Friend Encounters: Randy Couture and Mitch Ell

Friend Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends who have met celebrities.

Flashback Weekend is one of the first celebrity conventions I attended on a regular basis. I later learned it is run by Mike and Mia, cousins of my bud Chuck. That means I have been praising this event long before I knew the promoters. Knowing them as I do, it makes it even better to see good people in charge.

I always say Flashback Weekend is a smaller convention with big time guests. Because it is not huge, it has a different vibe to it than the big cons. Mike and Mia do a great job of bringing in a wide range of guests. 

A couple years ago, Randy Couture was one of the bigger names. The mixed martial arts master and actor drew long lines, but he made each encounter as special as could be within the time constraints. He was even happy to recreate a fighter pose dozens of times, such as he did with my pal Mitch Ell.

Mitch is a good dude and could probably handle himself okay in a fight, but I feel confident Couture could put a hurt on my pal. Actually, Couture could pribably beatdown Mitch and me together. As tough and menacing as he could look, Couture was great though.

Go to FlashbackWeekend.com for more info on Flashback Weekend 2023. Check back here for my recurring coverage.

Randy Couture and Mitch Ell is Rosemont, IL-August 2021.

Randy Couture at Flashback Weekend 2021 XX

Flashback Weekend runs August 5-7 in Rosemont. As always, I will be "On the Beat" meeting the celebrities, creators and vendors.

Last year, I was a bit surprised to see Randy Couture appearing. I knew he was an MMA legend, but I didn't realize how much acting her has done. When I looked up his career on IMDB, I saw an impressive list. He has had action, drama, superhero and comedy roles.

In the convention world, that all makes him a multi-threat. He appears at sports cons and comic cons. Within the comic con, he has fans from all of his genres. In short, Couture can make a nice living simply doing conventions.

This year, Robert Englund is the headliner, but there are many other great celebrities on the guest list. Go to FlashbackWeekend.com to check the list and get updates.

Randy Couture and me in Rosemont, IL-August 2021.