Mark Coleman, along with combat sports collectible site MMA Collector, is currently auctioning off a pair of MMA gloves for a good cause.

These gloves are UFC Hall-Of-Famer, Pride FC Champion, and MMA legend Mark Coleman’s fight-used gloves from UFC 100. Mark defeated UFC veteran and The Ultimate Fighter Season One Finale winner Stephan Bonnar at that event, leaving Bonnar a bloody mess after Mark Coleman cut him open in the second round. UFC 100 was a milestone in UFC History as well and any items from this show are valuable to begin with. The signed-by-the-card posters that were sold at the event now bring over $600 each when they come up for sale.

MMA Collector has worked with Mark Coleman during the process of authenticating these gloves and a Notarized Letter of Authenticity from MMA Collector will be provided as well as a hand-written note from Mark to the buyer, signed and dated. There is a reserve on this auction and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Lancaster, Ohio Police Athletic League which works to raise drug-awareness in young children. Payment for these gloves will be by Cashiers (Bank) Check only- sorry, no Paypal.

Coleman has previously attempted to sell his set of blue gloves from the Pride FC 2000 Open-weight Grand Prix which he won, and the item is still available for sale on MMACollector.com. You can check out the UFC 100 gloves on eBay right now, with a reserve that at the time of this post has not been met, but must be before they can be sold, so start your bidding!

A mogul is defined as “an important, powerful, or influential person” and in the business world within the mixed martial arts industry Michael DiSabato definitely falls into this category. He is the man behind the MMA Authentics Brands which include Cage Fighter, MMA Elite and Familia Gladiatoria among others. He is a lifelong wrestler and has that wrestling mindset of “embracing the grind” and it shows with his dedication and success in any endeavor he chooses.

DiSabato was also the person responsible for getting mixed martial arts apparel into the hands of mainstream consumers at a great price through retail giant Wal-Mart, he recently launched Core Synergy and he’s only getting started. He is a proud Ohio State Buckeye with strong ties to the wrestling and mixed martial arts communities in and around his hometown of Columbus, OH. In this interview, we discussed his thoughts on scoring that deal with Wal-Mart, his vision for the future of MMA Apparel, his future plans within the amateur wrestling community and what it’s like working contracts and dealing with guys who punch each other in the face for a living.

Tony Reid- I know there have been some changes recently, can you elaborate on the developments with the company?

Michael DiSabato- I am back. Took some time off last year. Cage Fighter and CF brands are owned by my new company, Lutte Licensing Group. We have great team of folks who understand the sport, understand what it takes to be a world class athlete and are ready to build the first true authentic athletic brand with roots in mixed martial arts.

Tony Reid-You were inspired to jump into the MMA apparel business when you attended the Arnold Convention, which coincided with UFC 68 in Columbus, OH in 2007. What was it that inspired you to make the transition into the MMA market?

Michael DiSabato- I graduated from Ohio State University in 1991. I wrestled there with Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman. Both guys were my college teammates. I have been aware of the sport since UFC 10. The last live fight I had been to prior to UFC 68 was Mark’s first loss ever to Maurice Smith in Birmingham at UFC 13. I have been to some pretty spectacular sporting events…I have been to two Olympic Games, National Championship Games, I’m actually getting ready to go to the Super Bowl this week, I’m taking my wife to see the Steelers. I just remember that event (UFC 13) being one of those events where I was like “Wow!” That was the first time Mark had been defeated. He had Maurice down for two and a half rounds and that third round he just hit a wall, conditioning wise.

I hadn’t been to a live fight since that fight. But I watched them on TV and watched Mark and Kevin over in PRIDE and had seen some of the UFC but I had been in the sports licensing and apparel business since 1996, doing mostly college related apparel. I worked for a couple different companies; one was the NFL sideline apparel manufacturer, Logo Athletic at the time, which became Reebok, who is still today the sideline provider for the NFL. I have been involved in sport and sold to most major retailers in the world including Wal-Mart; Dick’s and Champs among others.

In 2007 I got invited to come to UFC 68 on a whim, as well as attending the Arnold Classic which is here every year on the same weekend, which also coincides with the high school state wrestling tournament. I’m from a family of nine; six of us boys all won at least one state title in the state of Ohio. So we have a pretty rich history in the high school wrestling world. I haven’t missed a high school state wrestling tournament in 35 years.

