This week, UFC officials catch up to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Mark Coleman.
Making his professional debut with the promotion back in 1996, Coleman was another early pioneer of the 235-pound division. Coleman came into the promotion strong by getting six consecutive wins over Moti Horenstein, Gary Goodridge, Don Frye, Julian Sanchez, and Brian Johnston.
Coleman would win the UFC Heavyweight title after beating Dan Severn via submission at UFC 12. However, his reign as the heavyweight champion didn’t last long as he dropped the belt to Maurice Smith at UFC 14, and Coleman would end up suffering two more losses inside the octagon. The heavyweight was released from the UFC shortly after.
However, the heavyweight continued fighting for several other promotions including PRIDE, and managed to win the 2000 Grand Prix tournament by beating Masaaki Satake, Akira Shoji, Kazuyuki Fujita, and Igor Vovchanchyn.
Eventually, Coleman would make his way back into the UFC after his impressive stint in PRIDE; however, he was unsuccessful in his return bout against Maurício “Shogun” Rua at UFC 93 and while he would rebound a bit against Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100, the match-up against Randy Couture didn’t do him any favors. The Ohio native would eventually hang up his gloves for good.
Check out the compelling mini-documentary that catches up with the UFC Hall of Famer, with Coleman detailing the highs and lows of his career, along with life after the UFC.