"The Half-Guarded Truth"
By: Mike Coughlin
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
"UFC 109: Mark Coleman's Dream"
When this story started, it was Randy Couture chasing Mark Coleman. In 1988, Couture had just finished a six year stint with the U.S. Army and was returning to amateur wrestling. That year, for the first time, he would fail in his bid to make the U.S. Olympic wrestling team. In 1988, Coleman won the NCAA Division I National Wrestling Tournament; he was the most celebrated 190 lb wrestler in the United States. In 1989, Couture and Coleman would wrestle for the first and only time - Coleman won by one point. In 1991, Couture tried to do what Coleman had done in 1988, win a national championship at 190 lbs. He fell short, finishing second to Paul Keysaw. That year, Coleman would represent the United States in the FILA World Championships, taking home a silver medal. In 1992, Couture failed twice. Again he was the runner up in the NCAA tournament at 190 lbs, this time losing to future Coleman teammate Mark Kerr. Randy also failed to make the U.S. Olympic team for the 2nd time. Meanwhile, Coleman made the Olympic team, eventually finishing seventh at the Barcelona games. Randy Couture sat at home and watched.
In 1996, Mark Coleman made his mixed martial arts debut. With wrestling never before seen in MMA, and ground and pound so devastating that it is still the blueprint for all others, several thousand people in Birmingham, Alabama witnessed Coleman dominate inside the Octagon. Two months later, Coleman would move from Alabama to Georgia. The result was the same: Coleman came, saw, grounded, and then pounded. That same year, Randy Couture again failed to make the U.S. Olympic team.
1997. Make Coleman defeats Dan Severn and becomes the first ever UFC Heavyweight Champion. He has never lost in MMA. He looks like he will never lose. He is the face of the UFC. He adorns every poster. Randy Couture is sitting at home and watching and wondering if he could do it too. He's about to find out.
And then Couture begins his MMA career. Everything changes. Three months after Coleman became champion, Couture makes his UFC debut. He wins a two-man tournament, defeating a pro wrestler and a guy who would never again fight after that night. It is a humble start. Sometimes the best ones are.
In July of 1997, Coleman loses his title and his reputation to Maurice Smith. Something that wasn't supposed to happen did. His legacy within the Octagon would never be the same. In October, Couture finishes Vitor Belfort - for the first time in what would later become routine, Couture proves everyone wrong and makes real something that wasn't supposed to happen. Four days before Christmas, Randy defeats Smith to become the third UFC Heavyweight Champion. Couture is now the preeminent wrestler dominating and breaking opponents. Mark Coleman sat at home and watched.
Fate almost had the two fight the following year, but a Couture injury prevented the bout from taking place. Instead, Coleman would go on to lose two more fights in a row (three if one counts the worked loss to Nobuhiko Takada). In fact, after being crowned champion, and until he defeated Stephan Bonnar last July, Coleman would not win a fight inside the UFC. For 12 years, the man dubbed the Godfather of Ground and Pound was nothing more than a ghost to modern UFC fans. He did have a brief moment in the sun, winning the PRIDE Grand Prix tournament in 2000. It was a short reign as a year later Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would tap him out. He never held an official title while in PRIDE.
(Funnily enough, while Coleman was winning the Grand Prix, Couture was again failing to make the U.S. Olympic team - he's since stopped trying.)
Randy Couture's MMA life was nothing like his wrestling career. No longer a bridesmaid, he became the undisputed center of attention. After a stumble in Japan, he would return to the UFC and promptly defeat Coleman teammate and friend Kevin Randleman, becoming the first two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion. He would later become the only man to ever twice hold the UFC Light-Heavyweight Championship. His career perhaps peaks when he becomes the only three time UFC Heavyweight Champion. He did most of this after the age of 40. All told, Couture would hold five different world titles. Mark Coleman never held another one after the Severn victory.
***
22 years after their story began, Couture and Coleman are two faces of America. Couture is what America wants to be. He aged well, he is successful in his work and well liked by his peers. He's old but still hip; he dresses with fashionable scarves and fashionable hats while parading around with younger women and flashing a brilliantly white smile. He is approaching 50 and yet he's never been more popular. ESPN likes him, Sports Illustrated likes him, men, women, children, even unforgiving sports writers like him. His life becomes more relevant with every passing year.
