(The world’s most badass coat-rack can be yours! Photo via eBay/gemcity1. More pics after the jump.)
Mark Coleman‘s run through the PRIDE 2000 Open Weight Grand Prix was arguably the most dramatic moment in the history of mixed martial arts. It was the culmination of an improbable career comeback, in which the former UFC heavyweight champion became the last man standing in a bracket that also included Kazushi Sakuraba, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Kerr, Royce Gracie, and Gary Goodridge.
For his efforts, PRIDE awarded Coleman a massive trophy and an equally-massive novelty check for 20 million yen (about $200,000). And now he’s selling them on eBay, because the world is an unfair and depressing place. As the item description explains:
THIS IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF MMA MEMORABILIA! PRIDE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP 2000 GRAND PRIX FINALS TROPHY AND CHECK. THE 2000 GP WAS THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS TOURNAMENT IN MMA HISTORY AND WILL FOREVER STAY THAT WAY. THIS TOURNAMENT HAD ALL THE TOP FIGHTERS IN THE WORLD INVOLVED. MARK COLEMAN IS A LIVING LEGEND AND A MEMBER OF THE UFC HALL OF FAME AND IS THE FIRST UFC HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMPION AND THE LAST UFC TOURNAMENT CHAMPION. COLEMAN WON UFC 10, 11 and 12 AND ALSO BECAME THE #1 FIGHTER IN THE WORLD BY WINNING THE GRAND PRIX 2000.
THIS IS FOR THE SERIOUS COLLECTOR. THE TROPHY IS WELL OVER 5FT TALL AND THE CHECK IS WELL OVER 6 FT LONG. THIS IS A MUSUEM WORTHY CENTERPIECE AND IS SURELY THE TOP COLLECTABLE IN ANY PRIVATE COLLECTION IN THE WORLD!!!! IT DOES NOT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!! THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME CHANCE TO OWN A FUTURE MMA MUSUEM CENTERPIECE…
The starting bid? $24,500. Now, that may be a lot of money to us working men. (Like my daddy before me, I get up before the roosters each morning and go about the hard, endless labor of bloggin’. It ain’t much, but it’s who we are. It’s our connection to this great land. And son I’m just sorry they’re just memories for you now.) Where was I…oh yeah, $24.5k is a nice chunk of change, but we’re talking about two of the most priceless artifacts in MMA history — the final reward for years of agony and struggle. And Coleman’s trading that for what? To pay off a truck and some back taxes, maybe?
The auction ends on Sunday, and there have been no bids placed thus far. So, there are two ways we can go about this…
1) One of us buys it. Although most of CagePotato’s readership consists of broke trolls who live in basement apartments, there have to be a few rich eccentric-types who actually do have twenty-five large lying around. Doctors, lawyers, high-finance types…guys, we need you to put in a bid and make sure the spoils of the 2000 PRIDE Grand Prix are kept safe, and don’t wind up forgotten in some warehouse forevermore.
2) We raise $24,500 for Coleman so that he doesn’t have to sell it. We’ve held a successful fundraiser before and we can do it again. Part of me thinks that this might be Coleman’s plan all along — to generate sympathy (and donations) through the public auction of his most valuable possession. But hell, I’ll play ball as long as the Potato Nation wants to jump in on this too. Don’t do it, Mark. When you die, we want you to be wrapped in that check.
Please let us know how you’d like to proceed.
(Hey, it’s Wes Sims!)