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UFC 109: Relentless
February 6, 2010 7 GMT
Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman
UFC Betting Pick: Randy Couture (-390)
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Heavyweight bout: Randy "The Natural" Couture (-390) vs. Mark "The Hammer" Coleman (+320)
The main event at UFC 109: Relentless has two UFC hall of fame inductees facing off in Randy “The Natural” Couture (27-10) versus Mark “The Hammer” Coleman (26-9).
If this fight had taken place four years ago Coleman would have decimated Couture, however, like a fine wine Couture has gotten better with age while Coleman, riddled with battle scars, has seen his mixed martial arts game decline. This fight will mark the greatest combined age of fighters to go head to head in the UFC. By the time both warriors enter the octagon their collective ages will be 91 years—Couture at 46 and Coleman at 45. At the start of their professional careers both fighters were quite similar—both were standout collegiate wrestling stars and both used their phenomenal base in wrestling to excel in MMA. However, the difference lies in the fact that Couture has improved as a fighter while Coleman has not changed his game since his start in 1996.
Both have their own facilities but Couture’s Xtreme Couture is a total MMA club where high level training talent convene. Xtreme Couture is known for it’s expert training facilities and the Las Vegas location can boast of skilled instructors such as Ron Frazier (boxing), Neil Melanson (jiu-jitsu), Ray Sefo (striking), Jake Bonacci (strength and conditioning), Lance Freimuth (wrestling), Kui Gonsalves-Kanoho (MMA/striking), Brian Keck (wrestling), Gil Martinez (boxing), Alex Schoenauer (MMA), and Chris Ben-Tchavtchavadze (boxing) to name a few.
Xtreme Couture also has a slew of very good fighters utilizing the facilities such as Tyson Griffin, Forrest Griffin, Jay Hieron, Vitor Belfort, Martin Kampmann, Gray Maynard, Mac Danzig, Ronaldo de Souza, Stephan Bonnar, Frank Trigg, Mike Whitehead, Heath Herring, Mark Hominick, Chris Horodecki, Amir Sadollah, Vinny Magalhães and Goran Reljic.
Coleman’s Team Hammer House operates out of Columbus Ohio and his fighters include Phil Baron, Branden Lee Hinkle, Wes Sims and Kevin Randleman. Team Hammer House focuses on amateur wrestling but have cross training deals with notable fighters and camps such as Matt Serra and Pat Miletich, but that is as far as they have come to mixed martial arts. They are a great wrestling club but are still evolving into a MMA training locale.
The club and fighters at the respective venues are a reflection of who they—one facility has a constant revolving door which adds to it’s talent pool, it embraces the latest fighting techniques and is not afraid to work outside its comfort zone. The other club is more old school with a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” mentality—it is not often that it brings in new talent which means it is still doing what it did ten years ago.
Xtreme Coulture and Team Hammer House are perfect representations of who Couture and Coleman are as fighters today. Couture has developed a variety of skills in addition to his wrestling—boxing, Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The older he gets, the greater his skill base and the better he has become as a MMA fighter. Sadly the same cannot be said for Coleman. If one was to break down the skill set of each fighter it would be evident as to why the MMA betting lines are so great.
When it comes to wrestling Couture is the dominate one. Though Coleman may have been the innovator of the ground and pound this fighting style has evolved much since its inception that it is hardly seen in the octagon now a days. Couture is a three-time Olympic team alternate (1988, 1992 and 1996), a semifinalist at the 2000 Olympic Trials, a three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division-I All-American and a two-time NCAA Division-I runner-up at Oklahoma State University. Coleman 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. Coleman was awarded a spot on the US Wrestling team, placing seventh overall in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
Though Coleman may have been a better wrester at one time, his current ability no longer overwhelms Couture as his skills have not evolved with MMA. Coleman has been utilizing the same techniques since his university days while Couture has incorporated MMA into his wrestling.
Striking is also another interesting area of comparison between these two fighters. Once again Couture has sought to and has improved his striking game immensely to the extent that he can now strike with some of the best. He has stood toe to toe with Chuck Liddell and Vitor Belfort three times each, Tim Sylvia at UFC 68: The Uprising, Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74: Respect and most recently Brandon Vera at UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera. Again, it is sad to see that Coleman has not advanced his striking to any great degree and Couture will pick his game apart.
Though this will not be a grappling match whatsoever, Couture does have the ability to grapple with Coleman and submit him. Couture has had a number of black belts help him train such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Ronaldo de Souza, Vitor Belfort and Vinny Magalhães while Coleman has remained stagnate. If this fight goes the way of grappling, Couture will have the upper hand.
Bottom Line: This fight will be an event featuring an old school versus a new school combatant. Couture is now a compete fighter who has used his base in wresting to further build upon his skills. Coleman on the other hand has always relied solely upon his wresting and that is about it. When it comes to sports betting the online UFC betting lines are accurate—Couture should be a -390 or even higher.
Though ever so slightly younger than Couture, Coleman is showing his age through his lack of innovation which has adversely shone a light upon his numerous back and knee injuries. The MMA betting lines may be steep, but nevertheless worth a small play.
Even though both fighters may have similar MMA records, in actuality Coleman has been defeated by fighters who have bettered and outclassed him such as Mauricio Rua in UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson, Fedor Emelianenko in PRIDE 32: The Real Deal and PRIDE Total Elimination 2004, as well as Mirko Filipović and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. In every match Couture has ever been in he was always competitive and in the fight—the same cannot be said of Coleman. At UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson Coleman’s loss to Rua was not surprising as after the first round he drew negative comments from Joe Rogan such as Coleman was looking "like a confused old man", which unfortunately is also the state of his MMA game.
Coleman is credited with demonstrating that wrestlers could dominate in the developing sport of mixed martial arts and with being one of the first in American MMA to successfully use the ground-and-pound. He is known as the "Godfather of Ground and Pound" but unfortunately that is what he is starting to look like in the octagon as well. The legendary pair wrestled one another in a freestyle match at the 1989 Olympic Festival at Oklahoma State where Coleman won the match by one point, however, I think the outcome will be much different this time around.
Look For Couture to Send Coleman into Retirement
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