Raw Deal for Mark Coleman, Frank Trigg, and Fans as Fighters Cut by UFC After Losses

UFC Hall of Famer “The Hammer” Mark Coleman (16-10) and former UFC welterweight champion “Twinkle Toes” Frank Trigg (19-8) have been cut by the UFC following losses at UFC 109 in Las Vegas last Saturday.

Trigg was laid out in the first round by “Terror” Matt Serra (10-6).  Coleman was dominated and eventually submitted by fellow HOFer “Natural” Randy Couture (18-10) in the main event.

For Trigg, it was his second consecutive first-round knockout loss since returning to the UFC for the first time since exiting on consecutive first-round rear naked choke submission losses in 2005.  It seems clear to Fighters.com that Trigg is not a UFC-level talent any longer and giving him his walking papers is justified.

But, Coleman got a raw deal and so did fans.

After winning a unanimous decision over “American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar (11-6) at UFC 100 in Las Vegas last July, Coleman was hyped by the UFC into a main event versus Couture.  That was a ridiculous stretch.  Bonnar has lost four of his last six fights in the UFC’s 205-pound division, only managing wins over Mike Nickels (8-3) and “Ravishing Red” Eric Schafer (12-5-2).  Couture was coming off a narrow, but legitimate win over “Truth” Brandon Vera (11-4).  Coleman and Couture should’ve never been matched to begin with because Coleman hadn’t earned victories in the division at the same level Couture had.

And the fans got to pay for the bad matchmaking.  I asked a casual fan last night if they had watch UFC 109 and he said, “That was Couture-Coleman?  Psht… No!”  And after I described the result of the main event, he said, “Well, of course…”

And, you know, that’s about the right reaction.  The rest of us though, the core MMA fans were going to buy UFC 109 anyway.  And, we were shorted on a true main event, because Couture-Coleman surely wasn’t.

This furthers the pattern of bad matchmaking in the UFC Fighters.com has been writing about over the last year or so.  It’s disappointing particularly because UFC President Dana White has promised he wouldn’t let mixed martial arts devolve into the mess that professional boxing is in because of bad matchmaking.  However, White is doing precisely that.

But, Coleman also suffers from the UFC’s bad matchmaking.  Coming off the win over Bonnar, Coleman probably could’ve earned another couple of UFC wins at Bonnar’s level and a little above, putting together a nice run either back into legit main event status or into retirement.  But, because he was overmatched versus Couture, the UFC is de facto forcing him into retirement off the loss.

It seems the bad matchmaking will continue too.  As Reverend Turk Vangel wrote at Fighters.com Tuesday, now Couture is being overhyped as a potential 205-pound title contender.  Just think about this.  Couture beat a guy whose most illustrious win in the last four years is over a guy who is 2-4 over his last six fights.  As was expected, Couture dominates that guy so thoroughly the UFC cuts him.  And, that earns Couture talk of title contention?  Dominating Coleman, who himself is only 1-3 in the last four years? Dominating a guy whose only win in the last four years is a guy who is two for his six?  Dominating a guy who the UFC has conceded by cutting him that he doesn’t even belong in the UFC 205-pound division?  This earns Couture talk of a title shot?

Under that logic, should Serra now be back in the 170-pound title picture after his knockout of Trigg?

UFC and White need to take the UFC back to it’s matchmaking principles and return to merit-based matchmaking, not WWE-, professional boxing-style overhyping of fighters creating poor value for fans and shorting fighters like Coleman of a chance to win in legit matchups.