Team Hammer House
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Team Hammer House is a Mixed Martial Arts team and training facility opperating out of Columbus, Ohio made up of mostly former NCAA wrestlers. Founded by former UFC Champion Mark Coleman, Team Hammer House has attracted such mixed martial arts fighters as Kevin Randleman and Phil Baroni. [1]. Characterized as one the innovators and originators of ground and pound, the team has been unable to recapture their initial dominance in MMA as the sport has evolved due to the refusal to take up catch wrestling submissions[citation needed] and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu[citation needed] and their reliance upon old style ground and pound.
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[edit] UFC Dominance
Coleman made his professional MMA debut at UFC 10. With his solid wrestling background and physical power he won 6 fights in a row, beating fighters including Don Frye, Gary Goodridge and Dan Severn, on route to winning the UFC 10 and UFC 11 tournaments and the first ever UFC heavyweight title. Coleman was Randleman's college coach and roommate. His MMA career began with a call from Coleman to invite him to fight in Brazil[2] where he went on to achieve a record 7 wins and 2 losses and upon moving to the UFC, where he also won the heavyweight title. Coleman subsequently experienced a downturn in his career as his predominantly wrestling based style became less effective, with losses to fighters with more developed striking skills and cardio: Maurice Smith, Pete Williams and Pedro Rizzo.
[edit] Coleman and Randleman moving to Pride
After the loss to Rizzo, Coleman moved to the Japanese PRIDE organisation, where he experienced a great deal of initial success, winning the PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals. Randleman also joined PRIDE, debuting against Michiyoshi Ohara and becoming a top contender for the middleweight title before losing to Quinton Jackson. Both Coleman and Randleman have since experienced downturns in their careers, with losses to fighers such as Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Filipović, and have been criticized for their their reliance upon ground and pound in modern day MMA.
Accomplished wrestler and UFC star Phil Baroni started training with Hammer House, primarily fighting on PRIDE's Bushido events with great success, defeating fighters such as Yuki Kondo and Ryo Chonan.
Wes Sims met Coleman when before his fight with Ricardo Morais[3], and has fought in the UFC and International Fight League.
[edit] Rivalry with Chute Boxe
Hammer House was involved in a short but memorable rivalry with Chute Boxe which started at PRIDE 31 after a confrontation erupted between Chute Boxe members Wanderlei Silva and Murilo Rua, and Team Hammer House members Coleman and Baroni. The conflict began after Coleman pushed aside the referee who tried to restrain him from continuing his attack on an injured Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Coleman refused to stop the attack, despite the urging of the referee, until he realized that his opponent was injured. Despite this Silva and other Chute Boxe members attacked Coleman in the ring, Baroni took Silva to the ground and Wanderlei had to be restrained with a foot placed on his head. [4] Following the event, Coleman attempted to apologize to Chute Boxe, but the apology was not accepted. [5]
[edit] PRIDE 32 The Real Deal
Team Hammer House was heavily represented at Pride FC's first American show, PRIDE 32 in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 21, 2006, being involved in 3 of the 8 fights including the two overcard bouts. Hammer House member Kevin Randleman not Mark Coleman faced a now healthy Chute Boxe member Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Rua won via kneebar submission at 2:35 of the very first round. Phil Baroni defeated Japanese Pro-Boxer turned MMA fighter Yosuke Nishijima via Technical Submission (Kimura) at 3:20 of the 1st round. Mark Coleman was given the opportunity to fight Pride's Undefeated Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko for a second time. In a finish very similar to their first encounter Fedor was able to apply an ambar from the bottom and Coleman submitted at 1:15 of the second round.
[edit] Notable Team Hammer House Fighters
- Mark Coleman (UFC 10 and 11 Heavyweight tournament winner/Former UFC Heavyweight Champion/PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 tournament winner )
- Phil Baroni
- Kevin Randleman (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
- Brandon Lee Hinkle
- Wes Sims
- Adam Guerra
[edit] External links
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