Former Ohio State All-American wrestler Mark Coleman was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on Saturday night before a near-capacity crowd at an Ultimate Fighting Championships mixed martial arts event in Nationwide Arena.

Shortly after hall of fame announcement, Coleman said he would return to the UFC in August to fight former amateur and professional wrestler Brock Lesnar during a UFC card in Minnesota.

Coleman, who won an NCAA championship at Ohio State in 1988 and was a member of the United States Olympic team in 1992, was one of the sports’ first stars and was crowned the first UFC heavyweight champion in 1997. He eventually moved on to Japan and became a star fighting in the PRIDE organization.

 “I’d like to think I’ve had some influence on some guys,” Coleman said. “I don’t really sit back and think about it too much, but just the response I’ve received from all the younger fighters makes me feel good and I’m just really glad I could be a part of taking the whole sport to the level where it’s at right now.”

Coleman drew a loud ovation when he announced during the UFC 82: Pride of a Champion event that he would return in August.

“Being inducted in the Hall of Fame is nice, but what I really want is to return to the cage and fight,” Coleman said.

In the main event Saturday night, middleweight champion Anderson Silva defended his belt when he beat PRIDE middleweight champion Dan Henderson by submission in the third round.

In the featured undercard, Heath Herring won a split decision over Cheick Kongo.

In other matches, Jon Fitch won a majority decision over Chris Wilson; Yushin Okami knocked out Evan Tanner in the second round; and Chris Leben KO’d Alessio Sakara in the first round.

In the undercard matches, former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski beat Jake O'Brien; Luigi Fioravanti beat Luke Cummo; Josh Koscheck defeated Cincinnati resident Dustin Hazelett; Diego Sanchez beat David Bielkheden; and Ohio fighter Jorge Gurgel beat John Halverson.

Source: www.columbusdispatch.com