I was going to the finals of the tournament that night and one of my buddies got tickets from a vendor and wanted me to go. I hadn’t been tied into the UFC as much as I had been PRIDE at that time. When I went into the arena that night I had no expectation to see what I saw and what I saw was the greatest event ever in the history of the Nationwide Arena as far as revenue generation. The gate was around $5 million, there were 20,000 fans in there and I think at the time, Dana used UFC 68 as one of his rallying cries for how big the sport has got. All I could think was “Wow!” I have been to the Olympic Games, I worked for NBC and have been front and center for many special sporting events and I had never, ever, been to a sporting event that was that electric.

It was unbelievable. Randy (Couture) beat Tim Sylvia that night, Lambert knocked out Babalu; there were just a number of great fights that night. I just remember thinking “Holy Shit”. I had just been in the sports marketing and sales world for 10 to 15 years and then to come into this world, where it had been so underdeveloped from a manufacturing and merchandising standpoint, TapouT was really starting to take off and Affliction was doing the same.

The day after that event I decided I was getting in the business. What made me very confident in our abilities was that I knew most of the guys competing in the sport. Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, all these guys that walked out, the majority of them, competed and were a part of the same community that I had come from.

That community is a fraternity. If you wrestle, you respect other wrestlers because they know what it takes, they embrace the grind. Its one of our mottos “Embrace the Grind.” You can’t be a college wrestler at that level and not embraced the grind. I was able to get back into a community that I had been a part of since I was six years old. I could literally pick up the phone, at that time, and speak to any college wrestling coach in the country. And speak to them on a first name basis; there will be some kind of connection there. To have that kind of in to the fighters, combined with my knowledge of retail, I just saw an opening.

The apparel at the time, if you look at what the UFC was doing, was archaic. A couple tees, no novelties…the business was like the wild west, how do we get in and try to take a piece. I literally got in the business the next day and the rest is history. It’s just a fun and exciting business to be in, because it’s global its worldwide, it’s the greatest and most exciting sport in the world. It’s the only sport in the world that is truly global. It is embraced in all countries on all continents, all forms of religion, everyone fights. Not everyone plays American Football, not all countries embrace soccer but yet everyone can identify with two men getting into a cage and fighting.

Tony Reid- What surprised you most about entering the MMA Community or the MMA business in general?

Michael DiSabato- The most exciting thing was that there was so much opportunity. At the time there was not a lot of sophistication. We started a brand in 2007 and no one was calling on Wal-Mart at the time. When you would ask TapouT, Affliction, even the UFC at the time, the attitude was Wal-Mart was beneath them. I just remember thinking “Thank you for having that attitude”. We are talking about the world’s largest retailer, who had not touched the sport. TapouT had done a very good job at mid-tier, Affliction had done an excellent job at high end retail and boutique but no one had reached the masses. I will go to my grave being able to say we were the first mixed martial arts brand to enter the world’s largest retailer. That brand is doing very well today due to my work.

There was a lot of work, someday I will write a book and it will be an interesting one. I didn’t believe in fate before March 3rd, 2007 but I believe in it today because all of the moons were aligned and we were in the right place at the right time. On May 15th 2007 we signed Chuck Liddell and on May 16th I met with Wal-Mart. I met with this young buyer and all I had with me was a contract and the ESPN the Magazine with Chuck on the cover. I put the magazine and the contract in front of the buyer and said “So, how can you and I be heroes?” And he got it, he was 25 years old and watched the stuff and I knew that there was an opportunity for him and I to introduce this sport to Wal-Mart. One thing led to another and the brand just exploded.

One of my early jobs was with NASCAR and I thought this business was very much like NASCAR but also very different. It’s NASCAR from the standpoint of a boutique sport that exploded onto the national scene but different because this sport will continue to grow. It was similar in the sense that individual drivers drive both sports. So I looked up Chuck Liddell and DeWayne Zinkin’s name came across. Well Zinkin’s family is a very prominent wrestling family from Fresno and my brother Dominic wrestled DeWayne in college. I picked up the phone and called him. It’s a testament to the wrestling community that I was able to establish a relationship with DeWayne within 20 minutes of being on the phone with him. He respected the fact that I wrestled, he knew my family and wrestled my brother.

