ESPN Mixed Martial Arts Blog

Posted by Jake Rossen/Sherdog.com

Sherdog.com

Is Randy Couture thinking about a title shot? A Mark Coleman fight will be a blast either way.

In relation to other sports, frequency of competition is MMA's biggest deficit. If you're a baseball fan, you can see the Yankees player at least 162 times in a year. If you happen to enjoy the WWE, you'll typically see major stars wrestle at least a couple times a month. But in prizefighting, unless you're working the ladder as a near amateur, you're going to be trotted out for only two or three fights a year.

It's not necessarily any healthier that way: Athletes spend vacation months gorging, partying, then trying to snap their bodies back into shape -- an up-and-down cycle of bad and worse abuse that can invite assorted problems. Funny thing is, it's not necessarily the athlete's preference to idle so long: Josh Koscheck recently requested to fight 12 times in 2010.

He won't get that wish, but there's something to be said for Randy Couture sewing up his remaining time in the sport by accepting a pile of fights after a long layoff. He fought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in August and Brandon Vera in November, and a little less than three months later, he'll face Mark Coleman at UFC 109 on Feb. 6 in Las Vegas.

Couture prefers Greco-Roman tie-ups in the clinch, set up by his boxing; Coleman dives for legs. Both have rated among the most successful modified wrestlers in the sport. It's a match that doesn't need to make any allowances for age, size or ring wear. Whether it has title implications probably depends on how good the winner looks, but that's besides the point. Not every fight needs to be about a trophy. Watching two Hall of Fame competitors test themselves on equal footing is a celebration of two impressive careers. That's enough.