This Day in MMA: The Birth of Ground and Pound

 

Fourteen years ago today - July 12, 1996 - the sport of MMA, very much in its infancy, changed forever with the arrival of Mark Coleman into the Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 10 in Birmingham, Alabama.  Coleman was unambiguous about his strategy in the aired pre-fight interview piece, saying:

My name is Mark Coleman; my basic strategy is to use my freestyle wrestling skills to get my opponent to the mat as quickly as possible; finish him off with some knees and elbows, or look for the choke.

Known as the "Godfather of ground and pound", and the man often credited for coining that phrase, "the Hammer" entered the UFC at the age of 31, having won an NCAA title in wrestling and competed in the Olympics. 

Coleman participated in the eight-man tournament - which marked the return by the UFC to the tournament format after it employed the modern-day "single fight" structure for its 9th numbered event - joining Brian Johnston, Mark Hall, Scott Fiedler, Moti Horenstein, Gary Goodridge, John Campetella, and tournament favorite Don Frye.

Mark faced Moti Horenstein, who was making his pro MMA debut, in his first fight of the night.  Shooting his first double seconds into the fight, he dumped Horenstein to the canvas, moved directly to full mount, and began windmilling punches.  Horenstein was able to retain a full open guard but continued to take massive punishment, and Coleman was victorious via TKO stoppage at the 2:43 mark.

Next up was Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge, who had competed several times at UFC 8 and 9 and defeated John Campetella. Goodridge, sporting a gi, began the fight in the worst possible manner facing a world-class wrestler: coming directly forward but yet not throwing any strikes.  As in his first fight, Coleman shot a double and muscled Goodridge to the mat in seconds.  The fight remained in the full guard for about three minutes, with only some headbutts (legal at that time) and a few uneventful punches.  Finally Coleman passed to side mount, Goodridge rolled and Coleman took his back.  A bizarre sequence followed in which Goodridge, who had gotten to his feet with Coleman still on his back, paced the link of the Octagon hand-over-hand on the fence (holding the fence being also legal at that time), in order to reach his corner to take guidance.  Here the fight stayed for another couple of minutes, until Coleman took his man down again.  After raining down some punches and knees from side mount, Coleman took Gary's back and flattened him out, prompting the overmatched fighter to tap the canvas.  Another textbook, precedent-setting example of ground and pound.   

In the tournament final, "the Hammer" faced the early tournament favorite  Don "the Predator" Frye, who like Goodridge had fought several times at UFC 8 and 9 and was undefeated in the Octagon. An Arizona State wrestler who trained under UFC vet Dan Severn, who in commentating the match completed the triumvirate of the UFC's first wave of American wrestlers, the fan favorite Frye, also well versed in judo and boxing, had won both the UFC 8 and 9 tournaments and owned the record, beaten only recently by Todd Duffee at UFC 102, of the fastest KO in UFC history. He had beaten Mark Hall and Brian Johnston to book passage to the finale. The showdown between himself and Coleman was certainly one of the first "superfights" in the organization's history, a classic tale of "unstoppable force meets immovable object".

Coleman shot on Frye early; was stuffed but quickly wheeled around to take his back.  Frye was able to regain guard but took considerable punishment in the bottom position.  The lack of well-rounded skills so prominent in the early days of the sport shone through as Don maintained a meaningless open guard which still permitted Coleman to rain down considerable punishment - punches, headbutts, elbows.  When Coleman attempted a neck crank from side mount, Frye was able to grab the fence and roll out to his feet.  After a moment to catch their breath, Frye threw a couple strikes and was immediately taken down again to absorb another helping of ground and pound.  A standup to check a cut, another pause for fatigue, and Frye gave a clumsy double-leg shot on Coleman.  A few minutes passed with little action as Coleman took Frye's back but contented himself with positional control as opposed to striking.  A very dramatic moment followed as Coleman - in the days well before Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg - picked "the Predator" up onto his shoulder.  Fortunately for Frye, grabbing the fence was in fact legal, and he grabbed hold of the top padding of the cage, which was the only thing preventing perhaps the first seismic slam inside the Octagon.  Mark set up another double-leg with a few strikes.  He passed to side control for the final time, as "Big John" McCarthy stopped the fight following a few more unanswered blows to the bloodied Don Frye.  Coleman thus won "the Tournament", the official title of UFC 10, and entered the professional MMA world with a huge statement.

"The Hammer" would go on to become one of the most decorated MMA fighters ever. He won the tournament again at UFC 11, then won the UFC's first ever official heavyweight title at UFC 12, defeating Dan Severn in less than three minutes.  Coleman went on to compete several times in PRIDE, winning their first open-weight Grand Prix in 2000 (in the process becoming the first man in four and a half years to beat Igor Vovchanchyn).  The "Godfather of Ground and Pound" was deservedly inducted into the exclusive UFC Hall of Fame on March 1, 2008.

The fledgling sport of MMA has never lain stagnant.  Mark Coleman forever changed the sport at UFC 10, introducing the world to "ground and pound" and demonstrating that ground fighting was about more than submissions.  Maurice Smith would reshuffle the deck again by clinically outfighting Coleman at UFC 14, demonstrating that high-level striking, integrated with a growing level of comprehensive fighting technique, had a place in the future of the game.  The sport has of course seen a fantastic amount of change - regulatorily, stylistically, technically, financially, popularity-wise - in these past fourteen years, but today it is worth paying homage to the birth of ground and pound, the enduring legacy of Mark Coleman.