my.nwi.com

By Matt Erickson
cagedin.mma@gmail.com

East Chicago native Miguel Torres set out on a quest to reclaim the World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight title on Saturday night, but his journey took a major detour against Joseph Benavidez.

Halfway through the second round, Benavidez took Torres to the ground, where he dropped an elbow to Torres’ forehead that cut the former champion deeply.

Benavidez wasted no time and sunk in a guillotine choke hold on Torres. Torres tried to roll the position over, but Benavidez had the hold in too deep.

Just seven months after being knocked out for the first time when he lost his belt to Brian Bowles, Torres found himself tapping out for the first time.

The bout was the co-main event of WEC 47 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Torres fought with more patience than perhaps at any other time in his 50-fight career. With a five-inch height advantage, he kept distance and worked kicks and jabs. Torres was knocked down about two minutes into the fight, but worked his way back up before Benavidez was able to drive him to the cage. He then took Torres down with two minutes left in the first round. On the ground, he looked for submissions and used his strength to keep Torres working off his back.

But after working jabs in the second, Benavidez showed his strength when he shot for the takedown that became Torres’ undoing.

Torres had a near six-year winning streak before losing his bantamweight title last August to Bowles. A win Saturday over Benavidez likely would have made Torres the top contender. Instead, he now must continue to work his way back, but with a much deeper climb than before.

In other action on the main card, former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver, who trained for years in the Quad Cities before moving back to his native Idaho, saw his losing streak hit five straight matches. A Javier Vazquez armbar ended Pulver’s night in the first round. Pulver told the crowd afterward he likely would be retiring.

By Matt Erickson
cagedin.mma@gmail.com

When James Toney was spotted at UFC 108 in January, the rumors immediately began to circulate that the professional boxer wanted to take a stab at mixed martial arts.

Reports said Toney, who has a 72-6-3 record as a boxer, spoke with UFC president Dana White after the event about fighting for the promotion. And just last week, Toney called White a “straight up ho” on Fighthype.com for the offer presented to him.

But on Wednesday, the 41-year-old NABO and IBA heavyweight champion got his wish — a reported five-fight contract from the UFC, according to MMAFighting.com.

A cut-and-dried contract negotiation? Not so fast, says MMA promoter Corey Fischer. Fischer is teaming with Eric “Butterbean” Esch for the first big show in Massachusetts since regulation, a card for the Korea-based Moosin promotion on April 23 at the DCU Center in Worcester.

On Wednesday, Fischer told Caged In that he had been working on a deal with Toney, a longtime friend of Esch, to fight former UFC light heavyweight Houston Alexander — and that after giving a “100 percent guaranteed” verbal agreement, Toney took the deal back to White and used it as a negotiating tool to sign with the UFC.
“We worked on him for two weeks,” Fischer said. “I sent a contract back and forth with him and (Toney’s agent) John Arthur, and we had attorneys on the phone and to make a long story short, they agreed to the fight verbally, everything was 100 percent guaranteed, I had all their people on the phone, they said, ‘Hey, let’s do it, you call Korea, tell them you got us, and don’t worry about nothin’.’ We sent him his contract, and he was supposed to send it back. And the next day at noon, they called me and said, ‘Oh, well, James is gonna get on the plane to go talk to Dana.’ The whole deal was they were taking our contract back and forth to Dana to try and get a better deal. And it was probably the most railroaded deal you’ve ever seen in your life.”

Fischer said there is next to nothing he can do about losing what would have been either the main- or co-main event on his card, which currently features former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia against five-time World’s Strongest Man winner  Mariusz Pudzianowski, of Poland, as well as Rich Clementi, Yves Edwards and, Fischer still hopes, Alexander.

“What, I take James Toney to court for a verbal contract, and what do we get out of it? Nothing,” Fischer said. “It slows his process down with Dana White and in the long run, we don’t get anything. To sue for damages? It’s not worth it.”

More importantly, it seems, to Fischer, was a breach of his friendship with Esch.

“He had a 22-year friendship with Eric,” Fischer said. “He told me, ‘I’m doing this fight for Butterbean. I wanna help him out. I’d never screw him over.’ And at the whole end of the deal, he did exactly what he said he wouldn’t do. If that’s the way he treats his friends, so be it.”

