Bonnar vs. Coleman: A Generational Clash

While Stephan Bonnar (11-5 MMA, 5-4 UFC) may have disappeared from the public consciousness and the top of the UFC lightheavyweight division after his back-to-back losses to future champs Rashad Evans (13-1-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC, #2 IWMMAR) and Forrest Griffin (16-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC, #4 IWMMAR). It didn’t help that in the loss to Griffin (their second bout, at UFC 62), Bonnar tested positive for a banned substance.

That said, Mark Coleman (15-9 MMA, 6-4 UFC) has been out of the public consciousness about the same amount of time, though, in honesty, Coleman’s appearance had to do with a single victory over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (18-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC, #5 IWMMAR). Coleman has not been considered among the top fighters, in many minds, since 2001, and hasn’t had a win in the UFC, though, since February of 1997, when he won the UFC heavyweight title by defeating Dan Severn (88-16-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC).

The world of MMA has changed, and nothing will showcase how far the sport has come than a bout between the runner-up on the first season of TUF and a fighter who’s career dates back to UFC 10. It looks to be a war between a fighter straight out of the mold of the new generation (a boxer who stepped into muay thai and studied in jiu-jitsu under one of the legends in the martial arts) and the original MMA athlete (a powerful wrestler, plain and simple).

While the bout will not be between two epic powerhouse fighters, and will be on the undercard, it should serve as a nice reminder, as we celebrate the move into three digit UFC’s, of how far the modern sport has evolved.

Stephan Bonnar is a warrior, with a solid boxing record, who took part in one of the greatest bouts in the history of the sport (perhaps the bout that put MMA on the map). He earned a purple belt under Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend Carlson Gracie, before Carlson’s passing in 2006, and has acted as a journeyman in many top camps. While its not clear whether Bonnar’s move to Xtreme Couture has demonstrated a certain level of settling, his loss to Jon Jones (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) showed that he’s definitely not ready to make his way back into the top tier of lightheavyweight division.

Of course, Bonnar isn’t fighting for his career. Mark Coleman is.

While Coleman looked better than expected in his rematch with Shogun Rua, he was expected to get mauled and “better than expected” isn’t “exemplary” when everyone expected you to get killed. While Coleman is a Hall-of-Famer, that doesn’t mean he has a free pass to fight. He hasn’t won a UFC bout since UFC 12, and has dropped four straight since his impressive 6-0 start back in the late 90s. While he won the Pride Grand Prix in 2000, that was his last string of impressive, decisive victories, and without the freakish, heavyweight athleticism he was known for, it’s hard to argue that Coleman really belongs in the UFC. It’s not as though he’s done much more, lately, than any of the other fighters in his generation.

At 51, fellow Hall-of-Famer Dan Severn has more wins and Pedro Rizzo (16-9 MMA, 9-5 UFC) has higher profile wins, with a knockout of Jeff Monson (though Rizzo’s been beaten in back-to-back knockouts, which have certainly taken him down a bit in the world’s estimation). Coleman could have fights with those guys, but the UFC shouldn’t put those matchups together.

The word “mixed” was only just coming into the sport when Coleman was on the up-and-up, and he wasn’t one of the men who really brought it in. As the inventor of the groundnpound, Coleman never really evolved with the sport, but that’s not what makes this bout interesting. Bonnar, on the other hand, is a great example of what this sport has become: a matter of mixing styles and building gameplans.

As a boxer who picked up muay thai to work out kicks and jiu-jitsu to keep himself alive on the ground and remain a threat to wrestlers, Bonnar is an example of the modern fighter’s versatility, and watching the two go to war will be a nice demonstration of the change that the sport has undergone in recent years, and whether the paradigm shift means anything to the casual fans, it’ll be nice for those of us who enjoy weird narratives and understandings like the ones presented by this UFC 100 fight.