UFC 109: The Five Bullet Point Preview

Despite some fans not exactly glowing over the main event featuring legends Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman, Saturday night's UFC 109 card will sport five intriguing bouts involving some veterans on the way out and some guys looking to get to the next level of competition in the UFC.

It's an event loaded with familiar names: Couture, Coleman, Marquardt, Swick, Thiago, Serra and Trigg. It's the second big event in a loaded MMA month, and that means it's time for the Five Bullet Point Preview of UFC 109 . Let's do it! 

Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman

• The one thing I don't like about the promotion of this event is Dana White's insistence that Couture is still a top light heavyweight and that if Coleman beats Couture, "he's back". I love Couture's story, but White is trying too hard. He's a top-five draw but a top-five 205'er? Doesn't feel right to me.
  
• After an ungodly run of fights that involved championships, this is Couture's third straight bout that won't involve a belt; the first time he's experienced this since 1999-2000. That's amazing.
  
• After a two-year plus break from MMA, Coleman returned to the UFC in 2009 and has a 1-1 record in his comeback, dropping a TKO loss to Mauricio Rua at UFC 93 and a unanimous win over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100.
  
• This isn't exactly a newsflash, but both guys have strong wrestling backgrounds, so expect a lot of cage grappling and ground-and-pound. I can easily see a unanimous decision victory here as both fighters have shown a propensity to go the distance lately.
  
• Some final facts to mull: Couture is 46, while Coleman is 45...this is Couture's third fight in the last six-plus months...this is the first time two active UFC Hall of Famers have fought each other.

Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen

• Sonnen definitely channeled some Frank Mir and made this fight important in the media with his continued trash talking toward Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. I guess he forgot he's fighting Marquardt. The winner will get a shot at the winner of Silva and Vitor Belfort for the gold.
  
• The 30-year-old Marquardt rolls into Saturday on a three-fight win streak, all ending via T/KO (Demian Maia, Wilson Gouveia, Martin Kampmann). The KO of Maia lasted all of 21 seconds at UFC 102 in August.
  
• Sonnen is a long-time WEC veteran who got brought over after their 185-pound division was eliminated. After being tapped by Maia, Sonnen has won his last two with decisions over Dan Miller and Yushin Okami.
  
• Despite having 15 wins by submission, Marquardt hasn't made someone tap in two years and has evolved into more of a strike-first, tap-later type of fighter. Four of Sonnen's last five fights have ended in a decision.
  
• Marquardt and Sonnen have fought a combined 74 times. 

Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg

• This is Trigg's final shot and with a bad loss, the expectation is that he'll be done in the UFC and will retire. Serra is also nearing the end of his career and while a great ambassador for the sport, you gotta think he's down to his last few tilts in the Octagon.
  
• Trigg returned to the UFC in September 2009 after a four-year absence from the UFC, getting crushed by Josh Koscheck via via 1st round TKO. This will be his second fight since he's returned.
  
• Even with a decade as a pro, the 35-year-old Serra has fought just 15 times and carries a 9-6 record into Saturday. Starting in 2005, Serra has been a special attraction-type fighter, competing just once a year.
  
• Before the bad loss to Koscheck, the 37-year-old Trigg had won his last four fights, three of them by decision. Serra also is mainly a decision fighter, having gone the distance eight times in his career.
  
• Similar to Couture/Coleman, both guys know how to work on the ground: Trigg with an extensive wrestling background, and Serra with outstanding BJJ skills. 

Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago

• After coming justthisclose to earning a Welterweight title shot, Swick saw it all wash away in a decision loss to Dan Hardy at November's UFC 105.
  
• Despite the Countdown show showing Thiago is a bad-ass outside the cage, his last two fights have been snoozefests with a decision loss to "Mr. Excitement" Jon Fitch and decision win over mega PPV-draw Jacob Volkmann.
  
• You'll remember Thiago if you've seen the highlight of him KO'ing Josh Koscheck in the first round of UFC 95, his Octagon debut. Can we have that guy back, please?
  
• Koscheck was supposed to get his revenge against Thiago here, but had to pull out with an injury. Teammate Swick stepped in and Thiago now has his third fight against an AKA member. This is getting to feel like Daniel Russo against Cobra Kai or something.
  
• Since moving to welterweight, Swick was on a four-fight win streak before the Hardy loss and had finally seemed right at 170 pounds. How he appears tonight in the cage will be important, as there have been times when that weight cut looks like it's decimated him.

Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller

• It's the Chael Sonnen Appreciation Society fight, as both men have done battle with Marquardt's opponent before.
  
• After racking up an 11-0 record and a reputation as a nasty submission machine, Maia got his bell run by (coincidentally) Marquardt in just 21 seconds at August's UFC 102, exposing a flaw many people already thought was there.
  
• Miller (11-2-0-1) has been a 185-pound prospect for quite some time and joined the UFC in September 2008. He ran up a 3-0 record in the cage before losing a decision to Sonnen in May, a fairly long layoff.
  
• Both men are similar in styles and finish guys via submissions or decisions. I can easily see a 15-minute battle with plenty of sub attempts, counters, and people booing because it will all be on the ground. I doubt this one will open the show because of that threat.
  
• Both men are black belts in BJJ.

Josh Nason has published MMA blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to FIGHT! Magazine and appears regularly on The Fight Show and Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.