According to Fischer, it was perhaps the difference between boxing negotiations and mixed martial arts negotiations, and boxing won out in the end.

“That’s the thing — it is the king of shady when it comes to boxing, but (Toney) was dealing with Butterbean,” Fischer said. “He called him at home, talked to his wife. This is the kind of deal it was — 22-year relationship these guys have. They weren’t best friends, don’t let me kid you. But they did know each other really well. It was that kind of negotiation. It wasn’t like a Don King negotiation with a bag of money. It was more like, ‘Hey, I’m doing this big show, I know you wanna do mixed martial arts, we’ll take care of you, give you a good fight, and then you can go back to the UFC.’ But I think Toney was like, ‘Yeah, sure, give me your contract and let me go make it three times better for myself.’ ”

Fischer said the deal for Toney would have been lucrative.

“He was going to get paid a $10,000 signing bonus up front, $100,000 the day of the show and 50 percent of all the pay-per-view revenues,” Fischer said. “In the long term, it would’ve been a nice chunk of change for James TOney. James Toney probably would’ve made $300,000-400,000.”

Fischer said he has known for a week that Toney was negotiating with the UFC and it was his understanding that the deal had been made. He also said he isn’t sure Toney will get the same type of fight opportunity out of the gate as he would have against Alexander.

“God bless Dana White; Dana does a good job — I’ve got nothing bad to say about the guy,” Fischer said. “He does what he does well, but … Houston Alexander? That was a great fight for James Toney and for Houston. It would’ve been a standup fight. But in my mind, I think Dana White has something to prove. Toney wants to prove that a boxer can fight mixed martial arts and Dana wants to prove that he can’t. So good luck getting an opponent that Toney wants, because I don’t think Dana’s gonna give him one. I think Dana’s gonna give him someone that takes Toney to the ground and pounds his (butt) right to sleep.”

Fischer said the April 23 show will go on as planned and said he hopes to bring in Seth Petruzelli to fight Alexander — if Petruzelli’s potential fight with Josh Barnett for Dream doesn’t happen. He also said he believes the card will be successful and historic in that it will be the first major promotion in Massachusetts.

“The show doesn’t stop with James Toney,” Fischer said. “We’ve got Tim Sylvia fighting Mariusz Pudzianowski, the World’s Strongest Man. In the long term, it sparked something even bigger. More people watch ESPN today and know who the World’s Strongest Man is than watch James Toney’s fights from five or 10 years ago. But we’ve breached Boston first. We’re gonna have 12,000 people there. Yeah, the UFC’s coming (to Boston in August) and they’ll do really well. (But) we’ll have the attendance record for a couple months, and I think we’ll do really well.”

By Matt Erickson
cagedin.mma@gmail.com

Brian Bowles did a lot more than take Miguel Torres’ title last August. He just might have knocked some sense into him.

Miguel Torres begins his path back to what he hopes is the reclamation of the WEC bantamweight title with a Saturday bout against Joseph Benavidez in Columbus, Ohio.

Torres, the East Chicago native who runs Torres Martial Arts Academy on Indianapolis Boulevard in Hammond, was considered to be one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in all of mixed martial arts when he took his 17-fight winning streak into the cage against Bowles. And he was a heavy favorite on Aug. 9 at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.

With one tight inside right hook, Bowles dropped a charging Torres to the canvas, then turned out his lights — for the first time in Torres’ 50-fight career — with a few follow-ups, one of which even broke Bowles’ left hand.

On Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, Torres officially begins his journey back to what he hopes is a reclamation of the World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight belt with a top contenders match against Joseph Benavidez, a protege of WEC star Urijah Faber. But it was his loss to Bowles that set the pieces in motion for a revival of sorts, a return to his roots. For some fighters, it takes years to discover they need to make some changes. For Torres, it took just one fight.

“After about two or three years, I haven’t really had anybody coaching me or training me,” Torres said last week on a media call for WEC 47. “I was doing my own thing, and it was working. But everyone’s catching up. Guys are getting strength and conditioning coaches, boxing coaches, wrestling coaches. They’re working on the weaknesses, and the game’s a lot different than back in the day.”

Back in the day, in MMA parlance, is really only a few short years ago. Torres took great pride in being a martial artist, in keeping with his roots, in not being too Hollywood. He was a superstar who had managed to fly under the radar of all but the hardest of the hard-core fans. But a championship belt brings lots of attention, and Torres admits to letting the newfound fame derail his past best practices.

