Randy Couture voted off 'Dancing With the Stars' in third week

Randy Couture‘s dancing run is over.

Couture and his professional dance partner, Karina Smirnoff, were voted off “Dancing With the Stars” on Monday night. Couture and Smirnoff had the combined lowest score of judges’ scores and viewer votes after Week 2’s show. With them in the bottom two and facing elimination were actor Jonathan Bennett and Allison Holker.

Had Couture and Smirnoff survived Monday’s elimination, they would have been in trouble next week based on their dance this week. In their lowest score of three dances, Couture and Smirnoff, dancing the Paso Doble, picked up a pair of 7s and a pair of 6s. Their score of 26 was the lowest of the ABC show’s third week, which featured a pair of perfect 40s.

Couture and Smirnoff, for the show’s “Movie Night,” danced to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, from the movie “Rocky,” a playful nod to Couture’s prizefighting past. Before they even danced on Monday, Couture and Smirnoff found out they were already in jeopardy based on their Week 2 performance.

Couture said hearing that news didn’t affect him during the dance. “It didn’t enter my mind. We were ready, we trained, we’re prepared – just go out and do it,” Couture said.

Couture and Smirnoff saw their scores drop each week following the show’s season premiere. In Week 1, they picked up a 31 for their Foxtrot and seemed to surprise the judges. They dropped to 28 points out of 40 for their Week 2 Cha-Cha, but were safe from elimination.

The judges on Monday seemed surprised by Couture’s elimination.

“I’m happy,” Couture said after learning he was eliminated. “It’s been a great experience. I put myself out there and tried something new, and it’s been fun. (Smirnoff’s) been amazing.”

“(He’s) an amazing man, and I hope I made a friend for life,” said Smirnoff, who before the show started said she was a Couture fan and even named her dog after him. “This was a priceless experience, and I wouldn’t have changed it for anything else.”

Couture, a UFC Hall of Famer, is the second MMA fighter to be cast on the long-running show, which airs Monday nights on ABC. In Season 9, in Fall 2009, then-active UFC fighter Chuck Lidell was on the show. He and pro partner Anna Trebunskaya were the fifth pair eliminated that season.

Check out Couture and Smirnoff’s final dance in Week 3 above, and their Week 1 and Week 2 dances below.