Two fighters return to the UFC octagon after a long time away at UFC 93 when Mark Coleman and Mauricio Rua face off in a light heavyweight matchup.

Coleman and Rua fought once before in PrideFC back in 2006 where Coleman scored one of the most surprising upset victories of the year. During a takedown attempt early in the first round, “Shogun” Rua fell awkwardly on his arm and severely dislocated his elbow which ended the fight due to injury giving “The Hammer” the victory.

Rua returned from that injury seven months later and went on to win his four next fights in Pride before the promotion was sold to Zuffa, LLC. Rua made his UFC debut at UFC 76 against current UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin. Griffin scored what was considered another upset victory against Rua when he submitted the Brazilian late in the third round. “Shogun” has not fought since as he has had surgery and been rehabbing from several injuries during that time.

Mark Coleman was the first person to ever win the UFC heavyweight champion and was already inducted into the UFC Hall-of-Fame. Coleman has only fought once since that victory over Rua when he lost via submission to Fedor Emelianenko in the second round at Pride 32.

Coleman was originally scheduled to return to the UFC in a fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 87 but had to withdraw from the fight due to injury. It appears Coleman will be cutting down to light heavyweight again to take on Rua.

UFC 93 is currently expected to take place in January, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. The fight card will be headlined by a light heavyweight matchup between Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin.