In the end the court of law did something few opponents ever did inside the cage: beat Randy Couture into submission.

Considered by many the most popular fighter in mixed martial arts, Couture waged a year-long campaign to get out of his contract obligations with UFC. But with the legal battle proving too costly and time consuming, Couture has settled his legal and personal issues with UFC and announced on Tuesday he will defend his UFC heavyweight title against Brock Lesnar on Nov. 15 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"The biggest part of my decision was clearing up a lot of things I was feeling," Couture said during a conference call yesterday to announce the pay-per-view fight. "The second part was getting frustrated with our legal system and tired of throwing money at lawyers with no end in sight. I want to fight. That's what I do best. But I want to fight in the Octagon. Not in a court room."

Couture, 45, returns to the Octagon for the first time since Aug. 25, 2007 when he successfully defended his heavyweight title against Gabriel Gonzaga. Two month later, Couture announced he was leaving the UFC with two fights still remaining on his contract. At the time he was frustrated with his purses and other issues with the UFC, including an inability to land a fight with Russian superstar Fedor Emelianenko.But recent discussions with UFC president Dana White have left Couture with assurances the UFC will do all it can to make a fight with Fedor happen once the Russian is free of his contract with Affliction.

"We've cleared the air," Couture said. "We've addressed a lot of those issues. Both the (UFC) and myself are ready to move forward."

It's a tremendous victory for White and UFC. They regain their popular five-time champion during a period when Affliction was earning attention with the signing of Fedor and a partnership with Donald Trump. It also re-establishes the UFC as the dominate company in mixed-martial arts and figures to discourage any other UFC fighter from trying to achieve their independence while under contract.

White has already predicted the Couture-Lesnar bout with be "the biggest in UFC history," and for once he's probably not exaggerating. Couture's return to the Octagon is enough of a headline, but in Lesnar he'll be facing the former NCAA and WWE wrestling star, who legitimized himself with an impressive win over Heath Herring at UFC 87 last month.

"My whole goal coming in was to get a shot at the UFC heavyweight title," Lesnar said. "For me, it's a great opportunity, one that anybody in my position wouldn't turn down."

This will mark the second time Couture returns to the Octagon after an extended layoff. He previously announced his retirement after losing to Chuck Liddell in February 2006, but returned in March 2007 to beat Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight title.

Couture hoped breaking away from the UFC might expedite a fight with Fedor, but at 45, Couture has no more time to waste. "I've been trying to find a way to fight Fedor and that hasn't gone away," he said. "But maybe we've now chosen a path of least resistance. I think we're on the same road here of making that fight happen sooner or later."

First he must get past Lesnar. The winner of that bout with take on the victor between the Dec. 27 fight between interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Nogueira and Frank Mir.