“I got caught up to where I was doing a lot of traveling, doing a lot of business stuff, and I wasn’t focusing solely on the training,” Torres said. “So I had to get back just on training.”

This time, he’s moved his training camps around — a month in Las Vegas with jiu-jitsu wizard Robert Drysdale, a few weeks in New Jersey with UFC fighter Kurt Pellegrino, who was in his corner at his last win over Takeya Mizugaki in Chicago last April — as a means of getting back to his roots.

“I’m not dissing my guys — my guys are great training partners,” Torres said. “But they’re not dedicated fighters. A lot of my guys, they have full-time jobs. They have families. They have careers. They have different groups that they’re involved in. So getting all the guys together at one time to train was hard, especially this last training camp for Brian. It was summertime. So I had to seek out partners that can give me a good challenge and guys that can raise the learning curve for me.”

For the fight with Benavidez, which will be the co-main event before Bowles defends the bantamweight belt for the first time against Dominick Cruz, Torres said he improved his dieting and conditioning as well as his wrestling game. He believes the seven months he’s spent improving his overall game after the loss will be key on Saturday and key to an eventual return to the title.

“I’m not trying to just get better to beat Joseph,” Torres said. “I’m trying to make my skills better all around to beat anybody. I like to consider myself a martial artist, and that’s how I got to be where I’m at right now.

“I got away from that for a little bit and I got into being an entertainer in a couple of my fights, trying to entertain the crowd. I got back to my roots, and I’m back to focusing on getting my skills better overall, not just bettering myself and my fights or bettering myself as a person. And that’s what got me to where I’m at, and that’s where I’m getting back to.”

===================

WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz
When: 6 p.m. Saturday (prelims); 9 p.m. Saturday (televised main card)
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Versus (cable)
Tickets: $27-127, ticketmaster.com
Main card
135: Brian Bowles (8-0) vs. Dominick Cruz (14-1) (for bantamweight title)
135: Miguel Torres (36-2) vs. Joseph Benavidez (11-1)
145: Jens Pulver (22-12-1) vs. Javier Vazquez (13-3)
145: Deividas Taurosevicius (12-3) vs. LC Davis (15-2)
155: Bart Palaszewski (32-13) vs. Karen Darabedyan (9-1)
Preliminary card
135: Scott Jorgensen (8-3) vs. Chad George (11-4)
145: Chad Mendes (5-0) vs. Erik Koch (9-0)
155: Danny Castillo (8-2) vs. Anthony Pettis (7-1)
145: Leonard Garcia (17-5) vs. George Roop (10-7)
145: Fredson Paixao (8-3, 1 NC) vs. Courtney Buck (6-2)
155: Ricardo Lamas (7-1) vs. Bendy Casimir (19-5-2)

Don’t miss live coverage of WEC 47 on Saturday night, right here at Caged In. You can also follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/cagedin and become a fan on Facebook to be the first to hear about breaking stories.

By Matt Erickson
cagedin.mma@gmail.com

Munster native Stephan Bonnar plans to contest the result of his loss at UFC 110 in Sydney, he told Caged In on Tuesday.

Stephan Bonnar connects with Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 110 in Sydney. (Photo courtesy of UFC)

In the third round of his light heavyweight bout against Krzysztof Soszynski, Bonnar and “The Polish Experiment” accidentally clashed heads. The result was a cut on Bonnar’s forehead that was deep enough for the doctor to stop the fight.

Soszynski was awarded a TKO victory, which Bonnar believes should be overturned. It was Bonnar’s third straight loss, dropping him to 5-6 in the UFC and 11-7 overall.

“It’s only fair to get this overturned to a no contest or draw,” Bonnar said. “In the rules, if after two rounds a fighter suffers a cut from an illegal blow, they go to the scorecard. The judges had it one round a piece, which would have made it a draw.”

Bonnar said the fight’s referee, John Sharp, missed the head butt and claimed the cut came from a legal strike.

“Right after (it) happened, I pointed to my head and told him, ‘Head butt,’” Bonnar said. “Why he didn’t look up at the replay, which they showed about 30 times, I have no idea.”

After the decision was announced, Bonnar pulled his arm away from Sharp, clearly disappointed in the official result. Soszynski, after the fight, went to Bonnar and even lifted him up to show his respect. Bonnar said both he and Soszynski want a rematch.

