Couture.