Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

After an almost 11-month legal battle, Randy Couture and the UFC have buried the hatchet, and the mixed martial arts legend has signed a new, three-fight deal to return to the promotion and face Brock Lesnar on Nov. 15 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the UFC confirmed today.

The match will be a five-round UFC championship title fight.

"It feels pretty damn good," Couture said on a conference call following the announcement. "I feel like I’ve been walking under a black cloud for a year. So to have the cloud dissipate and walk in some sunshine feels pretty nice.”

“It’s all water under the bridge now. I’m so happy," said UFC President Dana White, who predicted the Couture-Lesnar fight will produce the biggest pay-per-view numbers in company history. "Randy’s back and that’s all I care about.”

Couture left the UFC last October -- just six weeks after defending his title against Gabriel Gonzaga -- faxing a letter of resignation from South Africa, where he was filming a movie. At the time, he cited a general feeling of disrespect from UFC officials, as well as a hope of chasing a fight with international star Fedor Emelianenko as reasons for his departure. But the UFC refused to let him resign from what in their opinion was a valid contract which still had two fights to fulfill. That set in motion a legal battle across two states that took up almost a calendar year as Couture tried to win his free agency.

In the time since, the 45-year-old Couture -- one of UFC's most popular fighters ever -- has spent much time expanding his Xtreme Couture gym business, pursuing his acting career and publishing his autobiography, Becoming the Natural.

News of a possible return first broke late last week with reports that Couture could return for a UFC 91 date in Portland, Ore. A source close to the situation told NBCSports.com last week that talks between the two sides had intensified but that nothing was resolved, and two fighters who train at Xtreme Couture mentioned that Couture had amped up his training schedule.

"The biggest part of my decision was communicating with Lorenzo [Fertitta] and Dana [White] and clearing up things I was feeling," Couture said. "The second part was getting tired of the legal sytem, throwing money at the legal system and lawyers with no resolution in sight. The best place where I fight is a cage, not a courtroom.”

Lesnar has just two fights in the UFC and three during his pro MMA career, but his marketability combined with an impressive win over Heath Herring at UFC 87 launched him to the title shot against a fighter 14 years his senior.

"I’m going up against a guy with more experience than myself which I’ve done in every fight I’ve been in, but [my camp and I are] no dummies," said Lesnar, who will likely outweigh Couture by some 55 pounds come fight night. "We’re going to figure out how to beat Randy Couture. I’m going to come in well-prepared and with a gameplan to win the title that night.”

Couture has spent the vast majority of his career fighting for the UFC, making his debut in the organization in 1997, and winning his first heavyweight title in December of that year. Couture is the only fighter in UFC history to have five separate title reigns, winning the heavyweight title three times and the light-heavyweight crown twice.

He retired after losing to Chuck Liddell in February 2006, but returned a year later and dominated Tim Sylvia to win the heavyweight belt. With the sport bubbling with interest at the time, that victory launched Couture into the mainstream, as he appeared on several talk shows and did interviews with major newspapers and magazines in its wake. He then successfully defended the championship with a third-round TKO over Gabriel Gonzaga in August 2007, walked out of the Mandalay Bay Events Center arm-in-arm with his wife, Kim, and quit from the UFC just weeks later.

With the heavyweight division losing its standard bearer, an interim championship was established when Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira faced Tim Sylvia at UFC 81 last February. Couture was never stripped of the title and still referred to as the UFC heavyweight champion by the organization. He was also approached with fight offers, all of which he turned down while trying to work out a legal settlement.

White said that Nogueira and Mir will still square off, with the winner of that match facing the winner of Couture-Lesnar in 2009 for the undisputed UFC title.

"It’ll be champ vs. champ," White said. "If you’re a fighter, the most important thing is to win the title from the champ. Everybody is looking to cement their legacy, to know that they beat all the best guys. If Randy went away and those guys didn’t have that opportunity, then they’d really feel cheated."

Couture clearly still desires a date in the cage with Affliction fighter Emelianenko, but said he now believes the venue should be the UFC cage instead of elsewhere.

"Do I want to fight Fedor? Absolutely," he said. "Most people consider him the No. 1 heavyweight walking around and I want to take that away from him. As a competitor, that’s important to me. I can't speak for him. I don’t know what's important to him. I know he’s expressed interest in the fight, but I think if he wants people to take him seriously as the No. 1 heavyweight in the world, he needs to come fight me."

The constant mention of Emelianenko clearly irritated Lesnar, who chimed in, "Who gives a ---- about Fedor? The facts are it's me against Randy Couture. This is for real, and it's happening. Why are we wasting time talking about things that may never happen?"

Added White, "These guys [Affliction] are dying on the vine. The company is going to die soon, then Fedor will come here. We’ll figure it out."

In a July interview with NBCSports.com while promoting his book, Couture said he was happy with his career if indeed he had fought his last match.

"If I retired tomorrow, I'd be perfectly content with the career that I've had, and if that's the way it's supposed to work out, that's the way it will work out," he said then.

Now it appears the "Natural" will have another chance to compete, and to eventually say good-bye to his legion of fans on his own terms.

"I feel like I’m the best fighter I’ve ever been right now, so we'll see what happens," Couture said.

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