“Krzysztof acknowledged the cut was from a head butt and would like to finish the fight as well,” Bonnar said. “He was a good sport and a class act. We gave each other credit for a great fight. He knew the clash of heads opened the cut, and like myself would like a rematch. It just shows what kind of sportsman he is. He earned my respect as well.”

Bonnar, who first came to international MMA prominence for his fight with Forrest Griffin to close out the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show, said UFC president Dana White spoke to him after the bout.

“He just told me it was a great fight and sorry I got screwed like that,” Bonnar said.

Bonnar said this situation is a first for him.

“I have never been wronged so bad in a situation that was so obvious,” he said. “I still can’t understand the referee. Yes, I will appeal this decision. I just want what is fair. How do 20,000, people including my opponent and the commentators, see that a clash of heads occurred and the referee not see it? I feel like I’m in a pro wrestling match, where one of the wrestlers hits his opponent over the head with a chair when the referee’s back’s turned. Everyone in the arena sees what happened but the ref, then the ref gets down and gives the three-count and gives the guy the win. It really feels like that.”

Craig Waller, executive officer for Combat Sports Authority, the New South Wales-based commission that oversaw UFC 110, said Tuesday that Bonnar had not yet filed anything to contest the result, but did say a draw would be possible.

“A technical points draw would be the only result if a protest was received and upheld,” Waller said.

Bonnar said he expects to remain in Australia for another week before returning to his home in Las Vegas.

So, a little about Australia. It’s humid as hell, and the sun is twice as intense here. Being Irish, I am constantly applying layers of sunblock that the humidity and sweat soon melt away.

As far as the tourist stuff, we took a bus tour, getting off at St. Mary’s Cathedral, a beautiful historic church.  Then it was off to the Sydney museum, filled with big skeletons of whale carcasses. We also hit up Bondi Beach, where we were treated to a lot of boobs. I asked, “Is this a topless beach?” to an Aussie, who chuckeld and said, “All beaches here, tops are optional.”

My favorite though was the Taronga Zoo we went to yesterday. Alex (Schoenauer), aka “Chili Dog,” went over to a sleeping kangaroo, lifted up one of its legs, and grabbed his b***s. (I know it sounds crazy, but I am just writing about my experience – so I have to share the good with the bad.) I couldn’t believe it. The kangaroo got up with a very confused expression on his face, then looked around as if to say, “Hmmmm … I was just sound asleep and I swear someone just grabbed my b***s.”

This stunt of his gave me a little more courage. I saw another kangaroo eating out of a bucket of carrots. I slowly inched closer and closer to him, as not to startle him. I watched him eat for a while, then I asked him if he wouldn’t mind sharing a carrot with me. He peered up from his bucket at me while munching a little carrot he was holding in his short arms and gave me a look like he obliged. So I reached over, grabbed a carrot out of his bucket and shared an afternoon snack with a friendly kangaroo. Don’t worry. I didn’t grab his b***s.

Along with the lions, monkeys, elephants, chimps and usual animals at the zoo, I got to see a Tasmanian devil. I was surprised – it reminded me of a possum. It was on a tree branch and very indecisive on how to get down. I actually watched him for a good 15 minutes as he went back and forth on the branch contemplating how to get down. And no, it doesn’t look at all like the Warner Bros. “Taz.”

The best part of the zoo was when we were just a little late to see them feed the giraffes. The zookeeper had some sympathy for us and decided to make our day. He brought us down to the giraffes and gave us apples and carrots to feed them. One giraffe was much like myself and kept turning down the carrots and insisting on getting the apples. My favorite giraffe, “Andora,” was the friendliest. After feeding her carrots, she even gave me a kiss. She must have got the wrong signals, because she then came back and tried to give me some tongue. Let me tell you, their tongues are about a foot long – so it was a little scary. She also liked getting pet, so I scratched under her neck like she was one of my cats.

The funny thing is, all of these stories I am telling you have been documented on video. So if you wanna see them for real, keep your eyes peeled – they will be up soon at Ngaugeinc.com and www.Switch-fighter.com

Well, that’s about all for now.  I’m sure I will have some more stories soon.

I’ve been in Sydney about five days and I’m feeling pretty settled in, so let me share with y’all my experience so far.