Coleman is what most America is. He's from the rust belt of Ohio; ravaged even before the recent recession, a slowly dying community starved by a lack of once available blue collar jobs. He had success at one time in his life but let it go to his head. He squandered what was given, he didn't save, he lived too large thinking it would last forever and would forever be easy. He doesn't blame anyone for his lot; he made his bed and he sleeps in it. He doesn't ask for any handouts and turns them away if offered. His pride is foolish but it's all he has and he'll never let it go. All he wants now is a chance to prove he's still relevant. On Saturday, he gets that chance.
This is Coleman's last chance. A win guarantees him one more fight. A loss means he is thrown on the scrap heap. He has two daughters that need college funds and new clothes and a father to hold them at night. He can't be rusted up - for one night, he has to will away the rust so they can go to a good school. Daddy has to provide. Daddy is all they have. And fighting is the only thing Daddy knows how to do. He's too old and too broken to start over. This was the path he chose. He must continue walking it. If it was just about Mark Coleman, maybe he'd have quit and faded away and sat around old wrestling rooms telling stories and giving warnings that younger kids would ignore. This isn't just about Mark Coleman. This Saturday is about his two daughters and their future. Randy Couture's wall is filled with championship belts; Mark's is filled with photos of his daughters.
This may be one fight Coleman can never win. Couture is proof that age is a state of mind, an obstacle to be overcome if one's will is strong enough. Couture has been the dream that keeps the Mark Colemans of the world alive. Mark is the waking reality of life. His life is the difficulty of getting out of bed and slowly walking to the bathroom and looking at an aged faced in the mirror and wondering what happened. Coleman needs to beat Couture in order to prove he's useful; he needs a win to simply put food on his children's plate. Couture doesn't need anything. Couture fights because he wants to, because he enjoys it. While Coleman has to leave his family behind for months at a time to train, Couture gets to come home every night to his loved ones. Couture trains out of his own gym - one of many found around the country. Coleman trains at someone else's gym. For Randy, Saturday is a fight for glory and for a legacy; for Mark it is a fight to survive.
If Coleman wins, what of it? When you kill a man, the only thing you absolutely prove is that all men eventually die. If Mark beats Randy - if 1989 repeats itself - all Coleman has done is seal his own fate. A Randy win means the story continues, it means that old men don't have to age, that they can fight forever, that the hourglass never needs to run out. But if Coleman wins, he ends all that. Right now, Coleman is why old men shouldn't fight - Randy is why they can. Couture is the light at the end of the tunnel Coleman walks. A Saturday win extinguishes that light. It relegates Mark to walking in the dark. But a loss means Coleman stops walking altogether. A victory for Coleman means that 46 is the end of the road. And when you're 45 you don't want your road to only have one more years distance.
Will Mark Coleman kill a dream so that he can briefly live it?
Mike Coughlin is the host of Five Star Radio. He dreams of puppies and fading rainbows.
Send us a news tip: newstips@wrestlingobserver.com
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news from this site or from our newsletters, please include a link to www.wrestlingobserver.com
For the most in-depth and detailed news and analysis on pro-wrestling and MMA, always turn to Wrestlingobserver.com/Figure Four Weekly Online, the #1 website of its kind on the Internet. Members receive online access to both the Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly newsletters and growing archives, Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer three times per week, the popular Bryan and Vinny Show twice per week, additional radio shows including Figure Four Daily with Alvarez, Mike Coughlin's Five Star Radio, the Dr. Keith Lipinski Show, The Adam and Mike Big Audio Nightmare, Tough Talk and the Karl Stern Wrestling History Show, the infamous BOARD, and more! Members also have full access to the thousands of hours of audio in our radio show archives which date back to 2005. For your convenience, we offer secure online payments using your VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover card or PayPal account. Don't miss out on the fun, sign up now! Don\'t miss out on the fun, sign up now!
Want full access? QUICK AND EASY $10.99 SIGNUP!
