("See Brett, if you just marry them first, they can’t be compelled to testify against you." PicProps: XtremeCouture)

With each new piece of news that emerges, it’s starting to feel more and more unlikely that we’ll ever see Randy Couture in the Octagon again. After a 12-month period that saw him go 3-0 in the UFC – with wins over Brandon Vera, Mark Coleman and James Toney  — and score significant screen time alongside Mickey Rourke’s man boobs, Steve Austin’s emotive grunting and Sly Stallone’s extremely troubling facial hair in “The Expendables,” Couture’s been playing it pretty coy these days about his status as an active fighter. Even though he won’t be making an official retirement announcement, he says he’ll only strap on the 4-ouncers for future fights that are “interesting” (read: winnable) enough. Now the 47-year-old’s non-fighting schedule could keep him busy until the Spring of next year.

Couture appeared on local Las Vegas radio recently – no family commitments to keep him occupied during the holidays, you understand – to reveal he’s landed a role alongside fellow baldster Bruce Willis in a movie that will film in early December and that he hopes everybody else can clear their calendars in time to crap out an “Expendables” sequel in March. With all that going on, Couture will have a very limited window in which to squeeze in any actual MMA before he turns 48 next June. Still, he maintains that if the UFC brings him something juicy, he’ll give it a sniff.

"(My fighting career is on hold) for now," Couture said, as quoted by MMA Junkie. "You never know what (UFC officials) are going to throw at me. We’ll see, and if it’s interesting I might not be able to walk away from it."

The Willis movie – where you’ll be able to identify Couture as being the taller of the two – is reportedly called “Setup” and doesn’t sound like it will push the former multidivisional UFC champ too far out of an acting comfort zone that previously landed him gigs in “The Scorpion King: Rise of the Warrior” and David Mamet’s “Redbelt.” Dig this plot synopsis from MMA Fighting: “In ‘Setup,’ Couture will play a gangster named Pete. The film is reportedly about a jewelry store heist that leads to a double-cross, with one thief going back for revenge on the partner that went rogue.”

"It just happened a couple of days ago,” Couture said of his casting. “It’s a fun character. Small part, but a fun character in kind of a gangster movie.”

The film also reportedly has a role for rapper 50 Cent and will shoot largely on location in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That just got your attention, didn’t it, Academy Awards voters? With the bulk of production going down in the Great Lakes State, I know we’re all thinking the same thing here: Let’s see if we can’t find a walk-on role for Dan Severn, am I right?

Following that, Couture hopes to reprise his part as the oddly-named “Tollroad” in “The Expendables” franchise. The biggest obstacle to getting that off the ground could be the busy schedules of the other actual actors, Couture said, but given the popularity the first film he thinks people will do what it takes to make it work.

"It’s definitely happening," Couture said. "The target for now is March to start shooting the sequel. I think the trick is going to be getting everybody free to come back and do it, but I think the first one was so successful, everybody is going to be excited to come back for the second."