Tag: MMA memorabilia

Rock-Bottom Alert: Mark Coleman Is Selling His PRIDE 2000 Grand Prix Trophy and Novelty Check on eBay


(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…


(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!)

“Fight for ALF” Update: Donate Now, Win Signed Gear From GSP and Bas Rutten!


(Click the image to get a closer look at these treasures, and please donate to Laura Nicholson’s fight against Hodgkin’s lymphoma if you haven’t already!)

A month ago, we asked you guys to pledge some of your MMA memorabilia to our ongoing “Fight for ALF” fundraising efforts. And while that plea sort of fell on deaf ears — I guess you’re not the obsessed hoarders we thought you were? — two more members of the CP writing staff have stepped up to add some items to the pile. Read on for descriptions of the items, details on what you need to do to get them, and a new update from angrylittlefeet herself.

Nathan “The12ozCurls” Smith writes:

I was going through some boxes I packed a while back and I found this stuff. A framed signed Georges St. Pierre picture, a GSP action figure from UFC 87 and two Mint Topps UFC GSP cards.  One is a “fighter gear relic card” that has a fabric swatch of GSP’s man panties or jock strap or something. The other is a “fight mat relic card” that has a piece of the octagon mat from UFC 100. So long as nobody takes a black light to the photo, all the items are in great shape. Granted, I will play TAPS and cry watching these items go but I already have the life-sized cardboard cut-out of Georges that I shower with and anything I can do to help Laura — I am willing.

Chris Colemon donates this signed pair of Bas Rutten MMA gloves, size XL:

So here’s how this will work…


(Click the image to get a closer look at these treasures, and please donate to Laura Nicholson’s fight against Hodgkin’s lymphoma if you haven’t already!)

A month ago, we asked you guys to pledge some of your MMA memorabilia to our ongoing “Fight for ALF” fundraising efforts. And while that plea sort of fell on deaf ears — I guess you’re not the obsessed hoarders we thought you were? — two more members of the CP writing staff have stepped up to add some items to the pile. Read on for descriptions of the items, details on what you need to do to get them, and a new update from angrylittlefeet herself.

Nathan “The12ozCurls” Smith writes:

I was going through some boxes I packed a while back and I found this stuff. A framed signed Georges St. Pierre picture, a GSP action figure from UFC 87 and two Mint Topps UFC GSP cards.  One is a “fighter gear relic card” that has a fabric swatch of GSP’s man panties or jock strap or something. The other is a “fight mat relic card” that has a piece of the octagon mat from UFC 100. So long as nobody takes a black light to the photo, all the items are in great shape. Granted, I will play TAPS and cry watching these items go but I already have the life-sized cardboard cut-out of Georges that I shower with and anything I can do to help Laura — I am willing.

Chris Colemon donates this signed pair of Bas Rutten MMA gloves, size XL:

So here’s how this will work…

– Our fundraising drive officially ends on July 28th. At the end of that time, the person who has submitted the biggest donation will win the signed, framed photo of GSP.
– The second-place donation will win the Bas Rutten gloves.
– The third-place donation will win either the GSP relic cards, or that UFC 127 program from Jason Moles that was signed by everyone from Kenny Florian to Brittney Palmer — your choice.
– The fourth-place donation will get whatever we have left, basically.

At the moment, the highest donation so far has been $500 (!), followed by a $150 bid, so you’ve got your work cut out for you. But as we always say, every little bit helps, so please visit our Fight for ALF Indiegogo page and kick in what you can. Any questions, let us know in the comments. (And if you have any last-minute memorabilia donations to share, please drop me a line at [email protected].) And now onto Laura’s weekly update…

**********

Hola Taters! It’s Alf again. Just stopping by to let you all know how my latest procedures went.

Monday I had my chemo port installed. They only lightly sedate you for this but I actually fell asleep while they were cutting me open. Yeah. It’s pretty bad when something like this gets to be just another day. It’s much nicer than the PICC line. Nothing actually hanging outside my body to be dealt with. It just looks like an alien implant. Or a third nipple. Whatever.

Tuesday was chemo #2. They went ahead & stabbed right into that brand new port for that. No need to let it heal a little or anything. Reaction to #2 was way less than to the first one thank goodness. We have a nurse in the chemo ward that I swear looks right like Big John McCarthy. Freaks me the hell out. I keep expecting him to shout “Let’s get it on” when he hooks somebody up to their chemo.