I got in on a very wet, rainy day, tired as hell. I find it very hard to sleep on a plane. I dozed off for maybe an hour at a time, tops. I was very fatigued and after grabbing my luggage had a very long walk to the rental car. The UFC does provide transportation, but I rented a car to experience this beautiful country. I was driving to the hotel, jet-lagged as hell, and everything was backwards. The steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car. I’m driving on the opposite side of the road. And every time I go to turn, the windshield wiper goes off because, of course, the turning signal is on the opposite side of the car. My navigator was having trouble, as well. I kept hearing the painful computerized voice saying, “Recalculating.” I kept missing turns. A lot of these roads are very narrow and one-way, and I would love to tell you more, but in doing so, I would be incriminating myself. So let me just say, the rental car is a little worse for the wear.

I finally get to the hotel and all I wanted to do is stash the rental car, get to my room, defecate, shower and lay down. Unfortunately, I was intercepted in the lobby by the UFC, who need to interview me, do paperwork, check my weight, etc. All I kept hearing from people was, “What’s wrong? I haven’t seen you smile once.” Or, “That was the worst interview you’ve ever given.” My feet were swollen like and old woman’s from retaining water during the long flight and when they checked my weight, I was pretty heavy. I also really didn’t feel like talking about “the rental car.”

Don’t worry – things start brightening up. The rest of that day, I just ate two more meals, rested in my room and drank a lot of water  before bed. Morning came around and I checked my weight again. Voila! I had magically peed out 10 pounds in less then a day – take that, Jenny Craig! Of course, the first training session was miserable. But after I sweated out the rest of the jetlag, I felt GRRREAAAT! Like Tony the Tiger.

I’ve had some good training sessions with my old coach Duke Roufus and my right-hand man Alex Schoenauer, aka “Chili Dog Willis.”  Chili Dog has been great at monitoring my diet. At the breakfast buffet, he watches me like a hawk – constantly confiscating the bacon from my plate. He also brought a propane grill and turned our hotel room into his mess hall. And let me tell you, he is a hell of a cook. At night, I am not allowed to have too many carbs. So he has been making the most delicious spinach salads with avocado, cucumber, tomato, onion and balsamic vinegar with olive oil. After this masterpiece of an appetizer, I will have a big ol’ porterhouse steak with grilled onions – medium rare, bloody as hell. Just the way I like it!

After my workout yesterday, I was only 212 pounds, which can only mean one thing: I get rewarded with some carbs tonight! So after the delicious salad, he whipped up some of the best beef ravioli I’ve ever had. If this wasn’t enough, I finished this meal with one of my
favorite dishes of all time – rack of lamb.  We used the steam from the teamaker to heat the sauce and his camping set to cook everything else. I woke up this morning at 215 pounds. Hell yes! Who would have known weight cutting could be so much fun!

I’m leaving in one day. As mentioned before, it’s going to be a relief. I’m ready to fight and can’t wait to get the hell outta here!

As if the training camp isn’t enough, it seems I’m being hit from every angle with people wanting interviews and appearances. Between the medical exams and tying up all the loose ends, since I’m leaving for a while, I’ve been really busy. I average about three interviews a day, each one about the same topic: my upcoming fight. On top of that, random texts from unknown numbers keep pouring in wanting interviews about – you guessed it – my upcoming fight. So if I haven’t gotten back to everyone, let me use this opportunity to sincerely apologize.

And if anyone has a request to talk about my recent favorite movie picks, it’s on – I’d be eager to talk about them! Recently, I saw “Youth in Revolt,” which is freakin’ awesome! Since my life is filled with pain and violence, I love a good comedy the most. As far as rentals go, I recently saw “This Boy’s Life” with (Robert) DeNiro and (Leonardo) DiCaprio, which was also freakin’ awesome! Next to a good comedy, a dysfunction family drama is my next choice. Now if you combine these and make a dark comedy/dysfunctional family drama, why that takes the cake!

Oh – I did my last shark bait today. **** yeah! Now I am an official graduate of “Chum School.”

