(Mark Coleman — master of kino escalation. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)
— An oddly appropriate light-heavyweight matchup may be in the works for UFC 100 (July 11th, Las Vegas). According to MMA Mania, bout agreements have been offered for Mark Coleman to face Stephan Bonnar at the milestone event. That’s right: The UFC’s first official heavyweight champion and early star of the SEG era will likely be taking on the man who helped take the UFC mainstream in the Zuffa era with his epic TUF 1 finale battle against Forrest Griffin.
Kind of an interesting way to pay tribute to the Octagon’s history. But for the fighters themselves, the matchup will be all business. Coleman most recently put in a shambling wreck of a performance against Mauricio Rua at UFC 93, eventually losing by TKO in the third round, while Stephan Bonnar was out-hustled by Jon Jones at UFC 94, losing by unanimous decision. Both men need a win here to remain relevant. UFC 100 will also reportedly feature fights between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar (for the unified heavyweight title), Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves (for the welterweight title), and Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson (for the right to get their ass kicked by Anderson Silva at some point in the future).
— TUF 8 lightweight winner Efrain Escudero has fallen prey to the Amir Sadollah curse. Due to a rib injury suffered in training, he has been forced to pull out of his first post-TUF fight, which was scheduled to be against Jeremy Stephens at UFC Fight Night 18 (April 1st, Nashville). Taking Escudero’s place will be Gleison Tibau, the American Top Team fighter who snapped a two-fight losing streak at last month’s UFC Fight Night 17 card with his first-round submission of Rich Clementi. Unfortunately for Stephens, his bout may now be relegated to the undercard in favor of the Tyson Griffin/Rafael Dos Anjos match.
— Mike Ciesnolevicz, the light-heavyweight IFL vet who took a heavyweight match with Neil Grove on short notice at UFC 95 and wound up submitting "Goliath" in the first round, has been rewarded with a fight in his own weight class. He’ll be returning at UFC 97 (April 18th, Montreal) to take on Eliot Marshall, the TUF 8 jiu-jitsu specialist who lost a decision to Ryan Bader in the show’s semi-finals before choking out Jules Bruchez during the finale.
— TUF 7 castmember Tim Credeur is tentatively scheduled to face off against Nick Catone at UFC Fight Night 18 next month. Creduer has won stoppage victories over Cale Yarbrough and Nate Loughran in his two professional UFC fights following his Ultimate Fighter stint, while Catone submitted Derek Downey during his Octagon debut at last month’s UFC Fight Night 17 card, after a planned meeting with Amir Sadollah was cancelled twice due to Sadollah’s injuries.
— Oh, by the way: Mike Patt was fired.
Oh yeah, and why do so many white people have those stars? I’m seriously asking.