Fighting back time

He spent more than a decade in the physically grueling sport of mixed martial arts, enjoying enough success to be inducted into the Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Fame, without going through a normal training camp.

Coleman, a divorced father of two daughters, chose to stay close to his home in Columbus, Ohio, and run his own camps with whatever sparring partners he could muster for most of his career.

It’s a decision that probably cost him a few belts, Coleman said, but one he would never take back.

"I’m a father first. I have two daughters, and I had to raise them. I couldn’t stand to leave them because I didn’t trust anybody with my kids. So I didn’t leave," Coleman said. "I missed out on a lot of opportunities, a lot of training potential, but at the same time, I’d never give back what I got to see. I got to see them grow up, and there’s nothing more important than seeing your kids grow up because it happens so fast."

Coleman is about 50 days into his training camp for a main-event bout with Randy Couture at UFC 109 on Saturday at Mandalay Bay. He has been working at the Tapout facility in Las Vegas under the tutelage of Shawn Tompkins for the light heavyweight fight.

Coleman said his daughters, 12-year-old McKenzie and 10-year-old Morgan, are at an age where they understand that he must spend time away if he wants to make the most of whatever time he has left in MMA.

"They’re old enough to communicate with me, and they understand what the heck I’m doing now," he said. "They gave me their blessing and told me to go do what it takes to win this fight, and that means the world to me."

Coleman, a former NCAA wrestling champion and 1992 Olympian, insists he’s still improving largely because of his new training philosophy.

"People find it hard to believe, but I’m still getting better. I’m still learning, because for so long I was my own coach, and you can’t really teach yourself something you don’t know," he said.

Coleman was the first UFC heavyweight champion, but began fighting for the Pride Fighting Championships in Japan in 1999. He returned to the UFC to face Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in January 2009, but Coleman looked out of shape and lost by technical knockout with 24 seconds left.

That led him to Tompkins, who, coincidentally, was a trainer at Xtreme Couture at the time. Tompkins and the rest of the camp worked with Coleman, who scored an upset over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 in July.

Tompkins said Coleman has been an ideal student despite all the years training by himself.

"I listened to a lot of people and got the warnings that he’s uncoachable and this and that," Tompkins said. "But if we get done on Saturday night and he wants to go train Sunday, I’ll be right there. I have a lot of fun with Mark."

While most people point to the Rua fight as an example of the poor training methods Coleman utilized, Tompkins said he sees a fighter who was still nearly able to gut it out and go the distance.

"I know that even when we’re in trouble, that guy is tough," he said. "Mark’s been through his whole career with just training partners, no coaches. He won the Pride Grand Prix tournament and the UFC heavyweight championship. That’s amazing."

Coleman said he’s happy to be learning the right way to train, even if it is several years late.

"I’m a sponge," he said. "It would have been nice to learn to train 10 years ago, but I wouldn’t change what I did."

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.