Issue 013

May 2006

July 12, 1996, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Don Frye

Don ‘the Predator’ Frye was the first UFC fighter to successfully combine wrestling with boxing. A well-conditioned athlete and former fireman, Frye combined stand-up striking with takedown skills, ground and pound and some limited submissions (courtesy of boxing, wrestling and judo experience). His 1996 stint with the UFC featured some of the most memorable fights of that era. Since then, Frye appears to have ended his fighting career in favor of breaking into the film world. A good thing too, since age and injuries have clearly taken their toll. His last fight was a decision loss in 2004 and his last win was his eye-popping slugfest with Yoshihiro Takayama over four years ago. Frye’s MMA record stands at 14-5.

Mark Coleman

Like Frye, Coleman is a future UFC Hall of Famer. A fearsome wrestler, he won two UFC tournaments and held their ‘Superfight’ title before moving on to PRIDE FC where he won the 2000 Openweight Grand Prix. Coleman wasn’t the first wrestler to enter MMA, but was certainly one of the most successful, and is synonymous with the phrase ‘ground and pound’. Coleman was always criticized for being too reliant on his wrestling, and though good at what he did, he never really made the transition to being a well-rounded MMA competitor. He may have lost plenty of fights to high-quality opposition, but even at the age of 41 can still spring a surprise or two, as he showed in his latest outing in February of this year (see this issue’s PRIDE 31 report). Coleman’s record currently stands at 15-7.

UFC 10 – The Tournament

Twice a NCAA All-American, a Pan American gold medallist, and a 1992 Olympian, 31-year old Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman entered the UFC 10 tournament with an awesome wrestling pedigree, but no prior MMA experience. Frye, placed in the opposite bracket of the tournament, had a 4-0 record after winning the UFC 8 tournament (averaging around 63 seconds a fight) and pounding BJJ black belt and world champion Amaury Bitetti into a hospital bed at UFC 9.

By the time Coleman and Frye met in the UFC 10 final, Coleman had smashed Moti Horenstein in a little under three minutes and battled fatigue to finish off Gary Goodridge seven minutes into the one-sided semi-final contest. Frye had ground out a first-round win over a stubborn Mark Hall in a 10-minute battle, and then had real trouble with the young upstart Brian Johnston’s skills before finally finishing him with strikes in four and a half minutes. Both men came into the final tired, with the smaller Frye (214lbs to Coleman’s 245) sporting a swollen right eye.

The tournament final – Bad blood, exhaustion and brutality

Predictably, Coleman went for a double leg takedown almost immediately, and the ineffectiveness of Frye’s sprawl showed the difference in their wrestling ability- he was soon turtled up in defense while Coleman looked for openings to strike. With Frye squeezed against the fence, Coleman started taking him apart with hefty right hands that had his opponent bleeding within a minute. Frye tried everything to break free, but he just couldn’t get out from beneath the monstrous wrestler. Eventually, Coleman made a mistake in going for a choke that allowed Frye back onto his feet - with less than 5 minutes gone Coleman was blowing air like a damaged airship and it looked as though Frye might be able to capitalize.

Frye failed to do so, and after a few seconds where both men just stood there inactive and gasping, they went back to work with Coleman scoring a nice double leg takedown by the fence. More punches and elbows from Coleman forced referee John McCarthy to call a time-out and check on Frye’s cuts. Warning Frye he had to do something soon, McCarthy restarted them and Coleman was so exhausted he could barely keep his arms up. Again, Frye failed to do anything on the feet and Coleman scored with another double leg, hitting Frye with a relentless stream of punches and elbows.

Bloodied yet determined to continue, Frye somehow struggled back to his feet and went for a takedown of his own, but Coleman was by far the superior wrestler and he easily blocked it. Throwing some body shots and elbows to the spine, Coleman tried the inadvisable tactic of going for a clumsy rear naked choke. Avoiding it with ease, Frye briefly had the top position but Coleman showed the awesome strength he is famed for and hauled him skywards. 

To avoid being slammed Frye clung desperately to the fence, so instead, Coleman set him down and walloped him with a right hook to the face. Coleman then hit the most impressive standing combination of the fight, bashing Frye with a right uppercut before throwing a couple of follow-up hooks and a left uppercut. Ducking under Frye’s retaliatory jab, Coleman took him down for the last time.

As the fight drew close to the eleven-minute mark, Coleman landed some solid right hands and a couple of elbows to Frye’s battered face. With blood pouring from Frye’s now-closed right eye, Coleman followed with a couple of headbutts, prompting McCarthy to finally step in to end the demolition job after 11:34 of grueling, compelling but thoroughly one-sided action.

The aftermath and the rematch

Coleman couldn’t believe his achievement. Gasping for breath in the thick summertime Alabama air, he remarked in his post-fight interview that he had no idea how tough ultimate fighters would be. Owner of a brand new belt and $50,000 prize, the high-school wrestling coach kickstarted a ten-year career that would see him take part in some of the most memorable matches in MMA history. 

One interesting side note to this fight was the involvement of Richard Hamilton. Formerly Frye’s trainer, Hamilton claimed to be a church minister but after his relationship with ‘the Predator’ went sour, he set out to find somebody who could take revenge for him. With close links to the ‘Sunkist Kids’ (a team of elite amateur wrestlers) and the then-UFC owners SEG, Hamilton was the man wrestlers went to if they wanted a shot in the UFC. He found the perfect man to do his dirty work for him in the shape of a lied-to Coleman. Indeed, late in the fight (as Coleman was busy pounding Frye’s face into hamburger meat) the ‘right reverend’ Richard Hamilton could be heard shrieking for Coleman to “kill him”.

Coleman broke off relations with the nefarious Hamilton soon afterwards but Frye still nursed his grudge and almost seven years later, Pride gave him a chance for revenge when they booked a rematch as one of the main attractions of Pride 26. Unfortunately, Father Time (not to mention injuries) had not been kind to Frye in the interim, and he walked away the loser again. This time Coleman took the decision win in a match as dull as their first meeting had been brutal.