Wednesday back to the hospital for another shot. This one is supposed to help my body build my white blood cells back up after chemo. I feel really good today but they tell me that’s from the shot — I will most likely wake up tomorrow with joint pain so bad it feels like I’ve been hit by a truck. Awesome. Don’t sugar coat it. At least my cable should be hooked back up tomorrow I hope. I’ve got episodes of The Wire to catch up on if I can’t freakin move.

So that’s about it. Lotsa procedures, lotsa shots, and a metric fuck-ton of trips back & forth to the hospital.

Oh and I’m back up to 96lbs! That ice cream rx is working!

Have a good rest of the week my fellow Taters!

Alf

“Fight for ALF” Update: Please Donate Your MMA Memorabilia to the Cause!


(Signed Stephan Bonnar page from the official UFC 127 program, courtesy of Jason Moles. You want it? Then go donate. More photos after the jump.)

In less than two weeks, our “Fight for ALF” campaign to raise money for AngryLittleFeet‘s medical expenses has raised $2,090, or about 42% of our $5,000 goal. That’s friggin’ incredible, and we want to thank everybody who has donated to our efforts.

So far, our only incentives for donation — besides the warm feeling you get from helping a human being who deserves it — have been CagePotato t-shirts for a $50 pledge, and a vague promise of a cam-show from BG or Karma to whoever donates a thousand bucks. (Still looking for our first rich pervert.)  But me and Jason Moles came up with a much better idea the other day. Basically, it goes like this…

– If you have any cool MMA memorabilia that you’re willing to part with (signed posters, rare videos, fight-worn gear, etc.), email [email protected] with a description of the item and a photo if possible.
– After a week or so, we’ll pick out the ten best submissions, and rank them in order based on quality. Special thanks to Moles for submitting the first item, a UFC 127 program “autographed by Punkass, KenFlo, Arianny [I think], Palmer and a few of the fighters from that card.”
– At the end of our 60-day fundraising drive, these ten pieces of MMA memorabilia will be awarded as prizes to the top donors, in order of the size of their donations.

So: If you have some killer MMA artifacts to donate, let me know. And if you haven’t kicked in a few bucks to CagePotato’s Fight for ALF yet, please do so right here. Keep in mind that the leading donation is currently $500, which came from a giant-hearted member of the MMA industry who wishes to remain anonymous. (But we know who this person is, and dude, we can’t tell you how much that meant to us.)

PREVIOUSLY: Donate to “CagePotato’s Fight for ALF” and Help Support Laura “angrylittlefeet” Nicholson’s Fight Against Cancer


(Signed Stephan Bonnar page from the official UFC 127 program, courtesy of Jason Moles. You want it? Then go donate. More photos after the jump.)

In less than two weeks, our “Fight for ALF” campaign to raise money for AngryLittleFeet‘s medical expenses has raised $2,090, or about 42% of our $5,000 goal. That’s friggin’ incredible, and we want to thank everybody who has donated to our efforts.

So far, our only incentives for donation — besides the warm feeling you get from helping a human being who deserves it — have been CagePotato t-shirts for a $50 pledge, and a vague promise of a cam-show from BG or Karma to whoever donates a thousand bucks. (Still looking for our first rich pervert.)  But me and Jason Moles came up with a much better idea the other day. Basically, it goes like this…

– If you have any cool MMA memorabilia that you’re willing to part with (signed posters, rare videos, fight-worn gear, etc.), email [email protected] with a description of the item and a photo if possible.
– After a week or so, we’ll pick out the ten best submissions, and rank them in order based on quality. Special thanks to Moles for submitting the first item, a UFC 127 program ”autographed by Punkass, KenFlo, Arianny [I think], Palmer and a few of the fighters from that card.”
– At the end of our 60-day fundraising drive, these ten pieces of MMA memorabilia will be awarded as prizes to the top donors, in order of the size of their donations.

So: If you have some killer MMA artifacts to donate, let me know. And if you haven’t kicked in a few bucks to CagePotato’s Fight for ALF yet, please do so right here. Keep in mind that the leading donation is currently $500, which came from a giant-hearted member of the MMA industry who wishes to remain anonymous. (But we know who this person is, and dude, we can’t tell you how much that meant to us.)

PREVIOUSLY: Donate to “CagePotato’s Fight for ALF” and Help Support Laura “angrylittlefeet” Nicholson’s Fight Against Cancer


(An ad for Shogun vs. Evans — a title fight that never happened — from the UFC 127 program. One of a kind, best quality, must-own.)


(Front cover of the UFC 127 program.)