Artwork by Stacy Forsyth for MyMMANews
Mark Coleman Chronicles (Part Three)
In the latest Mark Coleman Chronicles, I look at the Team Hammer House lineage. Luminaries that have come through that camp over the years reads like a who’s who of the mixed-martial-arts world. There are also several up and comers who were part of the team’s ranks over the years. Camps, teams, core gyms, etc. These are all commonplace things nowadays but Team Hammer House was very much one of the OG camps within mixed-martial arts with Mark Coleman firmly affixed int hat leadership role.
Mark Coleman On Team Hammer House
“We had a lot of guys. Myself was first then Royce Alger. Mark Kerr came in there, Wes Sims came in there, Branden Lee Hinkle. Then I brought (Phil) Baroni on later….Hammer House is legit. Hammer House is for life, brother”
The Nick Nutter Saga
“Nick ‘Bam Bam’ Nutter who was my college teammate and my college training partner in wrestling. I talked him into giving fighting a try. He ended up going over to Israel. Had never been in a street fight in his life. He had never been in any kind of fights in his life. We had been training but the fight got canceled. The day before the fight, I got a call from the promoter….He said ‘well he’s got to get on the plane today. He’s got to come by himself.'”
Continued, “So I thought my good friend Nick Nutter was going to say no but I called him up and he was game to go. I took him to the airport and he wondered why I didn’t park the car. I forgot to tell him he’s gong by himself. So he got out and he flew over to Israel. I’ll be damned, he won his first two fights. Then he fought the great Igor Vovchanchyn in the finals. Igor had been through two wars in his first two matches and Nick was relatively fresh. He continued Hammer House style. We took the guy down then just pounded on Igor for 18 minutes.”
In summation, “Right around the 18-minute mark Igor he tapped and he kind of just quit. The ref stepped in and grabbed Nutter, gave Igor a chance to regroup himself, then the fight continued. By his time, my good friend’s hands were beat to a pulp, no gloves. As we know, Igor can go forever. He turned the tides and he came back at about the 24-minute mark. He headbutted old Nutter in the nose a couple of times. Blasted his nose, broke the hell out of his nose. Nutter had to tap.”
