Jul-5-2009
Mark Coleman and The Champion’s Eye
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Death Clutch Brock Lesnar UFC 100 Fight Shorts
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By Thomas Gerbasi
Mark Coleman was fighting on pure instinct. Of course, if you’re a UFC Hall of Famer, former UFC heavyweight champion, and PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix champ, that’s not necessarily the kiss of death, but when your opponent is Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, it’s not the ideal situation to be in. Add in being 44 years old, and for most fighters, the night of January 17, 2009 was going to be a painful one.
And it was, but not in the way you would have expected. For nearly three rounds, Coleman and Rua battled it out in a war of attrition on the UFC 93 card in Dublin that will never win any awards for aesthetics, but that will certainly be remembered as a testament to will and guts from Coleman, who refused to stop fighting from the opening bell until he was stopped with 24 seconds left in the bout. It’s a final result that still eats at ‘The Hammer.’
“The disappointing thing with the Shogun fight was the ending,” said Coleman. “I felt like I was down, but I definitely wasn’t out. If it went to a decision, I could have accepted that, but the way the ref stopped the fight, that ruined the whole night. But anytime you can come out of a fight, especially at this age, with just some minor injuries, it’s not all that bad.”
Yet regardless of the final outcome, Coleman was certainly able to leave the O2 Dublin with his head held high, having won over a pro-Rua crowd with his gutsy effort.
“At the beginning I heard some boos, and they were probably split at best, but then they started pulling for the old guy,” recalled Coleman. “It was a very nice thing to hear the fans cheering for me, and I don’t know if it gave me any energy or not, because honestly, I just didn’t have a whole lot, but that was my own fault and I don’t blame anybody for that.”
Early on, it was evident that Coleman didn’t have the cardio to go three fast-paced rounds, the end result of a less than ideal training camp leading up to the bout. So when the UFC pioneer was approached with a bout against Stephan Bonnar on this Saturday’s UFC 100 card, first he accepted the fight, then he made plans to move out to Las Vegas for two months to prepare with a star-studded cast that includes Shawn Tompkins and the Xtreme Couture team, as well as Robert Drysdale and Frank Mir. And though he makes it clear that he still fights “for the Hammer House, that’s my team, always,” he can already see and the feel the difference after training out west, a move he admits he needed to make.
“I’ve pretty much known that I needed to change things up for a long, long time, but I just never had the guts to pull the trigger and make it happen,” he said. “Quite honestly, I’ve been a father first and a fighter second, and I always hated leaving my kids. I trained at home and I did the best I could with what I had at home and I probably knew deep down that it wasn’t enough, but this time I’m doing it for the kids as well, and I think they’re gonna understand and be pleased in the long run that I did come out and did receive some help from so many people in Vegas. I’ve had so many people willing to help me and wanting to help me that it’s been great.”
It hasn’t been easy for Coleman, who at 44 was obviously set in his ways. And hey, when you’ve done things the same way for years and have still found success, why change? Add in the fact that he has his two daughters back home in Ohio (“It’s been 63 days since I’ve seen my girls and I miss them,” Coleman said last week.), and uprooting everything, even if just for two months, can be an issue. But as Coleman explains, hard work is important, but it can only get you so far in the fight game when you’re not continually picking up new weapons to use in the Octagon.
“The key to this sport is hard work and I’ve always said that the guy who works the hardest is gonna win, and that’s in just about any sport, definitely in the two I’ve done most of my life – wrestling and fighting,” he said. “That kinda takes care of the things that you don’t know. But at the same time, when there are some things you don’t know, it causes panic, and when you panic and aren’t sure about what you wanna do, panic and fear adds to the fatigue, and fatigue is a big factor in this sport. So you can be in the best shape of your life, but if you’re really not sure about what you’re doing out there and you’re holding your breath and you’re not sure which way to turn, you’re gonna get tired no matter who you are. So by knowing what you’re doing, there’s no panic involved, you’re able to stay calm, and you’re able to go longer and go the distance. And for me, the hard work is gonna help my conditioning the most, but the little things I’ve learned here (in Vegas) are gonna help drastically.”
With Coleman at 100 percent and Bonnar being the type of aggressive fighter that is rarely in a bad fight, their upcoming bout at the Mandalay Bay Events Center has taken on a life of its own in terms of fan anticipation. Coleman appreciates the support, and at the same time, he is even more motivated by the fact that his bout is on the preliminary portion of the stacked card.
“He (Bonnar) has etched a helluva name for himself in this sport with that one big dramatic fight with Forrest Griffin,” said Coleman. “He made himself an instant star, and I’m just super glad that the fans want to see this because I only want to fight people that the fans want to see me fight. I’m not interested in fighting people that nobody cares about, so I’m really glad that they want to see this, and for me, it’s motivation that I’m not on the main card. I’m not happy about that at all, and I don’t want to be on the undercard ever again, that’s for sure.”
A win over Bonnar, especially an impressive one in old school ‘Hammer-style’ will assure that Coleman’s next bout will be televised, but more importantly, it will establish him as a contender in the 205-pound weight class and open up a myriad of interesting bouts for him in the coming months. Coleman refuses to look that far ahead, but he does admit that he’s got the fire back to not only compete but to excel.
“I’m definitely not looking past Bonnar, he’s a tough character and I feel absolutely great right now, but you have to be able to turn it on fight night,” he said. “In practice I feel like I can whup a lot of people’s asses right now, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into a fight night victory. I gotta pull it off when the lights are on, the money’s on the line, and it counts. And that’s gonna be critical. I’m feeling better than I have in eight to ten years and this is definitely not my last fight, no matter what, because I’ve finally got the eye back. I’ve not had a champion’s eye for a long, long time, and it’s great to have that eye back. After this fight I’m gonna continue to work hard and I do see myself being able to compete with anybody in this weight class in the future. I’ve improved drastically in the two months that I’ve been out here, but there are still more things that I can improve on, and that’s a positive thing. I haven’t reached my peak or learning capacity, and when somebody like Ray Sefo tells me that he’s impressed with how fast I pick things up, especially at my age, it’s very encouraging.”
And undoubtedly discouraging to future opponents, because despite the fact that he’s coming off a loss and is a little over five months away from his 45th birthday, Coleman still garners respect from his peers, some of whom weren’t even training when he first made his mark in 1996 with a five fight string of destruction that saw him tear through the UFC with a ferocious attack soon to be named ‘Ground and Pound.’ In speaking with Bonnar recently, he talked of how intimidating Coleman was when he first saw him and of his continuing respect for what he brings to the Octagon.
“If he means it, that’s probably a good thought to have,” Coleman said. “Because I do consider myself a dangerous man inside that ring.”
A dangerous man who has no intention of leaving this game anytime soon.
“I’m the Hammer and I have been around a long time,” said Coleman. “I said back in 1996 that I’m gonna be around for a long time and I’m still here. There are a lot of people that probably wish I wasn’t still around, but that’s too bad for them. I’ll let them know when I’m ready to quit.”
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