Mark Coleman: Difference between revisions

	File:MarkColeman.png
Born	December 20, 1964 (age 59); Fremont, Ohio
Other names	The Hammer
Nationality	American
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	205 lb (93 kg; 14.6 st)
Division	205 (2009–present) ; 265 (1996–2006)
Style	Freestyle wrestling
Fighting out of	Columbus, Ohio
Team	Team Hammer House
Rank	NCAA Division I Wrestling ; Olympian Freestyle Wrestling
Years active	1996–present MMA
Mixed martial arts record
Total	26
Wins	16
By knockout	4
By submission	8
Losses	10
Draws	0
Other information
University	Ohio State University ; Miami University
	Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 16:24, 25 March 2010

Mark Coleman (born December 20, 1964) is an American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, former NCAA collegiate wrestler and former Olympic amateur wrestler. In MMA, he was the UFC 10 and UFC 11 tournament champion, the first Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion, and the PRIDE Fighting Championships 2000 Open Weight Grand Prix champion. At UFC 82 Coleman was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

Coleman is credited with proving the ability of wrestlers to dominate in the developing sport of mixed martial arts, and with being one of the first in American MMA to successfully use the strategy that came to be known as ground-and-pound.^[2], earning him the distinction as "The Godfather of Ground & Pound." ^[3]

Biography

Mark Coleman was born in Fremont, Ohio, U.S. in 1964. He began freestyle wrestling as a teenager, and wrestled for Miami University, in Ohio, where he was a two time Mid-American Conference wrestling champion. In his senior year, he transferred to Ohio State University and won an NCAA championship. Out of college, The Antidote was awarded a spot on the US Wrestling team, placing second (100 kg) at the 1991 FILA Wrestling World Championships in Varna, Bulgaria, and placing seventh overall in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Following his amateur career, 'The Hammer' made the transition to the then-new sport of mixed martial arts, winning his first two tournaments in dominating fashion, including a win over UFC 8 champion Don Frye at UFC 10 in 1996, and becoming the first UFC Heavyweight Champion after submitting UFC Superfight Champion Dan Severn via submission lock with a neck crank at UFC 12.

Coleman made his first UFC Heavyweight Championship title defense at UFC 14, facing kickboxer (and heavy underdog) Maurice Smith. In what turned out to be a long battle, Coleman lost a decision after 21:00 (regulation plus two overtimes). This was considered to be one of the largest upsets in UFC history at that time, largely because of the way Coleman had dominated his opponents in his previous fights.

Coleman took nearly a year off after having to get ACL surgery and returned at UFC 17. Coleman was originally scheduled to face Randy Couture in a title match for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, but Couture was injured during training and was forced to pull out of the fight. Coleman instead faced a relatively unknown (at that time) last minute replacement fighter, up and coming Lion's Den product Pete Williams. In what turned out to be another long and strenuous battle, Coleman appeared to be completely exhausted after 10 minutes, a recurring technique he would go on to use throughout his career which he himself later dubbed as 'playing possum'. Coleman was fatigued to the point of resting his hands on his knees during the fight. In what is still considered to be one of the largest upsets in UFC history, Williams took advantage of Coleman's fatigue and landed a heavy kick to the face, knocking 'The Hammer' out for the first time in his career.

After his shocking loss to Pete Williams, Coleman went to train with former UFC champion Ken Shamrock and his Lion's Den training camp for his upcoming bout with feared Brazilian striker Pedro Rizzo at UFC 18. The fight with Rizzo was part of the "Road to the Heavyweight Title", which was a four man tournament between Coleman, Rizzo, Bas Rutten and Tsuyoshi Kosaka that would crown the next UFC Heavyweight Champion. After 15:00 the fight went to the judges, and they gave a split decision win to Rizzo. This bout was a source of controversy to many, including Coleman himself, who felt that he was robbed of the decision win.^[4]^[5]^[6] In a recent interview, Coleman said he still feels the effects of the controversial decision loss to Rizzo.^[7]

The recollections of Colemans comments backstage after the chute box meleee are grossly inaccurate and not what happened. Anyone who has seen the pride event will have seen that Coleman in his locker room called chute box members "cheap motherfuckers" again and again and again. He also ostracised Quintin Jackson for not helping him.

On the other matter we need a section on colemans steroid use. His weight dropped alarmingly from 240 lbs at his UFC and Pride peak to around 215-220 in Pride in 2006 and than 205 in UFC in 2009-2010.

PRIDE Fighting Championships

From 1999 through 2006, The Hammer continued his career with Japanese promotion, PRIDE Fighting Championships while also making appearances with the professional wrestling promotion HUSTLE. He won the PRIDE 2000 Open Weight Grand Prix tournament defeating Masaaki Satake, Akira Shoji, Kazuyuki Fujita, and Igor Vovchanchyn. The Hammer's training and 2000 tournament victory are depicted in the documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr.

