Mark Coleman

(Whaddya say, old-timer? One last job, for all the Lipitor?)

According to Sherdog, UFC hall-of-famers Randy Couture and Mark Coleman have verbally agreed to a light-heavyweight headlining match at UFC 109 (February 6th, Las Vegas). Combined age for the fight: 90. At 46 years and five months old at the time of his decision win over Brandon Vera last weekend, Couture is the oldest person to score a victory in the UFC. (If only Ron van Clief had pulled off the upset.) Coleman, who made his Octagon debut at UFC 10 in July 1996, has had the longest career of any fighter currently under contract with Zuffa.

The pairing tells us two things. First, that the UFC realizes a razor-thin decision over Brandon Vera isn't enough to throw Couture directly into a 205-pound title fight; he'll need at least one more win over somebody he can beat, preferably by stoppage. And second, that the UFC is absolutely desperate for headlining bouts. Couture vs. Coleman may turn out to be a #1 light-heavyweight contender's match, but it certainly doesn't deserve to be. Unfortunately, there are no bigger fights available to main-event the card. Though a middleweight title match between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort was previously expected to headline UFC 109, Belfort says he may be fighting someone else at the February show.

Fun fact: In 1989, Couture and Coleman met in a freestyle wrestling match at the 1989 Olympic Festival at Oklahoma State; Coleman won by one point. So you can expect the UFC to start referring to this fight as a "MAIN EVENT GRUDGE MATCH."

(Photo courtesy of knucklepit.)

With his original opponent Mark Coleman out due to sissiness an MCL tear Tito Ortiz will now be taking on Forrest Griffin in the co-main event of UFC 106 (November 21st, Las Vegas). UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to Yahoo! Sports last night. The two former light-heavyweight champs previously met at UFC 59 in April 2006, where Ortiz won a split-decision after battering Griffin with ground-and-pound in the first round and scoring a decisive takedown near the end of the third.

Three and a half years later, both men need a victory to redeem themselves. Ortiz hasn't won a fight since his final whipping of Ken Shamrock in October 2006, and hasn't competed since his unanimous decision loss to Lyoto Machida last May, which was followed by back surgery and a lengthy recovery. Forrest Griffin is now riding a two-fight losing streak after suffering back-to-back knockouts against Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva. Personally, I wouldn't bet on the guy who's returning from major surgery — but has Forrest's chin become too much of a liability? Your thoughts, please...

(The Coleman: this year's most terrifying Halloween costume. Photo courtesy of MMA Authentics.)

If Tito Ortiz thought he could call Mark Coleman a sissy for pulling out of their UFC 106 fight on November 21 without any repercussions whatsoever, he clearly didn’t account for Coleman’s manager, Mike DiSabato.  After Ortiz ripped his fighter on Twitter, DiSabato fired back by blasting Ortiz for “get[ting] personal with a legend,” then launched into a tirade about Ortiz and his porn star girlfriend, Jenna Jameson.  That’s right.  He went there:

“The only thing Coleman is afraid of when it comes to Tito is contracting swine flu from that dirty ass d-bag.  We all know where he lays his head down at night. Tito wants to get personal with a legend? OK, let's get personal - we can all go to our porn collections and watch what Tito sleeps with night after night.”

There are only two words we can say about that.  They are OH and SNAP.  Turns out that Coleman’s purported sissyness is the result of a torn MCL, though DiSabato says Coleman will be ready to fight by January 2 and suggested that the fight be postponed until UFC 108.  Presumably that will also give Coleman’s camp more time to have Ortiz tested for swine flu, which, as we all know, is the scourge of the porn industry.

For the second time since his return to the UFC, Mark Coleman has been forced to drop out of a high-profile co-headlining bout. According to Tito Ortiz's Twitter feed, the Hammer has withdrawn from their UFC 106 meeting, forcing Ortiz to kick someone else's ass on November 21st. (According to Mark Coleman's Twitter feed, Coleman is "finally on twitter trying 2 figure out how 2 use this thing lol".)

No word yet on what exactly forced the pull-out, or who Mark's replacement might be. Could Rashad Evans be pulled off his scheduled fight against Thiago Silva to rematch Ortiz, who he drew with in 2007? Will Ortiz get a gatekeeper-type like Keith Jardine? A fellow veteran like the returning Lil' Nog? Or will the UFC just go with the obvious cash cow?

(Props: dragonman34)

In the latest installment of Tito Ortiz's comeback-trail video blog, Tito helpfully reads us the main details of his UFC 106 bout agreement. It seems that nobody has informed him of the one-pound-allowance rule for non-title fights, and yes, his usual signs of dyslexia are present. ("It's not going three rounds, no way," Tito says of his fight against Mark Coleman. "I'm taking your ass out in at least two.") Later, he tries to list all the fighters that he's retired (see the 2:50 mark), and the camera conveniently cuts out after Ken Shamrock. Also, he refers to his fax machine as "the X machine," which made me LOL real hard.

Currently, Ortiz appears to be caught between respecting Mark Coleman as a legendary ex-champion, and disrespecting him because that's what Tito does. But there is one specific memory of the Hammer that Ortiz is using as motivation: "If you guys pay close attention, when I beat Evan Tanner, and after I slammed Evan Tanner on his head and I jumped up on the Octagon, and I flexed to the audience, Mark Coleman jumped up on the side of the cage, and you can see the disgust on his face. So I think Mark Coleman's had a little hatred for me for a while. So now he gets the chance. Too bad your chance ain't gonna be good."

Chilling. Ortiz also predicts a head-kick knockout and vows to get back his title. ("The roads are comin'," whatever that means.) November 21st can't come soon enough...