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'Daddy' Coleman wants to right his wrongs of the last decade | read this item

‘Daddy’ Coleman wants to right his wrongs of the last decade

February 6, 2010 � UFC Betting Staff � Jump to comments

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Mark Coleman is the first one to tell people he underachieved at times during his career. But he’s quick to say he has no regrets. It was simply life getting in the way. Coleman, now 45, had to put his role as single father ahead of training in a lot of cases. There was no escaping to a training camp in far away places. His daughters, McKenzie and Morgan, now 12 and 10, needed him around.

“I’m a father first. I have two daughters, and I had to raise them. I couldn’t stand to leave them because I didn’t trust anybody with my kids. So I didn’t leave,” Coleman said. “I missed out on a lot of opportunities, a lot of training potential, but at the same time, I’d never give back what I got to see. I got to see them grow up, and there’s nothing more important than seeing your kids grow up because it happens so fast.”

Coleman felt his girls were old enough to understand that their father needed to make one more final serious run at MMA so he headed to Las Vegas in early December. Coleman lived at the Palace Station and trained at the TapouT Training Center.

“I kept telling them ‘Daddy’s got to leave soon’ and you could see the disappointment in their eyes,” Coleman said. “I made it clear, I gotta go. This is important for our future. They came around and said ‘go do what it takes, you can win this fight.’ ”

Coleman has been in constant contact with them but it’s not easy.

“They’ve been sending me Facebook messages. You know, it’s emotional. It’s hard to read them. They’re really a lot smarter than I thought they were. They’re really getting to me.”

Coleman won’t be bringing the girls to town for the fight, saying you only bring people who are going to war with you. He brought them to a fight once in his career back at PRIDE 33 and received a lot of criticism for bringing the 8- and 9-year-olds. He said they weren’t scarred and they still speak highly of the week. Coleman joked they even believe that Fedor Emelianenko cheated to win the fight.

It’s been a relief for Coleman to be away from all the distractions back home in Columbus, Ohio.

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