There was an immediate trust established there. We didn’t get the deal done that day but within three months it was done. DeWayne understood how big that would be for his client… and it was. I picked up the phone and told the buyer I had an exclusive deal with Chuck Liddell and he said “Can you see me tomorrow?” I saw him tomorrow. I flew to Bentonville, AR. (Wal-Mart’s Home Office), I remember laying on the ground outside of the Bentonville Airport and I looked up in the air and I said “My life is going to be changed forever.”

I knew we were going to get Wal-Mart. I was now in a business where I could develop my own brand and any time you can develop your own brand you control your own destiny. We went into Wal- Mart and told a good story. Quite frankly, Wal-Mart made a trip to see the guys at TapouT, and I don’t know what was discussed but Wal-Mart told us they appreciated the fact that we bring an authentic athletic approach and we got the business.

We tried some “player tees” but that wasn’t where it was at. But our Walmart brand was a knock off of TapouT and Affliction but at better price points. In November 2008 we shipped our first order and in 2009 we did about $20 million and in 2010 we did a multiple of that number…in a big way. I will go to my grave knowing I developed, from a unit standpoint, the largest MMA brand in the world.

Tony Reid-I actually used to be a manager at Wal-Mart; I have been to Bentonville so I know how that goes. And every time I walk through Wal-Mart and see MMA Elite I get a little smile on my face, knowing that we, as an MMA community, are there so I thank you for making that happen.

Michael DiSabato-If the worlds largest retailer is in the business of mixed martial arts then the worlds largest consumer products companies are soon to follow. Why isn’t Nabisco and Oreo and M&M’s and all of these companies that sponsor all of these other sports that don’t bring a return to their bottom line, when are going to come to be a part of the most exciting sport in the world? They have been very slow to come to the sport, as far as advertising. One of the things I want to do with my companies, going forward, is start bringing corporate America to the sport.

One of the goals of Cage Fighter and CF Athletic, in order for a brand to really take root long term 10, 20, 30, 40 years, you have to be an authentic athletic brand. Affliction is a lifestyle brand. TapouT is a lifestyle brand. I’m not knocking those brands. They have done a wonderful job. I have a feeling that there is an opportunity for a brand to do what Under Armour did. If you look at the great brands what are they? They are brands that are authentic athletic that originated from a sport. When you look at Under Armour they came from the sport football. The guy that developed that brand, Kevin Plank, he played college football at Maryland and 13 years ago started swinging a rag around saying it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and 13 years later it’s built to a company worth $800 million.

Think about it. What is Nike? They started as a track company and then saw the opportunity to tie into the shoe business with Michael Jordan and that’s when they really took off. Look at Adidas, it’s German and at its core it’s a soccer brand. Sure they all do other business but they all started in one sport. There is not a brand yet in the mixed martial arts business that you can say is an authentic athletic brand that has emanated from a sport.

About a year ago we stated a brand called CF Athletic and we are outfitting over 250 colleges, high schools and youth programs throughout the country. It is my belief that if we continue to do that, our goal is to have over 2,000 schools next year, if we do our job to outfit those teams that’s how you build your brand long term. That’s when you can go to Dick’s and say “We are authentic athletic”. The only way you do that is you can’t act like you are from that community, you have to be authentic. Nike tries to take reps into a high school or college wrestling coaches and act like they can sell a singlet or a pair of shoes. The people that they are sending in there have most likely never wrestled a day in their lives.

When we start talking to college or high school wrestlers they know exactly who we are and know we are building products for them. In mixed martial arts, the greatest fighters in the world have a damn good wrestling base. So if we focus on the grass roots of the sport that in the long term we are going to be in the best position to build an authentic athletic brand that become the next Under Armor, Nike, Adidas…that’s our goal.

Tony Reid-How has the wrestling mindset helped you in the business world out side of MMA?

Michael DiSabato-It is an individual sport. I love football, I played football but if you play the sport of football you can look at other people and say “It wasn’t my fault.” You get on a wrestling mat or in a cage there is no one to look at and say it’s their fault. If you want to be successful put your head down and do it. Embrace the grind and wrestlers know how to grind. None of the wrestlers that are in the business of MMA today ever expected to be where they are. They never thought there would be
100,000 people screaming for them, they were lucky if 100 people were screaming for them.