If you didn’t get a chance to see the fights this past weekend, spoiler alert! Chael Sonnen fought his heart out to win a decision over Nate Marquardt. Hats off to Chael. A very impressive fight, and sorry for everybody’s parlay he ruined – he ruined mine. And it serves Nate right for stealing my wakout music. Paulo Thiago got a HUGE submission victory over Mike Swick, which moves him up the ranks at 170. And last, but not least, Mark Coleman provided little resistance to Randy (Couture). This is the first fight of his long career where he didn’t attempt a single takedown. Damn, that would have been nice.

So the next time you hear from me I’ll be Down Under. And what exactly do they mean by “Down Under”? I plan to find out! So I Googled it for y’all, and unlike South America and Africa, the entire continent of Australia lies in the southern hemisphere. That’s the boring answer. Also, I hear it’s the closest you can get to hell without getting burned. I like that one a little better.

So, “See you in hell, Krzysztof!”

By Matt Erickson
cagedin.mma@gmail.com

All fighters made weight on Friday for their Saturday bouts at UFC 109: Relentless in Las Vegas.

Saturday’s card will take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and features a main event light heavyweight bout between UFC Hall of Famers Randy Couture and Mark Coleman. Both of them weighed in at 205 pounds for their bout. Couture is a significant favorite at -575 to Coleman’s +375. Coleman was the first heavyweight champion in UFC history; Couture is a former heavyweight and light heavyweight champ.

“I feel great. I’m excited, I’ve got a lot of engery, I’m ready to go. I’m gonna win this fight,” Coleman told Joe Rogan after making weight. “I’m just looking to fight the best, and Randy’s one of the best of all-time. Nothing but respect for him, but I want a little piece of what he’s got. That’s it.”

Couture, 46, said each fight for him is important.

“I feel blessed each and every time I get to step back out there in the Octagon,” Couture said. “This is another chance for me to go out and show the things I’ve changed, show the ways I’ve gotten better, become a better athlete all the time – and Mark Coleman is a great challenge for me. I’m looking forward to it.”

The co-main event is a middleweight fight between Nate Marquardt and Chael  Sonnen that is likely to determine the No. 1 contender’s spot for the title currently held by Anderson Silva. Silva defends his belt at UFC 112 on April 12 in Abu Dhabi.

The weigh-ins, which were streamed live here at Caged In, featured no real fireworks and no weight-cut controversies. In fact, the biggest surprise to some fans may have been seeing Frank Trigg with a full head of hair; he has typically fought with a shaved head. His bout with former welterweight champ Matt Serra has become a war of words.

UFC 109’s main card begins at 9 p.m. Central on pay-per-view. Additionally, two preliminary card fights will be aired live on Spike TV starting at 8 p.m.

Here are the official weigh-in results:

Preliminary Card
Heavyweight: Joey Beltran (238) vs. Rolles Gracie (247)
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer (263) vs. Tim Hague (263)
Light Heavyweight: Phil Davis (205) vs. Brian Stann (205)
Lightweight: Rob Emerson (155) vs. Phillipe Nover (155)

Spike TV Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Ronys Torres (156) vs. Melvin Guillard (155)
Lightweight: Justin Buchholz (156) vs. Mac Danzig (156)

Main Card
Welterweight: Frank Trigg (171) vs. Matt Serra (169)
Middleweight: Dan Miller (185) vs. Demian Maia (186)
Welterweight: Paulo Thiago (170) vs. Mike Swick (171)
Middleweight: Chael Sonnen (185) vs. Nate Marquardt (186)
Light heavyweight: Mark Coleman (205) vs. Randy Couture (205)

By Greg Beacham
AP Sports Writer

While the fighters’ combined age is easily the biggest in the history of UFC’s main events, this is no sideshow. Although Couture (17-10) is the favorite to claim the victory and a likely light heavyweight title shot against Lyoto Machida or Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Coleman (16-9) thinks he can continue his improbable late-career resurgence.

“This is by far the biggest fight of my life,” Coleman said. “I’ve been in some big fights, but none of them compare to this. There’s a lot on the line for me. … That’s about the No. 1 question I’ve been asked by everybody for about the last 10 years: When are you going to fight Randy?”

The bout is Couture’s third time in the octagon in less than six months, a remarkable stretch for a fighter who hasn’t been this busy in more than eight years. Couture has plenty of interests outside the ring, with a burgeoning acting career and businesses that demand his time.

Yet when a series of injuries to UFC’s top stars left president Dana White a bit short on names, Couture was thrilled to step in as a headliner.

