It’s been a difficult week for UFC legend Mark Coleman.
On Tuesday morning, the former heavyweight champion was awakened by his dog around 4 a.m. only to discover that his childhood home was engulfed in flames. Acting quickly, ‘The Hammer’ carried both of his parents to safety, but suffered from smoke inhalation after trying to save his beloved pet. Coleman was airlifted to a local hospital where he remained in a coma before regaining consciousness on Thursday.
Coleman’s recount of the horrifying details while embracing his two daughters — Morgan and Kenzie — was an undeniably emotional and inspiring moment that quickly went viral.
Further updates from the Coleman family appeared to show the MMA legend well on his way to recovery. So much so that ‘The Hammer’ was released from the hospital on Friday. However, Coleman’s oldest daughter revealed that they were forced to return to the facility roughly an hour after arriving home as Coleman began experiencing numbness in his arms and pain in his chest.
“Daily update. Kenzie here,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “Hi everyone. It’s been a worldwind of a week. Yesterday my dad was released from st vincents in Toledo where they thought he was stable enough to go home. We were only home for about an hour in Columbus when he started to have numbness in his arms and chest pain. Of course my sister and I rushed him back to the hospital where we found out he has now developed pneumonia.
“Despite all of this he is still his same positive, spunky, spitfire self just as you can imagine from the video above. He wants to again thank you all for the support and love you have shown him and us during this extremely difficult time. I have read him so many of your guys comments and he is so overwhelmed with joy. He is getting rest and i promise to take the best care of him.
“He is the true definition of a fighter and defines strength like no other. Sometimes i even think he’s a super human. He loves you all so much. He always says without his supporters he’s nothing. It feels good to be home with my daddy. Please continue to pray for his healing and health during this recovery process. Hammer house 4 life.”
Mark Coleman’s MMA Legacy has stood the test of time
Mark Coleman is best known for being the first-ever UFC heavyweight world champion, defeating Dan ‘The Beast’ Severn to claim the title after winning back-to-back tournaments at UFC 10 and UFC 11. ‘The Hammer’ went on to compete against a slew of top-shelf talent in both PRIDE FC and the UFC, including Don Frye, Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, and ‘Shogun’ Rua.
In February 2010, Coleman competed in the first UFC fight pitting two Hall of Famers against one another when he met Randy Couture at UFC 109.
A GoFundMe campaign established to help Coleman and his daughters with living expenses and mounting medical bills has already blasted past its initial $ 50,000 goal and is nearing $ 120,000 with over 2,500 donations. If you’d like to donate to the cause, you can do so right here.
The UFC Apex in Las Vegas plays host to today’s UFC Vegas 88 fight card. The event is headlined by a heavyweight bout between ninth-ranked Tai Tuivasa and tenth-ranked Marcin Tybura.
Tuivasa (14-6) will enter the octagon on Saturday in desperate need of a win. On a three-fight losing streak, the knockout artists hopes the right the ship against Tybura.
Tybura (24-8) is coming off a loss to interim champion Tom Aspinall in his last fight, but has won seven of his last nine matches.
Last night, I listened to the newest episode of Good guy/Bad guy with Chael and DC, and I was shocked at how awful Chael’s matchmaking skills were. They were matching up the losers from the last card, and his suggestions were Cory Sandhagen versus Chito Vera, and Kevin Holland versus Wonderboy. Doesn’t he know that we just saw both of those fights and Chito and Kevin got destroyed?! And, his suggestion for BSD was Geoff Neal, a welterweight. That’s not even the same division.
I know he’s always said stupid (but funny) stuff to get headlines, but this seems like it’s next level stupid. Like he didn’t even know that those have already happened or they’re not even in the same weight class.
And DC didn’t even check him on any of this stuff except for Geoff Neal being in a different weight class. Is Chael always this bad? I don’t usually watch his stuff
I feel like his JDM take is his normal level of stupid.
Marvin Vettori hopes to fight Brendan Allen in the future after being forced out of their main event matchup.
Vettori was scratched from the headliner of UFC Vegas 89, which takes place April 6 at the UFC APEX, for what he called a “freak accident,” and says it was the first time he has had to pull out of a fight in his career. The one-time middleweight title challenger explained that in an Instagram video, before turning his attention to Allen.
