Mark “The Hammer” Coleman’s Team Hammer House has fallen on hard times as of late.  However, Coleman hopes to turn the trend around as he meets another MMA great and fellow UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture this weekend at UFC 109 Relentless.

Team Hammer House is a MMA team operating out of Columbus, Ohio, focused on amateur wrestling, and made up of mostly former NCAA wrestlers.  The team has cross training deals with notable fighters and camps such as Matt Serra, Pat Miletich, and Xtreme Couture MMA.

The main strengths of Team Hammer House are its wrestling and ground-and-pound.  Coleman is credited with being one of the first American MMA fighters to successfully use the strategy of ground-and-pound, which has earned him the nickname of the “Godfather of Ground-and-Pound.”

Coleman, the founder of Team Hammer House, holds numerous accomplishments in the world of professional MMA.  He is a UFC Hall of Famer, the first ever UFC heavyweight champion, and the winner of the UFC 10 tournament, UFC 11 tournament, and 2000 Pride openweight GP tournament.  Coleman, like many of his teammates at Hammer House, is a former NCAA collegiate wrestler.

Team Hammer House holds a roster with several prominent fighters, including four UFC veterans: two of whom are former UFC champions. The team’s notable fighters include: Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Wes Sims and Branden Lee Hinkle.  Phil Baroni, a UFC, Pride and Strikeforce veteran, is a former member of Team Hammer House.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman is a senior member of  Team Hammer House. Randleman, a former collegiate wrestler and two time Division I NCAA champion, was defeated by Mike Whitehead via unanimous decision in June of 2009 during his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields.  The fight marked his first fight in over a year due to a shoulder injury, as well as his first fight in America in nearly seven years.  In his most recent fight Randleman was defeated by Stanislav Nedkov via split decision at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku 11.

Wes Sims, three-fight UFC veteran  and The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights cast member, recently fought Bobby Lashley on the main card of Strikeforce: Miami. Sims was stopped in the first round via technical knock out (2:06).

Branden Lee Hinkle, three-fight UFC veteran and NCAA Division II national wrestling champion, was stopped by Chris Tuchscherer in round 4 (4:43) of his most recent fight at SNMMA: Beatdown at Four Bears. Hinkle has lost four of his last five fights after going undefeated in his previous nine matches.

Coleman scored a unanimous decision victory over Stephan Bonner in his last fight at UFC 100 after falling to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via technical knock out in the third round (4:36) at UFC93.  He is currently training with Team Hammer House in preparation for his match with Randy Couture this Saturday Feb. 6 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.

Live pay-per-view coverage of UFC 109 will begin at 10 p.m. EST.

Some called him The Croatian Sensation. Most knew him as a UFC regular. Still others know him as…a trainer?? AND he’s trained fighting greats such as former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia and former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver?! Who is this guy?

Pat Miletich was born in Davenport, Iowa. He grew up wrestling (greatness scouted him early: he shared the high school wrestling mat with future MMA phenom Mark Kerr) and playing football. After a few years, Miletich began MMA training at age 26. He brought his knowledge of wrestling with him, but took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Miletich won his first 15 fights as an MMA fighter, then in 1998 lit his UFC torch and, with a handful of TKOs and submissions, introduced the world to “The Croatian Sensation.”

Miletich ended his career in the UFC with a loss, and after two comebacks (a 2006 loss and a 2008 win, bringing his record to 29-7-2), he decided to indefinitley hang up his gloves. Miletich was far from being on the outskirs of MMA Land, however; he had a little idea back in 1997 that had grown into one of the most successful training programs in the world by the time he was done fighting.

Miletich Fighting Systems had grown from an idea to a wildly popular training organization that Miletich founded around the time he began his UFC career. The training is specialized from person to person, and there are ten locations scattered all over North America. So, it seems our dear friend Pat is still very much involved in the world of mixed-martial arts and intends to be for a while. He is known anywhere there is an MMA fight as either a brilliant fighter or a brilliant coach. Training an almost endless list of fighters with MFS who have gone on to become champions is certainly something to be proud of.

Miletich went from being a great fighter to a great cornerman who created a world-renowned training org.  And about his future in the UFC? Will there will be another comeback? Well, you’ll just have to watch the video below to see.