By Ryan Justason

UFC 109 will be making history on Saturday with its main event. For the first time ever, two UFC Hall of Famers: Randy Couture and Mark Coleman will go face to face in what should be a grueling battle. Also, both Nate “The Great” Marquardt and Chael Sonnen do battle to get themselves in UFC middleweight title contention. UFC 109 will also feature a battle between 2 of MMA’s best trash-talkers takes place when Matt “The Terra” Serra meets Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg in the octagon. UFC 109 is set to be very exciting.

Main Event

Randy “The Natural” Couture, 17-10 vs. Mark “The Hammer” Coleman, 17-9

At 46 years of age, Randy Couture has been fighting the toughest of the tough since 1997. Randy is nicknamed “The Natural” for a reason as he only ever seems to get better with age. Throughout Randy’s career he has defeated the likes of Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Gabriel Gonzaga and most recently Brandon Vera. Randy’s most recent loss was a tough unanimous decision to top contender Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. That being said, win or lose, Randy Couture is in no great danger of being cut by the UFC. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for his opponent Mark Coleman.

Dana White, when talking about this main event fight, has said: “Randy Couture needs this win to get into title contention; but Mark Coleman needs this win a lot more than Randy.” Dana was indicating that if Mark Coleman loses this bout, then that could be the end of his UFC career. Coleman who is known as “The Godfather of the Ground n’ Pound.” He has defeated a who’s who a fighters that include Dan Severn, Kazuyuki Fujita, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and most recently Stephan Bonnar.

This fight was originally meant to happen 10 years ago when Mark Coleman was the UFC Heavyweight Champion but due to a rib injury Randy Couture suffered in training, the fight was put off. This fight has been interesting for fans for a long time due to the fact that both men are very skilled wrestlers. This being said, usually when two wrestlers go at it, the end up striking and it then turns into who is the better striker? In this fight, it’s fair to assume that this fight will indeed stay standing as the two men will find out who the better striker is. On paper and from what fans have seen from the past, Randy takes the cake striking wise. Randy will also be able to stop the takedown if Coleman attempts.

Prediction: Randy Couture defeats Mark Coleman via TKO

Co-Main Event

Nate “The Great” Marquardt, 29-8-2 vs. Chael Sonnen, 24-10-1

Nate Marquardt is nicknamed “The Great” for a reason and it’s not because it rhymes but because he was the 3 time middleweight King of Pancrase amongst many other MMA accomplishments. Nate has racked up a record against many of the toughest fighters in the world that include Yves Edwards, Joe Doerksen, Dean Lister, Jeremy Horn and most recently submission specialist Damian Maia in a 21 second 1 round KO. Nate even got a shot at Anderson Silva’s UFC Middleweight Championship belt in which he was knocked out in the first round. Nate is now working his way back to the top and a win over Chael Sonnen will certainly put him back in the mix.

The very talented and often out-spoken Chael Sonnen has had his name floating around since he defeated Jason “Mayhem” Miller in his MMA debut back in 2002. Other than Mayhem, Chael has defeated the likes of Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Paulo Filho, Dan Miller and Yushin Okami. Never one to answer a dull question, Chael has recently been put on the spot for answering questions too honestly. For example, Chael has attempted to “out” Anderson Silva saying that Anderson hates the American media and that he spoke perfect English. Other statements have been towards Mark Coleman about how Coleman is his own manager.

In a recent interview, honest Chael Sonnen went on to say that he would win this fight against Marquardt not because of technical skill but more because he believes he is more of a fighter. In the same interview, Sonnen admitted that Marquardt was more technically sound in all areas. On paper, Marquardt would defeat Sonnen in all areas but those skills do in fact need heart. Unlike Sonnen although, no one should ever test the heart of Nate Marquardt. Sonnen will have to fight Marquardt’s fight which will most likely lead to Sonnen standing up with Marquardt. Sonnen will soon find out that with Nate Marquardt, you need more than heart.

Prediction: Nate Marquardt defeats Chael Sonnen via TKO

Mike “Quick” Swick, 14-3 vs. Paulo Thiago, 12-1

Mike “Quick” Swick was on his way to a title shot at UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre until he was derailed by British superstar Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy. Mike Swick has defeated the likes of Marcus Davis, Joe Riggs and David Loiseau while only losing to the very tough Chris Leben, Yushin Okami and Dan Hardy. Mike Swick comes out of the great American Kickboxing Academy in which he trains with Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Cain Velasquez and Cung Le. Mike is very hungry to get back in the mix and believes a win over Paulo Thiago will get him closer to that goal.