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A post shared by Marvin Vettori (@marvinvettori)
“Now, to my f****** opponent, it’s on,” Vettori said. “You’re not going to hide no more. I know I’m going to see you — either in the cage, or not. I’ll see you around. You know, I’m fed up with all your bulls***. You sit down in front of a computer and become Hulk. When you see me, you’re like a quiet little girl — all smiles, trying to be nice. I punked you once already, you know that.
“I sat down and told you [that] you got knocked out twice by these two dudes. You know what happened over there, you funny looking thing, man. You look like you came out of a Griffin episode.”
While he hopes to still get his hands on Allen after suffering a lopsided decision loss to Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 75 this past June, Vettori believes he is the A-side to the fight, and if Allen wants the opportunity to move up in the ranks in the midst of a six-fight win streak, it’s Vettori’s decision to make.
“It’s on, I’m the big shot, you’re going to have to beg me for another shot. I don’t give a f*** about fighting you, I’m [doing] you a favor. I’ll smash your face just because you look funny to me. That’s it, I’ll see you soon.”
Welcome to r/mma's discussion of KSW 92: Wikłacz vs. Jojua, from Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland! Please keep the fight discussions in here. We also have a fight thread in ourKbin communityfor those who would prefer not to use Reddit but would still like to talk about the fights.
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Card Info
Airing on KSWTV @ Saturday 03.16.2024 at 01:00 PM ET
Main Card:
Division
Fighters
Bantamweight
Jakub Wikłacz vs. Zuriko Jojua
Middleweight
Piotr Kuberski vs. Michał Materla
Welterweight
Wiktor Zalewski vs. Adrian Zieliński
Featherweight
Daniel Rutkowski vs. Julio Cesar Neves
Bantamweight
Kamil Szkaradek vs. Miljan Zdravkovic
Middleweight
Tomasz Jakubiec vs. Wojciech Janusz
Welterweight
Maciej Jewtuszko vs. Marius Žaromskis
Undercard:
Division
Fighters
Welterweight
Oskar Szczepaniak vs. Michał Gniady
Middleweight
Damian Mieczkowski vs. David Hošek
Fight card order and start times may be inaccurate.
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Tai Tuivasa | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Tai Tuivasa is predicting a return to form this weekend.
On Saturday, Tuivasa faces Marcin Tybura in the main event of UFC Vegas 88. It’s an important fight for Tuivasa, who has lost three in a row since being on the verge of a title shot back in 2022. But while some fans are writing the Australian fighter off given his recent run of form, “Bam Bam” is not too worried.
“I’ve been here before. It’s nothing I haven’t seen,” Tuivasa said this week on The MMA Hour. “I suppose I fight better when my back’s against the wall.
“The thing is, I’m losing against f****** Ciryl Gane and Sergei Pavlovich. These guys ain’t no call-ins off the street. Alex Volkov. If I was losing against some bums, f***, I’d write myself off too. But these guys are the best in the world. So I’m sweet. I’ve just got to keep my head straight.”
Tuivasa has, in fact, been in this exact same position before. After winning his first three fights in the UFC, “Bam Bam” dropped three straight, but rebounded with five consecutive wins to get himself back into the mix at the top of the division. Now he hopes to kick-start a similar run, which will be made even more special as Tuivasa turns 31 on Saturday.
“Marcin Tybura’s a great fighter,” Tuivasa said. “He’s been around a long time as well. He’s very experienced, but I’m going to come out and if I dink him, I sink him. Simple.
“I think it’s a good matchup. Obviously, he’s going to try to drag me into later rounds and that’s my challenge — to get in there, land my shots, and get it over with, to enjoy my birthday in the beautiful Las Vegas.”
In fact, the only bad part for Tuivasa about fighting this weekend is that it’s taking place in the UFC APEX, instead of in front of a crowd. The fan-favorite always has a lively entrance and legions of fans supporting him at every fight, but given his current position, Tuivasa is looking on the bright side for how this could be a positive.
“ I love the crowd,” Tuivasa said. “You know I love the crowd, but maybe I might be a bit more focused in. I can listen to my corner more and I can get the job done. And once I get back in the winning column, give me back the crowd.”
UFC Vegas 88 takes place this Saturday with the main card scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EST.
A massive lightweight boxing match between undefeated champion Devin Haney and rising star Ryan Garcia is now in limbo after the New York State Athletic Commission requested a mental health examination from “King Ry.” The two rivals are expected to meet on April 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Why is the athletic commission requesting a mental health evaluation from one of the sport’s youngest stars?
