UFC 109 COUTOURE VS. COLEMAN RELENTLESS

Let's face it; even though they still probably harbor some dreams of glory, the winner of the Randy Couture-Mark Coleman fight at UFC 109 is most likely not going to figure very big in the future plans of the UFC, nor will either be a major threat to captures championship in the heavyweight or light heavyweight ranks.

Still, in this bout where Couture, who has most recently been a relevant fighter, is a -400 favorite in the BetUS UFC betting odds, we see something of a tribute that still has mixed martial arts fans enthralled, and that is a credit to the loyalty of their patronage.

If you have followed MMA closely, no one needs to tell you about the important place both men occupy in the game's history. Coleman goes so far back that he was winning in the UFC when the promotion was tournament-based, long before the guys from Zuffa showed up. He holds the distinction of being the first UFC heavyweight champion ever. A quick look at his record tells you that he was a product of the era, not really long ago but part of ancient history in MMA terms, when shows would have to jump from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, staying one step ahead of regulatory shutdown. In fact, Coleman won AND lost his heavyweight crown in Alabama, a state I'm quite certain is not on the road map of the "new" UFC.

Coleman's "legit" amateur wrestling background (he was in the '92 Olympics) was an important part of early credibility for UFC competitors, and his experiences overseas as part of PRIDE further cemented his status as a world figure in the fledgling sport. His role in the documentary "The Smashing Machine" helped him, and the sport, cross over in the consciousness of a more mainstream audience. He is generally credited with originating a technical innovation - the "ground-and-pound." It would not be a stretch to say he is on the short list of the most significant figures in the brief history of the sport.

Couture, like Coleman, had a long and successful amateur career in wrestling, and was a tournament winner, capturing the UFC 13 title, then winning the heavyweight title a couple of fights later. Like Coleman, he fought an array of tough, capable fighters because those were the only guys who were around. Winning the UFC heavyweight belt on two separate occasions was not a small feat, and then to move down in weight division and capture the light heavyweight crown, then venture back into the heavyweights to capture the title again, and to do so all after the age of 40, was truly a superhuman feat.

Couture has bested some of the great names in the sport; people like Vitor Belfort, Maurice Smith, Kevin Randleman, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Tim Sylvia, Pedro Rizzo and more. Like Mark Coleman, he has spanned from one era to another; actually, in terms of a sport that has been around only since 1993 in this country and has undertaken so much transition, it has been a tremendous accomplishment for them to have kept up with all of the evolution in the sport. And why not? They were at the forefront of much of it.