After a quick TKO victory over Allan Goes at PRIDE 13, Coleman faced possibly his toughest challenge ever in Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE 16. "Minotauro" was able to catch the Hammer in a triangle/armbar at 6:10 of the first round, breaking Coleman's six fight winning streak.

Coleman would take nearly two years off following the fight with Nogueira, spending time with his wife and children, and focusing on developing his martial arts training facility and stable of fighters at Team Hammer House. Training such fighters as Kevin Randleman, Wes Sims, Brandon Lee Hinkle and Phil Baroni, Team Hammer House quickly gained a reputation of turning out world class fighters.

Mark Coleman returned to MMA competition at PRIDE 26 to face Don Frye in a rematch of their meeting at UFC 10; this proved to be a much tougher battle. Coming back from a career threatening neck injury, Coleman ultimately won a unanimous decision victory after 20 minutes. Following the fight, Coleman apologised to the fans for the lack of action during the fight, in which he had spent the majority of the time in taking down and maintaining positional dominace of Frye with his superior wrestling ability.

Between training fighters and spending time with his family, the Hammer was now fighting roughly once a year. He returned to competition to take place in the PRIDE 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix, as the returning Grand Prix champion in the Open Weight Division. His first round match at PRIDE Total Elimination 2004 was against PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. In what turned out to be a short bout, Coleman was submitted by armbar at 2:11 of the first round, eliminating him from the tournament.

Coleman returned to the Pride ring in February 2005, this time facing Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović at PRIDE 29: Fists of Fire. Suffering the second knockout of his career, the Hammer fell to strikes by "Cro Cop" in the first round. In November 2005, Mark Coleman appeared in Bushido Europe-Rotterdam Rumble, Europe's first Bushido event, and choked out Milco Voorn at 0:56 of the first round.

The Hammer returned to action at PRIDE 31 with a victory over Chute Boxe team member Mauricio "Shogun" Rua after the fight was stopped when Shogun suffered a dislocated elbow during a Coleman takedown. With Team Hammer House member Phil Baroni in his corner, Coleman began the match by taking Shogun to the ground. At 0:49 of the first round, Rua got up and as he took the first step Coleman grabbed his feet. Rua fell awkwardly and broke his arm. Coleman continued to fight, peppering Rua with strikes before the referee stopped the fight but not before the Coleman threw the referee aside and began to shout at Murilo Rua, Mauricio's brother, who entered the ring following the injury. With the referee still holding the Coleman, Chute Boxe members come charging to the ring to protect their teammate. In the flash of an eye, amongst the hordes of managers, trainers, PRIDE officials, judges, referees and security people all in the ring trying to separate everyone, Wanderlei Silva charged into the ring and went after Coleman. Then in the next instant, Colemans training partner Phil Baroni went after Silva.

Backstage in his post-fight interview, Coleman stated that the whole melee happened in the heat of the moment and that he didn’t blame the Chute Boxe team for coming in and backing their fighter. He then added that similar to Chute Boxe, Hammer House is also like a family, and thanked Baroni for coming in and watching his back. ^[8] An outraged Chute Boxe refused to accept Coleman's backstage apology. The Chute Boxe team was assigned a yellow card for instigating this infraction.

On October 21 2006, Mark Coleman again faced PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE's first American show, PRIDE 32: The Real Deal,^[9] and lost via submission (armbar) at 1:17 of round two.

Mark Coleman appeared with teammate, Kevin Randleman, on the US pay-per-view broadcast of the final PRIDE event, PRIDE 34: Kamikaze, stating that he intended to keep fighting.

Return to UFC (2008–2010)

At UFC 82, Mark Coleman was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, making him the 5th inductee. Coleman announced that he was not retiring and would return to the octagon to fight Brock Lesnar on August 9 in Minneapolis at UFC 87. However, Coleman injured his knee while training, and was forced to pull out of the event. Heath Herring replaced Coleman for the fight.

At UFC 109, Coleman faced fellow UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, after originally being scheduled to meet at UFC 17 in 1998 twelve years prior, in which an injury forced Couture to drop out of the fight. Coleman went on record, multiple times during the build-up for the fight, in which he claimed this was his dream bout. After being outboxed on the feet, Coleman was taken down and defeated shortly after by (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:09 in round 2. The bout marked the first time two UFC Hall of Fame inductees had fought.

Despite being the headliner at UFC 109, Coleman was released from the promotion along with Frank Trigg, Phillipe Nover and Tim Hague following his loss to Couture.^[10] ^[11]

Personal life

Coleman has two daughters.^[12]

He appeared in the documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Mark Kerr alongside fellow fighter Mark Kerr.