That’s because Garcia has been on a social media rampage. Over the past few weeks he’s been posting cryptic and downright concerning material on his Twitter and Instagram pages. At one point, fight fans thought Garcia was dead before that was debunked as a hoax. His ex-wife still took to social media to insist that Garcia is not okay and to “pray for him.”
This is not the first time Garcia’s mental stability has been called into question.
On Friday, Garcia posted a video to his Twitter account revealing that the commission has requested a mental health evaluation ahead of his fight with Haney. The 25-year-old fighter proceeded to go on a rant about constitutional rights and how he plans to sue the commission for violating them. It was a pretty bizarre video and Garcia’s last before deleting his Twitter account.
Check it out below:
Ryan Garcia claims he’s suing the New York boxing commission for requesting a mental health evaluation pic.twitter.com/PT0YSi35vG
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) March 16, 2024
It’s unknown at this time what this means for Garcia’s upcoming boxing match with Haney. The two fighters have some serious beef to settle, but fight fans are already calling for the championship bout to be canceled in light of Garcia’s mental state. This recent request from the athletic commission could be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back, but we’ll have to wait and see.
UFC 299 is in the rear view and UFC 300 is only a few weeks away. For now, we have ourselves a breather as the octagon returns to the APEX for a run-of-the-mill Fight Night card.
Don’t blame UFC Vegas 88’s heavyweight headliners Tai Tuivasa and Marcin Tybura for the lack of buzz around this card. They’re unlikely to need five rounds to deliver the goods, so the night should end with a highlight-reel finish at the very least.
Tuivasa is freshly motivated to stop the second three-fight losing streak of his UFC career, while Tybura is no stranger to playing the spoiler. If Tuivasa isn’t careful, this could be the last time we look at him as a dark horse contender.
Outside of the main event, we have a smorgasbord of names on the main card, with The Ultimate Fighter 29 winner Bryan Battle stepping into a co-main event spot against Ange Loosa, light heavyweight lifer Ovince Saint Preux taking on Kennedy Nzechukwu, Christian Rodriguez moving up to featherweight to face dedicated finisher Isaac Dulgarian, a rematch between bantamweights Pannie Kianzad and Macy Chiasson, and an unpredictable middleweight contest between Gerald Meerschaert and Bryan Barberena.
There might not be a lot on the line Saturday when it comes to the rankings, but there’s still plenty of entertainment to be had.
What: UFC Vegas 88
Where: UFC APEX in Las Vegas
When: Saturday, March 16. The seven-fight preliminary card begins at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+, followed by a six-fight main card at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
(Numbers in parentheses indicate standing in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings)
Tai Tuivasa (8) vs. Marcin Tybura (9)
It’s not quite time to abandon all your Tai Tuivasa stock.
True, the hard-hitting Australian’s days of flirting with title contention are probably over, but becoming the next Derrick Lewis is still a more-than-attainable goal. And nothing would be more Lewis-like than randomly smashing Marcin Tybura in a mostly meaningless main event.
Tybura has been a mainstay in the heavyweight rankings and for good reason. He’s versatile, he fights smart, and he knows how to grind out a decision. That last skill is unlikely to matter in the slightest against Tuivasa, who goes to the scorecards about as often as he passes on a chance to do a shoey. Tybura is in trouble then as he doesn’t have the power to put Tuivasa down nor the submission skills to threaten him on the ground (Tybura has never forced a tap from any of his UFC opponents).
That’s not to say that Tybura’s wrestling can’t neutralize Tuivasa, but like Lewis, he has made good use of his athleticism to explode out of some potentially hairy situations on the ground. I doubt Tybura keeps Tuivasa down and that means I like Tuivasa’s chances to land a knockout punch within the first two rounds.
Pick: Tuivasa
Bryan Battle vs. Ange Loosa
As peculiar as it is to see these relatively unknown names in the penultimate position on the card, the placing isn’t without merit.
Bryan Battle is trending in the direction of being a trusted action fighter, with four of his first five UFC wins coming by way of knockout or submission. When Battle won the TUF 29 middleweight tournament, he received a fair bit of hype and has looked worthy of it since dropping down to 170 pounds. Battle is still working to find consistency, but he has natural finishing instincts that can’t be taught.
On the other side this matchup, Ange Loosa is developing a reputation as a fighter that will drown you with the sheer volume of techniques he throws out there. Loosa is light on his feet with fast hands and though there isn’t always a ton of pop behind those punches, he strings together combinations beautifully. A sharp Loosa could put Battle on his backside early.