You look at the stardom some of these guys are reaching now; it’s a heck of a lifestyle to reach and a heck of a sport. You can’t be a wrestler without having discipline. In most sports it’s a mental thing but in wrestling I would say 99% is mental. All guys have great talent, everyone gets in shape but who has the ability to compete under pressure and not lose their cool and concentrate and focus? Those are all traits you can bring into the business world.

You know it’s a hard sport when you’re 40 years old you don’t say to your buddy “Let’s go have a pickup game of wrestling” No, you go play a pickup game of basketball. You have pickup games of football. Wrestling is hard, it doesn’t feel good. The reality is there is no one to blame but yourself. If you put the work in, you see the results and get the credit. If you look at Wall Street, it’s loaded with wrestlers. Goldman Sachs was started by a wrestler, Goldman was a wrestler. There is a huge wrestling community in New York and a lot of that comes from the wealth that has been accumulated by guys that got off the mat and gone to work for Goldman Sachs and some of the other firms.

Tony Reid- What are some of the difficulties you face, in a business sense, when dealing with guys that
beat each other up for a living?

Michael DiSabato-I have dealt with athletes for more than 25 years. Guys like Barry Sanders, Eddie George and other high profile athletes. The nice thing about fighters is that you can have a conversation with these guys. You aren’t going through seven different agents. They are not primadonnas. I have dealt with some that fight, they are fighters. There have been situations where they might not read their contract. But the vast majority are great and I understand, that in order to do what they do, again, you
have to embrace the grind. I respect and understand what they go through on a daily basis. I have never been a big fan of the guys that aren’t authentic, authentic guys. I have got a tremendous amount of respect for all these guys though. I am a “players” guy and always will be a ”players” guy.

Tony Reid-Who is the most authentic guy you have dealt with?

Michael DiSabato- Mark Coleman doesn’t get enough credit for what he has done for the sport. In my opinion if Mark didn’t get to the sport when he did, he authenticated the sport for college wrestlers. He was the first prominent Olympic caliber wrestler to make the transition and say “I’m gonna do this and I’m gonna be very good.” Up until then none of the really good wrestlers even thought about it. I have heard Randy (Couture) say many times that if it wasn’t for Mark he may not have got involved in the sport. The wrestling community is a small tight community.

Most guys aren’t going to go do the pro wrestling thing, because all of the guys are going to say “What the hell are you doing?” Kurt Angle and Brock are not the norm. There is something about being authentic. I have worked WITH some great athletes. I love BJ Penn, he is one of the first guys we ever signed and I consider him family. He believed in me and helped us build the business. If I had to get into a bunker with one guy it would be BJ. I am very tight with Mo Lawal. I think he is one of the smartest athletes out there, he gets it. He’s authentic he doesn’t care; he tells it how it is. I respect the fact that he speaks his mind and wears his emotions on his sleeve.

I gravitate toward the wrestlers like Gray Maynard, Frankie Edgar, etc. I couldn’t even say one guy is more authentic than the other. That’s what I like about the sport, most of these guys get it, they are respectful, its a lot like hockey players, they are easy to approach, they don’t have the massive egos and they deal with the fans in a respectful manner and are accessible to the fans. You don’t see that in all sports.

Tony Reid- What is the average day in the life of Michael DiSabato like?

Michael DiSabato- My average day is that there is no average day. I have an office but I’m not good at sitting in an office. I have ADHD but what I try to do every day is set goals on how many calls I want to make…again, its like going to practice and do drills. Put your chinstrap on and go to work so to speak. Not every day is the same, which is what I love about what I do. I couldn’t go to a cubicle every day. I get to be creative. My greatest talent is that I get to create and build. I get to use relationships and try to
make people and relationships fit together. That’s the fun part of what I do.

Tony Reid is a contributor to TheFightNerd.com and CEO of Reid Fight Wear.