In June 2006, it was announced that Coleman was one of the new coaches in the International Fight League, but unable to assemble a team, he was replaced by Ken Shamrock.^[13]

Mixed Martial Arts record

Professional record breakdown
26 matches	16 wins	10 losses
By knockout	4	3
By submission	8	5
By decision	4	2

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	16-10	Randy Couture	Technical Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	UFC 109: Relentless	2010-02-06	2	1:09	Las Vegas, US	Cut from the UFC
Win	16-9	Stephan Bonnar	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 100	2009-07-11	3	5:00	Las Vegas, US
Loss	15-9	Mauricio Rua	TKO (Punches)	UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson	2009-01-17	3	4:36	Dublin, Ireland	Won Fight of the Night. Debut at 205 lbs
Loss	15-8	Fedor Emelianenko	Submission (Armbar)	PRIDE 32: The Real Deal	2006-10-21	2	1:15	Las Vegas, US
Win	15-7	Mauricio Rua	TKO (Broken Arm)	PRIDE 31: Unbreakable	2006-02-26	1	0:49	Saitama, Japan
Win	14-7	Milco Voorn	Submission (Arm-Triangle)	Bushido Europe-Rotterdam Rumble	2005-10-09	1	0:56	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Loss	13-7	Mirko Cro Cop	KO (Punches)	PRIDE 29: Fists Of Fire	2005-02-20	1	3:40	Saitama, Japan
Loss	13-6	Fedor Emelianenko	Submission (Armbar)	PRIDE Total Elimination 2004	2004-04-25	3	4:33	Saitama, Japan	PRIDE 2004 Heavyweight GP Opening Round
Win	13-5	Don Frye	Decision (Unanimous)	PRIDE 26: Bad to the Bone	2003-06-08	3	5:00	Yokohama, Japan
Loss	12-5	Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	Submission (Triangle/Armbar)	PRIDE 16: Beasts From The East	2001-09-24	1	6:10	Osaka, Japan
Win	12-4	Allan Goes	TKO (Knees)	PRIDE 13: Collision Course	2001-03-25	1	1:19	Saitama, Japan
Win	11-4	Igor Vovchanchyn	Submission (Knees)	PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals	2000-05-01	2	3:09	Tokyo, Japan	Won PRIDE 2000 Openweight GP Final
Win	10-4	Kazuyuki Fujita	TKO (Corner Stoppage)	PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals	2000-05-01	1	0:02	Tokyo, Japan	PRIDE 2000 Openweight GP Semifinal
Win	9-4	Akira Shoji	Decision	PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals	2000-05-01	1	15:00	Tokyo, Japan	PRIDE 2000 Openweight GP Quarterfinal
Win	8-4	Masaaki Satake	Submission (Neck Crank)	PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round	2000-01-30	1	1:14	Tokyo, Japan	PRIDE 2000 Openweight GP Opening Round
Win	7-4	Ricardo Morais	Decision	PRIDE 8	1999-11-21	2	10:00	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	6-4	Nobuhiko Takada	Submission (Heel Hook)	PRIDE 5	1999-04-29	2	1:44	Nagoya, Japan	PRIDE debut, Has been confirmed by Coleman that he was asked to lose the fight for more money.
Loss	6-3	Pedro Rizzo	Decision (Split)	UFC 18: Road to the Heavyweight Title	1999-01-08	1	15:00	New Orleans, Louisiana	Left the promotion after the fight
Loss	6–2	Pete Williams	KO (Head Kick)	UFC 17: Redemption	1998-05-15	1	12:38	Mobile, Alabama
Loss	6–1	Maurice Smith	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 14: Showdown	1997-07-27	1	21:00	Birmingham, Alabama	Lost UFC Heavyweight title
Win	6–0	Dan Severn	Submission (Neck Crank)	UFC 12: Judgement Day	1997-02-07	1	2:57	Dothan, Alabama	Won first ever UFC Heavyweight title
Win	5–0	Brian Johnston	Submission (Strikes)	UFC 11: The Proving Ground	1996-09-20	1	2:20	Augusta, Georgia	Won UFC 11 Tournament
Win	4–0	Julian Sanchez	Submission (Choke)	UFC 11: The Proving Ground	1996-09-20	1	0:45	Augusta, Georgia
Win	3–0	Don Frye	TKO (Strikes)	UFC 10: The Tournament	1996-07-12	1	11:34	Birmingham, Alabama	Won UFC 10 Tournament
Win	2–0	Gary Goodridge	Submission (Position)	UFC 10: The Tournament	1996-07-12	1	7:00	Birmingham, Alabama, US
Win	1–0	Moti Horenstein	Submission (Strikes)	UFC 10: The Tournament	1996-07-12	1	2:43	Birmingham, Alabama, US