Mark coleman 1997

American wrestler and mixed martial artist (born 1964)

For the Irish hurler, see Mark Coleman (hurler).

Mark Coleman (born December 20, 1964) is an American retired mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and amateur wrestler.

Coleman was the UFC 10 and UFC 11 tournament champion, the first UFC Heavyweight Champion, and the Pride Fighting Championships2000 Open Weight Grand Prix champion. At UFC 82 Coleman was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

Coleman is credited with proving the ability of wrestlers to dominate in the developing sport of mixed martial arts, and with being one of the first in American MMA to use the strategy that he coined ground-and-pound successfully,^[2][3][4] earning him the moniker, "The Godfather of Ground & Pound".^[5] In the sport of wrestling, Coleman was a World Championship runner-up and Pan American Games Gold medalist in 1991, won three Pan American Championships, competed at the 19