Many hardcore MMA fans eventually become collectors of memorabilia from the sport, be it shirts, press credentials, action figures, trading cards, whatever. There are many options to go when making an investment in the sport, and one of the top gems in MMA collecting is fight-worn gear. Not just an glove you bought at a store to get autographed, but the actual clothing a fighter wore in one of their bouts. For the very serious collector, you can now own a piece of MMA history, if you don’t mind having to mortgage your house to get them.

Over on MMACollector.com, the operators of the site are offering Mark Coleman’s blue Pride gloves from the Pride Grand Prix 2000 event. This historic series of events, which was also documented in “The Smashing Machine” documentary, saw Mark Coleman revive his dimming MMA career by winning the 16-man single-elimination tournament despite being one of the biggest underdogs in the show. Coleman defeated Ricardo Morais to qualify in the Opening Rounds, then moved on to the one-night 8-man tournament where he grinded out a decision to Akira Shoji, defeated Kazuyuki Fujita after he threw in the towel, and clobbered Igor Vovchanchyn with devastating knees on the ground to claim the greatest victory of his life.

Now you can own the two pairs of gloves he wore during this entire event for the astounding price of $40,000! Yeah, you read that right. An average pair of Pride FC gloves will go for $400-700, but this set is practically the cost of a new car. The gloves are being sold through consignment, so buyers should contact the operators of the site before purchasing to iron out details. If any of you readers end up buying this, let me know (more so how many banks you robbed to get that kind of dough to spend on gloves).

If 40K is too rich for your blood, you can always buy a UFC 5 poster for $650, or Clay Guida’s walkout shirt from UFC 64 for $429. Not going to lie though, if Coleman ever sold his Pride GP 2000 championship belt, I would sell everything I own to buy that piece of gold!

Want to get some MMA swag of your own for nothing? Then check out our Bellator FC contest for your chance to win shirts and hats from Bellator in a contest that is easy as sending a tweet!

There are very few good MMA cartoons out there, more like none really. There are a few entertaining ones that seem to be done in MS Paint, and other than the recent well-done Zombie Cage Fighter cartoon, none seem to have a lot of effort and quality to them. A few weeks back I posted a snippet from a Yogi Bear cartoon done by the creator of Ren & Stimpy, which saw Yogi working ground and pound on Ranger Smith a la Mark Coleman circa 1997. I was surprised and happy to find that John K. has shown a few behind the scenes elements of this segment on his blog!

John K. actually confirms on his blog that this scene was indeed inspired by the captain of the Hammer House team and was aided in the key poses by Todd White, famous cartoonist and illustrator, who has a black belt in Machado Jiu Jitsu. “When I first turned in this scene to CN, they wanted me to cut it because they thought Yogi and Ranger Smith were having “relations”. I explained that, no, this was an MMA style of fighting popularized by first, Royce Gracie’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and then built upon by Mark “the Hammer” Coleman’s “Ground and Pound” combination of wrestling and strikes.”

Hit the jump for a few more original drawings from the production of the show with commentary from the creators!

“I’ve been a huge fan of UFC since almost the beginning and even pitched the idea to Spike TV to do a reality show based on it back in 2002. I wanted them to follow Tank Abbot around to bars and watch him start fights with people. We even wrote Ken Shamrock into a Ren and Stimpy episode playing Stimpy’s Dad. At the time, Spike had never heard of UFC but thank Jesus (and Dana White) it’s mainstream now. There was a time when it looked like it was going to disappear forever. I think it’s the best show on TV (the live Pay Per View events) and possibly the last purely human entertainment.” – John K.

If you haven’t seen the cartoon we are talking about, take a look at it at this link here! Thanks to John K. for posting this info and art on his awesome blog, which you should look at here if you are a fan of Ren & Stimpy, The Ripping Friends and his other work!

Some days are slow news days. Others are fast-paced news days where I am lazy. And some times, I just need to amuse myself. Today is one of those days.

In the late 90′s John Kricfalusi’s Spümcø company created and directed two Yogi Bear cartoons, “A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith” and “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. Kricfalusi’s art style might look familiar to some viewers, as he is also the creator of “Ren and Stimpy.” Back to the toon at hand, this is a section of the second title which featured a showdown between Yogi and Ranger Smith, who is about to kill Boo Boo for becoming feral.

