Mark Coleman: UFC Hall of Famer . . . alongside Tank Abbott?
Posted by Kendall Shields on 21st February 2008
by Kendall Shields
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MMA Junkie, which seems to be first off the line on most newsworthy stories these days, is reporting that Mark Coleman will be inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame as part of next weekend’s UFC 82 in Coleman’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Coleman will become only the fifth member of the (strictly metaphoric) Hall, joining Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and Randy Couture.
It’s perhaps unfortunate that this news comes at the same time that an ESPN.com article by Michael Woods quotes Dana White as saying, “Tank Abbott absolutely will be in our Hall of Fame,” which makes you wonder what, exactly (or even inexactly), the selection criteria might be. Cult hero though he may be, by what standard is a 9-14 fighter a Hall of Famer? And that’s not a misleading 9-14 in the way that Couture’s 16-8 or Coleman’s 15-8 can be misleading: Tank’s best win is over Cabbage. Cabbage. The complete list of Tank’s wins, for the curious: John Matua, Paul Varelans, Steve Jennum, Sam “The Experience” Adkins, Cal Worsham, Steve Nelmark, Yoji Anjo, and Hugo Duarte, in addition to the aforementioned Wesley Correira (to whom Tank also lost, it must be said in fairness to Cabbage). The combined win/loss record of that esteemed group: 57-66-3. Tank Abbott is pretty clearly not an all-time all-that-good, let alone an all-time great. No credible sports Hall would include a competitor on the level of Tank Abbott in it’s Hall of Fame, but Dana White insists that Abbott is a lock. It’s his Hall, I guess. What can you do?
I don’t mean to suggest this is personally upsetting, or anything. But it’s a shame that Mark Coleman’s induction comes at the very time that the UFC Hall of Fame is pretty clearly revealed to lack any real credibility (seriously, seriously: Tank Abbott). Because Mark Coleman, for all the goofiness that name calls to mind, was at one time the best we’d seen in MMA, a fighter who looked not just dangerous, but absolutely unstoppable.
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