Mark Coleman is a former Olympic amateur wrestler and an American mixed martial arts fighter. Born December 20, 1964 in Fremont, Ohio, USA, Mark is presently married and has two daughters. He is recognized for establishing the ability of wrestlers in the budding sport of mixed martial arts, and for coming up with the “ground and pound” strategy.
As a teenager, Coleman indulged in freestyle wrestling, and would go on to wrestle for the University of Miami, in Ohio. In his later years of college, Coleman moved to Ohio State University and secured the NCAA championship. After college, Coleman was granted a place in the United States wrestling squad, and he won the 7th place in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Spain.
He continued amateur wrestling, and defeated freestyle wrestling Olympic gold winner Kurt Angle at a tournament in 1995. Later, Coleman made the transition to the then-new sport of mixed martial arts, winning his initial two tournaments, UFC 10 and UFC 11 in 1996, and becoming the UFC's first ever Heavyweight Champion.
The UFC banished the tournament mode events, and received a lot of disapproval for frequently imbalanced fights, and hence the association decided to create championships and also weight classes. In the pioneer Heavyweight Championship amid Dan Severn and Mark Coleman, Coleman shocked his fans by choking out the UFC star in a measly 2:47, thus gaining the title of the first UFC Heavyweight Champion.
In the year 1999, PRIDE Fighting Championships, a Japanese MMA promotion struck a deal with Coleman to wrestle at PRIDE 5. Coleman had to face Nobuhiko Takada, the famous Japanese pro wrestler. Takada conquered Coleman in the match. The wrestling match would be one of Takada's 2 wins in his 7 MMA fights. Coleman came back to Japan in the month of November at PRIDE 8, and took on Ricardo Morais.
Following a couple of ten minute rounds, Coleman was declared victorious, thus putting an end to his losing streak, and winning for the first time in more than two and a half years. As of today, Coleman stays put to fight around once a year. June 2006 saw Coleman was declared the new coach entrant in the International Fight League. However, he was unable to make a team and was reinstated by Frank Shamrock. Later, on 21st October 2006, Coleman confronted Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko for the second time at PRIDE 32: The Real Deal, PRIDE's first ever American show and lost the match via a 1:17 armbar submission in round two. Fedor Emelianenko used heavy punches against Coleman, result of which he incurred atrocious lacerations and substantial distension round the eyes.
Currently, Coleman wrestles for PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan and also makes appearances with the professional wrestling promotion HUSTLE in Japan. He is also the founder of Hammer House Team, a mixed martial arts team and training facility in Columbus, Ohio. |
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