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02/25/10

The Janitor Revealed With Mark Coleman & Vladimir Matyushenko

By Dave Carpinello

The careers of Vladimir Matyushenko and Mark “The Hammer” Coleman have taken many of the same paths over the last two decades including collegiate wrestling champions, mixed martial arts champions and recently both fighters made their return to the UFC. So it should not be surprising that one of the fighters was implemental in coining the nickname for the other over 20 years ago in the isolated frozen tundra known as Siberia in what must have looked like a scene from Rocky IV.

In a sport where charisma, personality and fan appeal can sometimes determine your positioning in the sport, the fighter’s nickname and its history can also be of influence. Over the years fans have heard just about every nickname out there from the Monster, Captain America, the Iceman, Rampage, the Axe Murderer, Cro-Cop, the Spider, the New York Bad Ass, the Smashing Machine and others that were meant to intimidate opponents while other fighters have taken a different approach with such monikers as Fancypants, Suave, Big Frog, Twinkle Toes, Sugar and the King of Rock & Rumble. The point is that most fans like fighter’s that have nicknames and especially the fighter’s that live up to those nicknames with their performances in the cage or ring.

PunchDrunkGamer was recently able to catch up with the former UFC Heavyweight Champion Mark Coleman and current UFC Heavyweight contender Vladimir Matyushenko to hear about that day in Siberia in 1989 that gave birth to “The Janitor”.

Mark Coleman:

In 1989, back when I was just a little baby we took a team of US wrestlers to Russia. Our flight actually got canceled when we got to New York City where the team met up for the overseas flight. At first I wasn't too upset about not going because I had won the College Nationals in 1988 and I had been enjoying that victory for probably a little longer than I should have and I hadn't really gotten back into training shape yet. Since it wasn't a trip that I could turn down I was actually pretty relieved when we got to the airport and USA Wrestling told us that we weren't going to Siberia. The reason that the trip was canceled was because that was pretty much getting close to the end of the Cold War and they thought it would be too dangerous to have US athletes in that region. A couple of the older guys on the team, Dave Schultz and Chris Campbell somehow convinced the airline to let us on the plane and so the wrestlers had to make a decision to go against USA wrestling and get on the plane or go back home.

So right before the plane was getting ready to take off I had to make a decision of whether or not to go and I knew that I didn't want to be talked badly about by those who went so I got on the plane. The last thing I wanted was to be called was a chicken shit so I was off to Siberia. There were 12 of us including coaches that made the trip and nine of those wrestlers made the Olympic Team that year. We got off the plane in Siberia at something like four o'clock in the morning and there was over 500 people waiting at the airport on the tarmac to welcome us. That was definitely something new for me and the other wrestlers to experience because you don't get that kind of attention in collegiate wrestling, especially back in the 1980s. We got to get some brief rest and then we had to wrestle that day and let me tell you that jet-lag is real; it is not a cop-out, is not an excuse and it is definitely not make-believe.

I was the only wrestler on our team that won their first round match-up and like I said earlier we are talking about Olympic talented athletes. Don't get me wrong though, I think the only reason that I was able to win my match in the condition I was in was because I faced one of the worst Russians on their team and I only won by one point. Royce Alger who won silver in the World Games and had defeated Kevin Jackson several times had to wrestle this skinny little Russian guy with a beat up singlet that was torn and some old shoes that probably had duct tape on them. He went onto the mat and looked like he was going to whip the Russian quick and that Russian kid kicked his ass in the first round. When Matyushenko came off the mat I looked at Royce and told him that he just got his ass kicked by the janitor. Royce didn’t find it to funny at the time but after Matyushenko came to the states and heard that was what we were calling him, he took up the nickname and the two eventually became friends.

Vladimir Matyushenko:

Those guys definitely came up with my nickname many years before I was even fighting in mixed martial arts. When they came to wrestle us back in 1989 they thought that I was the janitor working at the gym until the wrestling matches started. I can remember Mark Coleman telling his teammates that “They had just lost to the janitor that works here who doesn't even know how to wrestle” [laughs]. When I first took on the nickname I didn't know if it would stick but it seems that it over the years it has caught on and now my fans expect me to clean up when I fight. I know that some fighters throughout the years have changed their nicknames as they get older but I plan on staying “The Janitor”.

After recently being cut by the UFC, Mark Coleman has yet to announce publicly if he will continue his fight career but “The Hammer” has rumored to be talking with Strikeforce officials about a possible contract. As far as Vladimir Matyushenko is concerned, “The Janitor” returns to the Octagon to face Eliot Marshall on March 21st, 2010 at UFC Fight Night on Versus: Vera vs. Jones in Denver, Colorado.