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Couture signs on to Stallone action film

Ex-UFC champ to have major role in $60 million movie 'The Expendables'

Ultimate Fighting champion and cast membAFP/Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting champion and cast member Randy Couture arrives for the premiere of the Sony Pictures Classics film "Redbelt," at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California on April 7, 2008. The film, written and directed by David Mamet, opens in the US on May 9. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Ex-UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture has signed on for a major role in Sylvester Stallone's next action project, titled The Expendables.

Couture joins a strong cast including action stars Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker. The $60 million feature centers on a group of mercenaries (Couture, Li, Staham and Stallone) sent to overthrow against a ruthless dictator. Whitaker plays an FBI agent in the film.

According to Couture's agent Matt Walker, Couture's role is a major one originally conceived for Wesley Snipes and rewritten for the former UFC champ.

Couture returned to the UFC in November, but was defeated in a title matchup by Brock Lesnar. The event is believed to have drawn more than 1 million pay-per-view buys, making it the second-largest pay-per-view event of the year behind the recent Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao boxing match.

Since then, the 45-year-old Couture has made no public statement about whether he plans to return to the cage or call it a career.

The project is the third major movie role Couture has signed onto for 2009, along with thriller Relentless and Lionsgate action film Warrior.

In 2008, he starred in The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, which went straight to DVD.

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