UFC 109 will mark the first time in history two Ultimate Fighting Championship hall of famers will meet inside the octagon. The match will feature former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Randy "The Natural" Couture against the first ever UFC Heayweight Champion Mark "The Hammer" Coleman. Following loses in the heavyweight division versus Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Randy Couture made his reutrn back down to the light heavyweight division and was victorious at UFC 105 versus Brandon Vera. The win came via unanimous decision but Couture did not look impressive. He struggled the entire fight to take down Vera and was rocked by him in the third round but went back to his game plan to avoid knockout and win the match. Couture basically pinned Vera against the cage for two and a half rounds and performed his famous boring dirty boxing style. However unlike in the past his opponent was not hurt and he did not seem to even faze Vera by his tactics giving Vera a brief opportunity in the third round to attempt to score a knockout, although he was unsuccessful.
If Couture has any aspirations of beating the rejuvinated Mark Coleman, he will have to be much better than he was against Vera. "The Hammer" is coming off an impressive upset over Ultimate Fighter Series 1 finalist Stephan Bonner. Coleman pushed the pace on the much younger Bonner, scoring multiple take down on way to a unanimous decision victory. Before the Bonner fight Coleman lost a very tough battle with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. The two fighters both looked out of shape as they were completely gassed by the third round and were practically falling all over the octagon. Rua managed to score a knockout in the dieing minutes of the third round but as mentioned neither fighter looked impressive. Although Coleman's carido was in question following the Rua fight, he seemed to have fix those problems for the Bonner bout and I wouldn't expect him to have any problems cardio wise in the main event slot at UFC 109.
Stylistically the two match up very evenly, they are both outstanding wrestlers and mediocre on their feet. Usually when two fighters with the same strong quality fight, that dominant form is most often avoided so I would expect to see the two engage in a stand up battle. If that is the case I would give the slight edge to Couture. Similar to the Vera fight I expect Randy to push Coleman up agianst the cage and try and use his dirty boxing to wear him down. That being said, I would not be suprised to see Colemans score a knockout or technical knockout victory, as Couture has been sisesptible to them in the past. As mentioned both fighters are outstanding wrestlers and have scored the majority of their career wins by takedowns and the ground and pound strategy. In fact Colemans was the creator of the ground and pound style of fighting. I believe if either fighter has scores takedown they will be at a huge advantage and I would expect the other one to have major problems getting back to their feet as both have little experience on their backs. Overall I am expecting to see an exilirating fight between two legends and for everyone wondering this is the first time Randy Coutute will ever fight someone within a year of his age. Should be a fun one folks and be sure to catch UFC 109 live from the Mandalay Bay Events Centre in Las Vegas, Nevada on Pay Per View, Saturday February 6, 2010 at 10pm EST.
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