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October 2009
Rich Franklin and Dustin Hazelett tapped World MMA Awards finalists
Rich Franklin and Dustin Hazelett, UFC fighters who both live in West Chester Twp., were today named finalists in the 2009 World MMA Awards.
The World MMA Awards, operated by Fighters Only magazine, are the leading industry awards for the sport of mixed martial arts. The month-long nominate stage will now be followed by a two-month voting stage that closes Dec. 5.
Franklin earned a nomination for Fight of the Year, and Hazelett is a finalist for Submission of the Year.
Franklin was specifically nominated for his June fight with Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99, which took place in Cologne, Germany, and aired on pay-per-view. Franklin won the hotly contested fight via close unanimous decision.
Hazelett’s nomination stemmed from a November 2008 victory over Tamdan McCrory at UFC 91. Hazelett, who’s one of the welterweight division’s fastest-rising contenders, used a slick first-round arm-bar to pick up the victory (as well as a $60,000 Submission of the Night bonus from the UFC). Like Franklin, Hazelett trains at Jorge Gurgel’s MMA facility in West Chester.
Voting (in 18 different categories) for the World MMA Awards is now underway at www.worldmmaawards.com. Winners will be revealed at a Dec. 30 ceremony in Las Vegas that airs live on Versus.com (and via delay on Versus throughout January).
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TweetOSU legend Mark Coleman out of UFC 106
An injury has forced Mark Coleman out one of his biggest career fights on one of the year’s biggest mixed-martial-arts cards.
Coleman, a former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion at Ohio State University, was slated to fight ex-UFC champ Tito Ortiz on Nov. 21 at UFC 106 in Las Vegas. The fight was the pay-per-view broadcast’s co-main event behind the headliner of UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin.
However, a knee injury (torn MCL) has forced the 44-year-old Coleman off the card.
Ortiz first broke the news on Twitter and said Coleman “sissied” out of the fight. However, the injury is legit and will likely keep Coleman out until 2010.
No replacement has been named.
The fight was supposed to be Coleman’s first since he upset Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 in July.
Coleman was an early UFC fighter and the organization’s first-ever heavyweight champion. But he left the UFC in 1999 to fight in Japan, where MMA was more lucrative at the time. However, in 2008, Coleman was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame and promptly announced he had signed a new deal with the UFC. After a lackluster loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in his return fight in January, many dismissed Coleman. But the Bonnar victory earned him a second life.
Coleman, a former heavyweight, dropped to 205 pounds for his recent UFC fights and recently told the Dayton Daily News he’s in the best shape of his career, thanks to his new training camp in Las Vegas.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Mark Coleman, UFC 106
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