After losing his “dream” fight to Randy Couture at “UFC 109: Relentless” last night, Mark Coleman now finds himself at the end of the road.
UFC president Dana White said following the loss, “I think tonight was probably Coleman’s last fight in the UFC.”
If true, Coleman won’t have his chance to get back at Tito Ortiz who talked trash to the MMA pioneer immediately after he lost.
Although we don’t know exactly what Ortiz said to Coleman, Joe Rogan tweeted that it was along the lines of, “payback’s a [expletive].”
Either way, it looks like the career of the first UFC heavyweight champion has now come to an end.
“He’ll always be a part of this organization. I just think he’ll have a hard time competing with the guys at the top level. Age is a factor with him,” White continued to say at the post-fight press conference.
Having met Mark in the past on multiple occasions, we can honestly say that he really is one of the nicest guys in the sport and it is tough to see him go out the way that he did.
Mark Coleman has given enough to the sport, It won’t be tough for me as a fan to say good-bye to him. There would be no emotion except pride concerning the end of his career. I’ll just say thank you for hanging in there and setting the bar high for other fighters who think about battling the question of retirement and age.
His performance against Couture was bad, it even looked very dangerous too me with his standing defence all but non-existent. I hoped during the fight, that he didn’t get seriously K.O’d.
If Coleman does stay in the UFC or continues to fight else where, he is in serious danger of getting hurt, and that would be a shame….
sizmike commented on February 7, 2010 @ 12:56 pm
sizmike, thanks for commenting. I think that’s the major reason why White is saying that he’s done in the UFC and hopefully fighting in general. White doesn’t want to be apart of someone getting seriously hurt. Yes Couture’s older, but he’s also a better fighter who can protect and prevent himself from being hurt.
Tom Ngo commented on February 7, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
Ortiz vs Lidell 3 is another retirement bout.
Montism commented on February 8, 2010 @ 1:35 pm