Before his debut in the UFC, Paulo Thiago was 11-0 with 8 wins via submission. Thiago then made his UFC debut in style when he surprised everyone by knocking out top contender Josh Koscheck via upper hook in the first round. Since Thiago’s incredible debut, he fought two hard decisions losing 1 to top contending Jon Fitch and winner the other to wrestling standout Jacob Volkmann. Paulo Thiago is consistently considered amongst the top 5 welterweight fighters in the world.

This fight is a fight that is important for both Mike Swick and Paulo Thiago. Both men are ranked around the same that a win over either would send one another in to title contention. Both men are going to be equally as hungry for this fight which would break down to skill and game plan. Swick is going to want to keep this fight standing while Thiago is going to want to use his superior ground game. If Thiago wants this fight, he’s going to want to turn this fight in to a grappling match and it’s fair to assume that this will be his strategy.

Prediction: Paulo Thiago defeats Mike Swick via Decision

Damian Maia, 11-1 vs. Dan Miller, 11-2-1

Knowing that Anderson Silva has only ever loss via submission, Damian Maia was on the fast track to fighting the middleweight champion. Once entering the UFC, Maia quickly became 5-0 defeating all his opponents via submission. Amongst these victories, he defeated Jason MacDonald, Nate Quarry and Chael Sonnen. Things were on the fast road towards Anderson Silva for Maia…that was until Maia ran into Nate Marquardt. Maia went into his fight with Marquardt with bad strategy has he decided to stand with him. 21 seconds into the fight and Maia was knocked out. Damian Maia is certainly looking to bounce back with a victory over the newly awarded BJJ black belt in Dan Miller.

Before the UFC Dan Miller was 7-1 with 1 no-contest. He also got a chance to fight in the now defunct IFL (International Fight League) where he defeated Dave Phillips and Ryan McGivern. In his UFC career he went 3-0 before getting defeated by Chael Sonnen. With-in his UFC career, he has defeated Jake Rosholt, Matt Horwich and Rob Kimmons. Dan Miller graduated to BJJ black belt under Renzo Gracie.

Wanderlei Silva once said that Damian Maia would submit him in no time. Wanderlei also said that it was odd how fast Maia could submit him because he was in fact also a black belt in BJJ. Not only does Wanderlei know how good Maia is but everyone knows how good he is. And although Dan Miller is a newly awarded BJJ black belt, he is going to want to keep this thing standing and try to catch Maia. If Miller is not able to catch Maia like Nate Marquardt did, Maia will get Miller to the ground.

Prediction: Damian Maia defeats Dan Miller via Submission

Matt “The Terra” Serra, 9-6 vs. Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg, 19-7

One time UFC Welterweight Champion and 1 of only 2 men to have ever beaten Georges St. Pierre, Matt Serra has proven to be a contender. Although his record of 9-6 isn’t quite appealing, Matt Serra has only ever lost to tough competition such as Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan and BJ Penn. Matt Serra is most famous for his underdog win over Georges St. Pierre when he dominated him with his hands. Since then Serra fought Matt Hughes in where he lost to a unanimous decision in a fight many saw in Serra’s favor.

Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg might be most famous for his continued attack on Matt Hughes after he gave Hughes a cheap shot to “the area.” Other than that, Frank has proven to be a tough competitor with wins over names like Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Ronald Jhun and Edwin Dewees. Frank is known for is strong wrestling although he has been known to want to stand with certain opponents. Frank is best known for his 2 fights with Matt Hughes where he lost both times via rear naked choke. The fight between the two gained so much animosity that Dana White has since said that Hughes vs. Trigg 2 is his all-time favorite fight.

This fight is interesting in the aspect that both men might want to get this fight to the ground. Frank Trigg has the better wrestling and might want to get this fight to the ground for a little ground and pound action while Matt Serra might want to get it to the ground to utilize his superior BJJ. Either way this fight is going to be exciting. Frank Trigg has called Matt Serra “a stomping angry midget” while Matt Serra simply reply’s “tramp stamp.” So basically Matt has already won in the trash talking department. Since Frank Trigg is prone to submissions, his hardest battle won’t be the trash talking, it will be his submission attempts.

Prediction: Matt Serra defeats Frank Trigg via Submission

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