In an exclusive first interview since entering the hospital Mark Coleman joined Submission Radio to discuss his career, his life threatening health issues and what the money raised so far and the support from fans really means to him.
Almost breaking into tears an emotional Mark Coleman told Submission Radio “For somebody to send me eight dollars which obviously they probably could have used the eight dollars themselves, but they decided to send it to me. You know it’s just hard to even comprehend “
Mark also shared his thoughts on Ronda Rousey’s chances against a man in an MMA fight “I’m going to have to say firmly that I don’t see Ronda Rousey beating the number one ranked man in her weight class.” Mark went on to say “Assume it would have to be definitely a way lesser ranked man and somebody maybe not even ranked, because I think she would have her hands full with any of these guys that are ranked in the top 10, 20, maybe even higher. She’s great, but I just see that there’s a difference between the men and a women, and I think she would have her hands full”
When asked about his thoughts on Joe Rogan’s comments about chances being high that Fedor used PED’s in his career Mark said “It’s really not part of Fedor’s resume and I just look at him as possibly the greatest fighter of all time.” While on the subject of PED’s in MMA Mark expressed his concern’s “Yes it’s giving a bad eye to the sport and they’re going to do something to clean it up or else people are not going to accept it.”
Read the transcript below as Mark get’s into detail about his injury, the emotions he’s currently going through and his thoughts on Ronda Rousey and WMMA.
Interview link: http://bit.ly/1wDC20V
Transcript
On Joe Rogan’s comments about Fedor being on PED’s
“I know the guy was one of the toughest, baddest fighters in the world for quite some period of time and I don’t know if he’s ever failed any drug tests. It doesn’t really matter at this point.”
“It’s really not part of Fedor’s resume and I just look at him as possibly the greatest fighter of all time for a ten year span; and who knows, he probably could have went a little longer, but [when] you’re champion for ten years it’s just hard to stay so focused for so long and continue to be the champion. It had to come to an end at some time, but that doesn’t take away anything from what Fedor did.”
On PED’s in MMA
“Yes it’s giving a bad eye to the sport and they’re going to do something to clean it up or else people are not going to accept it. So I think they’re working real hard.”
“If you wanna put an end to it you’re going to have to do a lot more tests and you’re going to have to do the blood tests, and these things cost money. So they’re going to have to spend money to probably get it under control, because like I said, it’s involved in every sport and yes it’s obviously probably part of MMA, but they can and they will clean it up. They need to do that so the sport can continue to climb and stay legitimate.”
On Ronda Rousey
“Ronda Rousey, that’s a name that just stands out. If she continues this pace for a little bit longer, this is a lady [that’s] going to be considered the greatest female athlete in the history of sports, and what she’s done is truly amazing, and at this point you don’t want to say that someone is unbeatable, but she certainly almost looks unbeatable at this point. She could obviously get maybe caught or something like that, but she’s just an incredible athlete and you’re going to need a lot more Ronda Rouseys to carry the woman’s MMA. You’re going to more stars to stand out and take centre stage for the woman’s MMA to grow, but right now she’s carrying woman’s MMA and a lot of woman should be happy with her because she put them on the map and she made it a real legit sport; and yes I feel these girls are very talented. They know a hell of a lot more than I did back when I was fighting, and they’re highly skilled athletes and they deserve to be in there, and I’m glad they are in there.”
Mark’s opinion on if Ronda Rousey could beat a man in MMA
“I’m going to have to say firmly that I don’t see Ronda Rousey beating the number one ranked man in her weight class.”
“I guess it maybe depends on how far down the rankings you go and depends on who the opponent is going to be. I would assume it would have to be definitely a way lesser ranked man and somebody maybe not even ranked, because I think she would have her hands full with any of these guys that are ranked in the top 10, 20, maybe even higher. She’s great, but I just see that there’s a difference between the men and a women, and I think she would have her hands full. It’s nice to talk about, but unfortunately I don’t think we’re ever going to get a chance to see that. I’m certain the UFC would never risk putting her out with another man. I guess you never know, but we’re never going to get to see it probably, her fighting another man. So it’s something that you can maybe talk about. I think she would have her hands full for sure with any of the top guys. Maybe if she dropped way down in the rankings it might be an interesting fight. Yes, she’s pretty incredible since she’s stepped on that mat. What she’s done, nobody’s ever done it. So she’s right now one of a kind.”
On his injury
“After the show was over (TUF) my hip had popped out six times in the last year and whatever. The surgeon warned me ‘I think you might be able to take some pain, but you’ll never be able to take this kind of pain’ and he was right. So I went from being the toughest guy in the world to having a lot of fear about this hip.”
“When they did cut my scar open to replace the parts that I did damage somehow throughout the years, when they went to replace them they cut my hip open and well, they found nothing but a big mess of – I don’t know the exact kind of infection it was. It might have been staph, we don’t know yet. They’re trying to get results back, but I was just filled with infections throughout the whole body and it kinda…I was hoping to go in and get my hip fixed and get back on pace and move forward, but now everything’s been changed because they put a temporary hip in there ‘cause they had to clean out all the staph, and now I’m going to be on an ivy bag at home three times a day, trying to get rid of the infections so I can go back in there and get me a new hip, and then I gotta go through the rehab again, and you know it’s got me down. I aint going to deny that. But at the same time I’m not complaining because I remember as a youngster I always said I was going to be walking crooked when I’m older, but I just kind of hoped it wouldn’t have been this severe.”
Mark on the support he’s gotten from the MMA community and his feelings towards everyone who’s already raised almost 20,000 for his surgeries
“It’s just overwhelming. I’ve been so emotional throughout this whole thing and I didn’t even know nothing about this ‘Go Fund Me’. Wes Sims has been there for me from the beginning and you know I try to give back and help him as well, but I woke up from this surgery, didn’t know nothing about it and there’s no denying it’s a big step. I don’t like…I like helping people, you know? It’s not so easy for me to get the help, but for Wes Sims to start this Go Fund Me project. I didn’t know much about it but all of a sudden, yes to see how many people that, I don’t I could have met them all. I wish I would have been able to meet all of these people, and I’m hoping someday maybe I can meet them and try to give back; and I do do a lot of appearances and it really just blows my mind that you could really make somebody’s day just by taking a picture with them and being nice to them, and like you said it just blows my mind how many people just started donating. Some people five dollars, some people eight dollars. And these people don’t owe me nothing, and I’m not going to deny it, it’s going to be needed and it’s going to be used, because it’s going to be a very costly process here, but for somebody to send me eight dollars which obviously they probably could have used the eight dollars themselves, but they decided to send it to me. You know it’s just hard to even comprehend and I’m just really appreciative. I’m just blown away by the whole thing and I just appreciate all these fans and I’d rather call them friends than fans at this point.”