This is Battle’s fight to lose so he can’t wait for Loosa to come to him. Loosa’s best chance at victory is putting the pressure on Battle early and never letting him get out of the starting gates. Fortunately for Battle, he typically doesn’t take long to lock in, so I see him taking the advantage in Round 1 and not relinquishing it. Then in Round 2, he makes key adjustments, foils Loosa’s attempts to change the pace with his wrestling, and finds a fight-ending submission.
Pick: Battle
Ovince Saint Preux vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
Ovince Saint Preux has been a tried-and-true warrior for the UFC, but he’s distinctly in the twilight of his career. He’s a month away from his 41st birthday and the hours he’s spent in the octagon and in the gym have taken their toll on him as evidenced by an increased frequency in knockout losses. Being matched up against Kennedy Nzechukwu isn’t likely to reverse this trend.
We all know that “OSP” has the skills to compete and he always shows up in shape. It’s been a struggle for him to find that extra gear in recent years, which is one reason why the results haven’t been there. That’s in contrast to Nzechukwu, who usually takes a round to properly get going. When he does, it’s typically lights out for the opposition.
That leaves the door open for Saint Preux to surprise Nzechukwu in Round 1, so the veteran pulling off an upset finish would only be a minor one in my eyes despite the odds saying otherwise (Nzechukwu is currently the biggest favorite on the card at -550 according to DraftKings). This one likely goes past the first five minutes though and that’s good news for Nzechukwu, who scores a KO in Round 2.
Pick: Nzechukwu
Christian Rodriguez vs. Isaac Dulgarian
It’s great to see Christian Rodriguez moving up to featherweight as his past two trip-ups at the scale have proven he’s not ready to consistently make the 135-pound limit yet. He could be a factor at bantamweight in the future, but for now eliminating the complications of a hard cut is what is best for him.
With Isaac Dulgarian, we don’t know what we have with him yet as he’s rarely been in the cage for more than two minutes. His game plan is as simple as it gets: Come forward, tackle, and punch, punch, punch, and punch some more. Can’t complain as it has worked to the tune of a 6-0 record, all by first-round knockout or submission.
In these instances, I have to lean towards the fighter who has shown they can go the distance, and that’s Rodriguez. By all means, if you’re picking Dulgarian to continue his hot streak and score another fast finish, I don’t blame you. But Rodriguez has shown some serious grit and maturity beyond his years that has me liking his chances to outlast Dulgarian and take this one on the scorecards.
Pick: Rodriguez
Pannie Kianzad vs. Macy Chiasson
When Pannie Kianzad and Macy Chiasson met in the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 28, Kianzad had the reputation of the veteran ready to take that next step into the UFC, while Chiasson had come out of nowhere to emerge as an intriguing prospect after running through the first two rounds of that season’s tournament (including a first-round finish of future PFL champion Larissa Pacheco).
Chiasson continued her hot streak in the finals, submitting the more experienced Kianzad to win a contract, but that result didn’t dictate their futures. Kianzad has become one of the toughest outs at 135 pounds, while Chiasson has struggled with inconsistency and inactivity. This is a crossroads fight for these two women, who could still contend for a title in MMA’s thinnest division.
When they first fought, Kianzad seemed underprepared for Chiasson’s physicality. I doubt she makes the same mistake twice. It’s also fair to assume that Chiasson’s weight-cutting issues have affected her performances and Saturday marks her first time stepping into the cage as a bantamweight in three years. All of that adds up to Kianzad striking her way to a decision win and earning a measure of revenge.
Pick: Kianzad
Gerald Meerschaert vs. Bryan Barberena
Let’s just be straight here: I have no clue what to make of Bryan Barberena at middleweight.
When he fought Makhmud Muradov in London last summer, I assumed his move up to 185 pounds was just a case of Barberena making life easier by not having to worry about traveling and cutting weight. For now, he’s sticking around at a heavier weight class, and he’s been given an opponent whose style is about as far from Muradov’s as you can get.
Gerald Meerschaert is a healthy-sized middleweight and that could be Barberena’s downfall in this matchup. Once Meerschaert takes Barberena down, it will take a ton of effort from “Bam Bam” to stand up let alone defend against submissions. On the other hand, Barberena can end this fight on the feet with one good flurry.
Again, I’m puzzled as to what Barberena’s long term plan is here (assuming there is one) and they’ve given him a winnable fight, but he’s too vulnerable on the ground for me to pick. Meerschaert gets the tap-out and moves one step closer to 30 career submission wins.
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