In about three weeks from now the UFC is going to Dublin, Ireland for UFC 93 on January 17, 2009. The main event on that card is a very exciting matchup between Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson.

The co-main event features the return of UFC and PRIDE veteran and all around MMA legend, Mark “The Hammer” Coleman taking on Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.  Coleman, who is now forty-four years of age is climbing back into the Octagon to face the much younger, much faster, twenty-seven year-old Brazilian.

Coleman last met Shogun at PRIDE 31 in February of 2006 in Saitama, Japan. Coleman has had one fight since then and it was a loss against Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE 32 in October of 2006. He’s been out of action for over two years.

Shogun has had five bouts since he fought Coleman, all against top notch competition and he was the victor in all but one. Shogun’s first and last appearance in the UFC Octagon was in September of 2007, where he gave up a last minute submission to Forrest Griffin.

Shogun lost his fight against Mark Coleman at PRIDE 32 due to a broken arm he received just forty-nine seconds into round one. Shogun landed on his arm the wrong way causing the injury and he was unable to continue. The bout was ruled a TKO win for Coleman.

But, what ensued after the bout is where the drama comes in. In the heat of the moment, Coleman pushed aside the referee, prompting Wanderlei Silva, Shogun’s brother Murilo, and other Chute Boxe members to enter the ring. A confrontation quickly erupted between the two camps, with Phil Baroni and Coleman’s father also getting involved on Coleman’s side.

Here is a video of the short fight between Coleman and Shogun and then the aftermath in the ring:

Here’s Coleman commenting on what happened:

After cooler heads prevailed, Coleman tried to apologize to Wanderlei and Shogun backstage. Wanderlei said that one of the fighters had kicked him in the head and he was extremely upset.
Here is a video of that incident backstage:

Finally, Coleman and Wanderlei apparently put aside their differences and made up which can be seen in how friendly they are toward one another in this commercial, which has become a legend in itself.

There’s still a ton of questions surrounding this fight such as: “How will Coleman look and perform at light heavyweight?” “Win or lose, where does Coleman go from here?” “What does the UFC and Coleman think he can accomplish at forty-four years of age in the toughest fight organization in the world?” At the very least, hopefully Coleman and Shogun can determine a clear cut winner this time and put the controversy to rest.

Leave a Reply