“Randy Couture is a testament to God knows what,” White said. “I don’t know what he eats and does, but everybody should be eating and doing it. These guys have both been fighting at the top of the game for who knows how long, and the big thing is these guys really wanted to fight each other. They can both still compete and work hard. There’s no doubt about either of them.”

The UFC’s first major card in a month also features 185-pound contender Nate Marquardt against Chael Sonnen, Paulo Thiago’s 170-pound return against Mike Swick, and former welterweight champion Matt Serra’s return from an eight-month absence against Frank Trigg.

Couture and Coleman actually fought once before — at the 1989 Olympic wrestling festival in Stillwater, Okla., where Coleman won by one point. They were slated to meet at UFC 17, back when purses were a fraction of their current size, and Couture pulled out to prepare for a national wrestling tournament.

Couture actually contributed to Coleman’s revival when he allowed Coleman to train for his most recent fight at his Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas. Coleman surprised 32-year-old Stephan Bonnar with a unanimous decision at UFC 100, and was in line to fight Tito Ortiz late last year before getting injured in training.

Coleman was crushed by missing what he thought might be his last chance at a big payday. After a career in which he acknowledges lapses in his training and discipline, Coleman finally feels comfortable leaving his children at home in his native Ohio to chase UFC glory.

“I felt like I lost out on a huge opportunity, and I didn’t foresee being able to top that matchup,” Coleman said of his injury pullout against Ortiz. “I anticipated maybe fighting a younger guy and being a gatekeeper.”

Coleman helped to define the brutish MMA style known as ground-and-pound, while Couture has remained competitive with a well-rounded approach. Neither fighter is likely to overwhelm his opponent with dazzling striking abilities, so the fight could be decided by endurance — and both of these 40-something fighters have plenty.

After they finally meet, neither fighter expects to be finished. Both Couture and Coleman intend to keep pursuing their MMA career to the doorstep of 50.

“This is what I do,” Coleman said. “This is what I love to do, and I’m still willing to put in the time. … If losing a fight is the worst thing that happens to you in your life, you’re doing pretty well.”

Shine Fights on Wednesday announced the signing of Nick “The Goat” Thompson, a veteran of the UFC, Strikeforce, World Victory Road, Sengoku and many other regional promotions.

Thompson (38-12-1) wrestled collegiately at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and spent the bulk of his early career fighting in Midwest promotions, including XFO and Extreme Challenge. Thompson made his major promotion debut at UFC 56 in November 2005, where he won a unanimous decision over Valparaiso-based Keith Wisniewski.

In 2007, he beat the highly regarded Eddie Alvarez to win the Bodog Fight welterweight title, which he successfully defended twice afterward. Those victories were part of a 12-fight winning streak. But he has dropped two straight bouts and three of his last five.

Thompson, who trains at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy with UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk and Brock Larson, owns high-profile wins over the aforementioned Alvarez as well as current UFC welterweight contender Paul Daley and Josh Neer. But he’s had setbacks against Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields, Yushin Okami, Karo Parisyan and Ed Herman.

Thompson said in a statement from Shine that his decision to sign with the promotion had to do with its willingness to keep him busy.

“Over three years, I’d gone 22-2 at welterweight, and I couldn’t get a fight,” Thompson said. “It was really frustrating. If you look at my record, I had 50 fights in five years, and all of a sudden I’m going down to two fights in a year. I’m going out of my mind. I want to be the No. 1-ranked guy in Shine Fights, plain and simple.”

Shine matchmaker Ron Foster lauded the promotion’s newest signee.

“Nick is a world-class fighter, and we’re extremely excited to feature him in our shows,” Foster said. Thompson is expected to make his debut with the promotion sometime this spring.

UFC 109: Relentless takes place Saturday night, and Caged In will have the weigh-ins for the card streaming live right here.

The weigh-ins will begin at 6 p.m. Central and take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, site of Saturday’s card.

UFC 109 features a main event between Hall of Famers Randy Couture and Mark Coleman, meeting for the first time since they met each other in an amateur wrestling match in 1989, and a co-main event of Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen, which is expected to determine the No. 1 contender spot for the middleweight title.

The main card for UFC 109 starts at 9 p.m. Central on Saturday on pay-per-view. In addition, two preliminary card bouts will be shown on Spike TV starting at 8 p.m. Central leading into the pay-per-view telecast.