Mark Coleman – The Hammer’s Ultimate Fighter 19 Weekly Q&A Episodes 1-3

Mark Coleman – The Hammer’s Ultimate Fighter 19 Weekly Q&A Episodes 1-3
By Dave Carpinello

One of mixed martial arts true pioneers, UFC Hall of Famer and legend, Mark “The Hammer” Coleman is a member of Team Penn’s coaching staff on The Ultimate Fighter 19 Team Edgar vs. Team Penn. “The Godfather of Ground ‘n Pound” first arrived in the UFC back in 1996, winning his first two tournaments in dominating fashion, including a win over Don Frye at UFC 10, and becoming the first UFC Heavyweight Champion after submitting UFC Superfight Champion Dan Severn with a neck crank submission at UFC 12. The PRIDE 2000 Grand Prix Open-weight Tournament Champion retired in 2013 with notable wins over Shogun Rua, Dan Severn, Stephan Bonnar, Dan Frye (2x) and Igor Vovchanchyn. Prior to starting his mixed martial arts career, Coleman was a decorated wrestler having competed in the Olympics, FILA World Freestyle Wrestling Championships, Pan American Championships and was the 1988 NCAA Division I Champion. Mark will be giving his answers to your questions weekly every Monday throughout the season!

Here are some of your questions and Mark’s answers from TUF 19 Episodes 1-3:

1.  When you first found out that you were going to be on TUF 19; What were your initial thoughts on the coaches, BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar?

Mark Coleman – I think just about everyone had the same answer for this question, both of those guys are great! They are both great fighters and I love them both. It was one of the coolest things that I was ever involved with. Of course there are always those people out there that don’t like certain fighters but I am sure the majority of fight fans were thrilled when they heard the announcement. Penn and Edgar are two of the baddest, nicest, toughest and best fighters in the sport.

2.  How did you end up getting the gig of coaching on BJ Penn’s team?

Mark Coleman – I got a call on a Friday and I hadn’t been actively training in probably three years, since that dreaded fight with Randy Couture. I had all kinds of injuries that I thought were going to heal up with time but that didn’t happen this time and I had to get a hip replacement and finally took care of it. Six months later I got a call from BJ Penn and I hadn’t been working out in months. He asked if I could be his wrestling coach for the show, I hadn’t heard from BJ in a while but that is how our relationship is, you don’t need to call someone everyday for them to be a good friend. Of course I said yes, how many things could be more fun than that experience but at the same time I was thinking about my hip and the fact that I hadn’t even tested it yet. If I was going to coach I needed to make sure that physically I would be able handle the duties of a coach, you know being able to demonstrate the moves and such. Obviously I didn’t tell BJ any of that, I just asked when I had to be there and he said Monday. Two days notice. I got my kids, my girlfriend and her kids… so after all was said and done and taken care of I got there Tuesday morning just in time for filming. I caught a really early fight out of Columbus, Ohio to Las Vegas, walked off the plane and they took me straight to the gym. I walked in the doors, I felt nervous at first but then I felt right at home.

3.  Overall, how impressed were you with skill level of the fighters during the elimination fights?

Mark Coleman – I saw a lot of talent out there but it is harder these days for me to judge what championship caliber talent is now since it has been a long time since I trained with world champions. Compared to what I saw back in the days, these fighters were definitely at an advanced level but I didn’t know if there were any world champions in this group.

4.  What did you think about the fighter that came to the Octagon wearing polar bear ears (Doug Sparks) and stating that his dad had sex with a polar bear and that he was their offspring?

Mark Coleman – At first I didn’t even know that he had said that and I would have to say that is probably taking it a little bit to far for the TV. I don’t dig it and maybe he should have knocked his opponent out. Even if you don’t agree with it, I mean if you are going to say stuff like that it would probably help if you knocked someone out. He was from around Columbus and I did know his manager and trainer, so they did ask me to be in his corner for that fight, so he was in the blue locker room. I had no problem with him in there but I didn’t know the story behind the bunny ears until I saw the episode on TV. I rewound it a couple of times just to make sure I heard what I thought I heard and let’s put it this way. I certainly hope he wasn’t letting the truth get in front of a good story because if that really happened he would have gotten the knockout. We all know how powerful polar bears are!

