It isn't too often in sports that we see athletes perform well past the generally accepted retirement age. Baseball players like Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson have proven to be absolute machines at seemingly impossibly advanced ages. If we focus on the sport of MMA, most fans immediately point at Randy "The Natural" Couture as the epitome of a fighter who has performed admirably past his prime and continues to be effective in the Octagon.

Mark Coleman plans to try to show the world on Saturday night that he is also capable of matching Randy Couture's longevity. Although the Father of "Ground n' Pound" hasn't been thrust into the spotlight like Couture had been with an immediate title shot in his return, he did manage to land a fight with former PRIDE GP champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in his return to the UFC. The outcome and his own performance didn't garner a lot of confidence that Coleman would be able to continue fighting for much longer.

The battle between the two former PRIDE fighters at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland was considered a huge bust by almost every fan watching the matchup, with the exception of the UFC brass who felt it earned "Fight of the Night" honors. Most fans believed the "Shogun" Rua of the past would come out and walk over the older Mark Coleman, but Rua's conditioning was appalling along with Coleman's own terrible gas tank. Coleman was able to actually hold Rua down during some moments of the fight, but it was likely due to the fact that Rua was out of breath.

The fight proved to be a huge indicator that both Coleman and Rua were both neglectful in their training. Rua landed an uppercut in the midst of a combination in the third round to end the fight, but the consensus opinion of fans and writers was that the fight was much more of a discouragement to fans believing Rua was on the right track back to being dominant.

Rua moved on to defeat Chuck Liddell in spectacular fashion, and he'll now face Lyoto Machida in a title matchup at UFC 104. Coleman hasn't fought since the encounter, but the UFC will give the Ultimate Fighter Season 1 runner-up Stephan Bonnar the chance to pull off a huge win against a more recognizable name in Coleman.

This will be a matchup in which Coleman will likely try to prove that his one-dimensional style can still win fights. Bonnar's skillset is pretty well-rounded. He has trained in Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and even Tae Kwon Do. He'll obviously have the edge with a much broader skill set than Coleman, but Coleman's powerful wrestling could overwhelm Bonnar.

Bonnar should have the overall edge in this fight, and if Coleman plans on coming out striking -- I'd be even more inclined to pick Bonnar. I'm not convinced that Coleman has improved his striking since taking a beating from Rua, and Bonnar should be able to work Coleman over in multiple ways. Bonnar will need to worry about having to work off his back for most of the fight though, otherwise he may lose via a "lay n' pray" decision.

Ultimately, this will be either a solid win for Stephan Bonnar who hasn't had the same success that Forrest Griffin has had since the inaugural Ultimate Fighter show, or it'll confirm that Mark Coleman at least has what it takes to defeat standard middle-of-the-pack talent in the UFC's light heavyweight division. The fight doesn't hold much significance because neither fighter has shown the ability to break into the upper-echelon of the division, but I think most fight fans would like to see Bonnar continue to stay in the mix of the division over an aging Coleman.

photos via ufc.com

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