It’s been a minute since the man known as “The Natural” executed one of his trademark arm bars to choke out an opponent inside the UFC Octagon. More than a decade-and-a-half have passed since he submitted James Toney in the first round of their ballyhooed 2010 heavyweight bout.
Yet, at 62 years old, Randy Couture might just be having his biggest impact yet—in the wellness industry, and particularly for military vets like himself. As so often is the case, it all started with a cannabis gummy.
“This whole journey began with trying to solve sleep problems,” Couture says, warming to the idea of talking about his life to me. “I used to wake up at three in the morning, and about five years ago, I found CBN gummies.”
Fast forward to 2026, and Couture’s the lead pitchman for an entirely different type of cannabis product. He recently partnered with startup Active Brand THCv to market the trendy cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabivarin, which, similar to CBD, isn’t marketed as psychoactive. Couture says he went his entire fighting career without using any cannabis, but now uses some form of the plant, including THCv, on a daily basis.
Interestingly, he’s also branched out to other plant-based medicines. Since hanging up his fighting gloves as a pro, The UFC Hall-of-Famer says, in recent years, he’s enjoyed a number of ayahuasca retreats and experiences with psilocybin, among other powerful natural remedies. To fully appreciate just how improbable it is for The Natural—a polished Army vet raised by a strict single mother—to be spearheading the alternative-medicine scene, you have to understand just how he got here.
Couture earned his nickname from his natural ability to excel at just about anything he did—sometimes with hardly any training. While most professional athletes peak in their 20s, Couture made his MMA debut a month shy of his 34th birthday. That day, in May 1997, he needed less than a minute to submit opponent Tony Halme at UFC 13.
Before that, he starred as a high school wrestler in his hometown of Lynnwood, WA, earning an individual state championship during his senior year. Upon graduating, he enlisted into the US Army and was part of its 101st Airborne division.
Like plenty of young people, Couture experimented with weed in his late teens. Lynnwood High didn’t drug test athletes, so toking a joint here and there was never a problem. But that stopped when Couture put on the camouflage for Uncle Sam.
“I always admired the heroism of serving in the armed forces, and I wanted to be a part of it,” he says candidly. “I wasn’t into recreationally getting stoned or anything like that, but I didn’t have a choice once I joined the Army.”
Couture wanted to keep wrestling, so he applied to try out with the Army’s Freestyle wrestling team. To his surprise, he was assigned to tryouts for the branch’s Greco-Roman team instead. A clerical error meant Couture had to choose between waiti