5.  The first fight of the season featured Team Penn’s Cathal Pendred vs. Team Edgar’s Hector Urbina; what did you think of the fight overall and Cathal’s performance?

Mark Coleman – People have to understand that sometimes you have to do what you need to do to win a fight, especially when it is an eight-man tournament. The goal here is to obviously entertain the fans and excite the crowd but most importantly to win the fight. All three would be great but in this situation I think it became very apparent that in that very exciting first round, my guy, Cathal was on the losing end. So he had to go to Plan B very quickly or lose the fight. We all knew he had to get the fight to the ground because give Hector credit. He is a very big guy who hits very hard. He started his fight career fighting out of Hammer House and he fought at heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight. So he has been all over the place and was a big guy with a big heart. Cathal did well in the striking exchanges but he was getting hit harder than he was punching, so it was time for a change. So he used his wrestling and if the referee isn’t going to stand you up (and I have never given props to lay ‘n pray) then it is legal and if it wins you the fight, then it wins you the fight. I would have preferred he took him down and landed some ground ‘n pound but he did what he needed to do to win and advance to the next round after nearly getting knocked out in the first round. Will it win any “Fight of the Year” awards? No, but it was a big win for our team.

6.  On Episode 3 last week, a lot of fighters from your team and also Team Edgar seemed to be getting a little irritated with the traveling preacher Todd Monaghan; What was your impression of him?

Mark Coleman – I never did make it to one of his preaching sessions and that is something about the whole six weeks that I do regret. I did tell him that I would get there and at least check it out but I never made it. So just like you watching it on TV, I am also just learning about that situation going on in the house. A lot of the talking behind the scenes that you see on TV we were unaware of because the guys didn’t bring it up at practice or when the coaches were around. Those were pretty strong words and criticism, accusing Todd of using the Lord for his own benefit and I am not going to even touch that subject. I believe in his relationship with the Lord and I am not going to judge anything that he said. I believe he was there to win fights and everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

7.  The second fight of the season featured Team Edgar’s Todd Monaghan and Team Penn’s Daniel Spohn. After the fight Dana White said in regards to the next fight between Team Edgar’s Dhiego Lima and Team Penn’s Tim Williams that “he loves the fight because it’s impossible to suck as bad as the last fight did”. What did you think of the fight?

Mark Coleman – Well Dana White was right. He has said that in the past before, he is the boss and quite frankly he wasn’t the only one who said that. Ringside it was a different story though, your sitting there as the coach and you are trying to go up 2-0 in the competition and you know the best chance Monaghan has of winning is by knockout, so you change it up. Spohn won the first round and then we changed it up with the wrestling. So here you go, Team Edgar had all the wrestlers on their team and two fights in a row we win with wrestling. I think Monaghan even said that he was surprised by the wrestling. Spohn knows how to control a guy on the ground but his straight wrestling needs some work. He controlled a very strong man in Monaghan but does that equal an exciting fight for anyone except his coaches? No it doesn’t. So Dana White was right and if Spohn continues to fight like that and win, you probably won’t see much of him on TV. One week earlier though, he had the most exciting fight at the elimination fights with a one-punch KO. He went from most exciting to probably won’t see worse, in one week but as a coach I want Daniel to know that he fought a brilliant fight, masterpiece. Once again, if the referees will allow you to fight this way, well then take advantage of it. I don’t have a problem with the referees standing the fighters up but when they don’t it is up to the fighter (Monaghan) to find a way out of there. Bottom line is that you have to excite the fans, you have to excite Dana White and you have to win. If you don’t do all three, eventually your paycheck will show it.

Don’t miss this week’s all new episode, Wednesday on FOX Sports 1! – The Hammer

Send in your questions following this week’s episode.  You can submit your questions for Mark by sending them to ad***@*************er.com or you can post them below and “The Hammer” will answer them each week following the next show on FOX Sports 1!