Inevitably, the style of Spümcø proved to be too much for the networks, and this was one of the many toons that John K. has done that was heavily censored. Nonetheless, we can clearly see where he got his influences from in this violent fight scene, as Yogi channels his inner Mark Coleman and works some mighty ground & pound on the hapless Ranger Smith, as well as some classic headbutts from the SEG days of UFC. Am I reaching out there with this one and just finding meaning in things that have no meaning? Maybe, but considering the facial expressions of Yogi that resemble a young Coleman just about ready to gas out, the closed guard of Ranger Smith and his attempts to clinch off his back to escape the strikes, and the overall demeanor of the above average bear, if it’s not influenced by the UFC, it sure fooled me.

Any other cartoons you can think of that have had MMA influences in them (other than last season’s cage-fight themed episode of “The Simpsons”?

Via FightLinker

Look out, pro wrestling world, a new contender is preparing to make his debut in the place where fixed matches are more common than Pride FC (yeah, i said it!). Tim Sylvia, who we previously spoke with before his fight at War on the Mainland against Paul Buentello, is set to have two “fights”, with the first coming in two weeks – and that first bout is actually against Josh Barnett!

Last friday on his twitter account, Big Tim mentioned the deal briefly in passing, saying: “O ya japan in 2 weeks pro wrestling.” Just yesterday, Barnett announced that he had been scooped up by Strikeforce and would be fighting for the company at some point in the vague near future. Nightmare of Battle broke the news that Sylvia would battle Barnett at the IGF, AKA Inoki Genome Federation, at “Genome 13″ on September 25. Other matches on the card include a match between two legends with Tatsumi Fujinami vs. First Tiger Mask, Shinichi Suzukawa (former Sumo Wrestler) vs. Mark Coleman, and Tamon Honda & Kendo Kashin vs. Bob Sapp & Bobby Lashley. Interestingly enough, this is on the same night as DREAM’s next event! Even Japan can not escape counter-programming wars!

Check out the video above to get a taste of what we can expect from the IGF as Tim’s opponent, Josh Barnett, takes on Don “The Predator” Frye, except imagine Sylvia’s match being much slower and more painful to watch. Hit the jump for part two!

Jakks Pacific has revealed the third wave of UFC action figures, which includes Karo Parisyan, Jon Fitch, Thiago Silva, a classic Chuck Liddell and Mark Coleman, and Mauricio Rua in his Pride FC gear. More importantly, Jakks has finally given an accessory to a figure in this line, and an excellent one at that!

BJ Penn will come packaged with his UFC Championship Belt, which is the first time since Wave 0 that a figure had an accessory. The last time was Miguel Torres with his WEC Championship Belt, but that was some time long ago. Sadly, Penn is the only figure in this line to have an accessory, but something is better than nothing.

Hit the jump for pics of all the figures in this wave!

Via Wrestlingfigs.com

Fresh from his loss to Randy Couture at UFC 109, here is Mark “The Hammer” Coleman. Owner of the most awesome championship belt in MMA history, the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Championship belt, which was valued at more than the prize money for winning the entire tournament! Not sure if it is the end for Mark or not after his performance against Couture, but at least we got to finally see these two legendary wrestlers duke it out.

Wave 2 of the UFC action figures, made by Jakks Pacific, are on the way to you, and they include three new faces – Mike Thomas Brown, Nate Marquardt and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. The remaining five characters in this line are reissues of Lesnar, Evans, Gracie, Liddell, and Forrest Griffin. No changes appear to have been made to them in any way but if you missed them the first time, here is your second chance. If you want to see a better look at some of these figures, have a look at our video review of Wave 1 and see if you like them.

Wave 3 was also announced, which is set for release in early April, includes Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn, Jon Fitch, Mark Coleman, Shogun Rua, Karo Parisyan and Thiago Silva. That makes seven figures, so there is one mystery figure yet to be revealed. Chuck happens to be another repaint we can assume (since he never really changed his shorts) but the Fitch was rumored to have a removable afro according to an interview we did with Jakks Pacific rep Enrique Ruvalcaba earlier.

Fight Nerd correspondent, Conner Cordova, caught up with “The Monster” Kevin Randleman to talk about his history in the sport of MMA, bullies, Mark Coleman, his motivation to fight and many more things, and after all that gives Conner the ride of his life!