Dana White has announced the coaches for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter and it seemed as if no one saw it coming. Virtually every name other than Junior Dos Santos was mentioned on rumor sites and message boards and Brock Lesnar was assumed out of the running when Frank Mir inked his fight with Roy Nelson. Say what you will about Dana White (and many do) but the man gets MMA deals done when it counts. The announcement seems to generally please the MMA world but some obvious issues have arisen. Here I break down the good the bad and the ugly of the forthcoming season and discuss the bottom line of the whole decision. Let me be clear from the get go, by ugly I mean sort of unfortunate or potentially so. They are not bad aspects but have the potential to be annoyances more than anything else.
The Good
Money: This Season is going to make massive amounts of money for the UFC and that was the driving force in wanting Brock on board as a coach. Zuffa has done an amazing job getting the most bang for the buck with Brock and this opportunity seemed to have fallen right into their laps. Lesnar = Cash
Hype: As valuable as Brock Lesnar is as a golden good to the UFC on his name alone, there is good reason for it. Simply being a WWE star doesn’t bring the kind of money he does. Brock Lesnar knows how to hype a fight. He spent years making the staged feel real and now he has to make the real feel realer. There will be no shortage of excitement for Dos Santos vs Lesnar when fight time arives.
Attention for Dos Santos: Junior Dos Santos is an amazing fighter but very few people really know it. Loyal MMA fans have known about him for some time but the casual fan may or may not of seen a highlight real KO and are likely not able to put a name to the face. This season of TUF is going to get him much needed exposure to fans and the opportunity to put an exclamation point at the end of his claim to a title shot.
The Bad
Coach Dos Santos: I am not saying that Junior Dos Santos is going to be a bad coach. In fact I think fighters on his team might be at a distinct advantage, but many of them will likely have to overcome some language hurdles. Dos Santos’ English is not great and translations can only get you so far. Fans can also prepare themselves for excessive subtitles, an issue that some people still mysteriously cannot overcome.
Inexperience: I will get into coaching staffs later on but the head coaches for this season are relatively inexperienced in important but different ways. Brock has only been in the sport just over three years, a short period by any measure. Even though he is a champion there is something that experience gives a coach that no amount of short term success can. Dos Santos lacks experience in the spotlight, most of his fights occurring on under-cards with little to no hype around them. Both will be tested to some degree with all eyes on them as the season progresses.
The Ugly
The Potential Outcome: Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez have been on a collision course for years now, wiping out everyone in their path and an entire division in the process. Junior Dos Santos is the most deserving contender in the UFC today and his fight against Velasquez seems as close on paper as any in recent memory. However, Brock Lesnar is a dangerous man. While I expect Dos Santos to win, I don’t think anyone would be surprised if Lesnar was able to wrestle a victory. Lesnar is not a BAD choice because he is the only reasonable choice in the division to stand between JDS and his title shot; however, I am not sure there are many pining for Lesnar/Velasquez II over the current plan.
Coaching: As I said earlier, I don’t really think either coach is going to be bad but the camps will be polar opposites and potentially very predictable. Lets face it, Brocks camp doesn’t have a single striker that is going to hold a candle to JDS, Anderson Silva, The Nog brothers and their boxing coaches. On the flip side JDS’s camp won’t have anyone that can refine and push a fighters wrestling skills like Brock and his lot of giants. They shouldn’t even draft fighters. They should just make everyone check off what area they want to improve in the most before they see the coaches and split them up accordingly. I think fighter on this season of The Ultimate Fighter are going to benefit greatly from their coaches but the strength dynamic of the coaches could lead to predictable coaching strategies leading up to each fight
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is simple: this is the best decision the UFC could have made for themselves, the fans, and the fighters given the situation. Lets break it down pragmatically. First, the UFC is going to make their money on Brock Lesnar. What better way than put him on a weekly program, let him bring attention to a crop of young fighters and your number one contender for the HW title, make sure he gets another main event slot as well as give him a shot at stealing that number on contender’s spot and secure himself yet another main event title fight? It wouldn’t feel right giving someone who doesn’t really deserve to be one fight away from a title shot the opportunity to be just that. In all reality, Brock Lesnar is the only fighter that really deserves to be one fight away. This benefits Brock, the UFC, and revitalizes a show that has been vitally important to the company’s success. As far as Dos Santos goes, he probably needed a fight before the end of the year. Junior Dos Santos gets to quiet his critics, make his own fame, and keep himself in prime fighting shape while Velasquez rehabs. The timing is perfect. By the time the coaches finish their fight they can take a few weeks and begin training for Velasquez who will likely be ready to start his camp around the same time.
There are a few things we know for sure about this season. It will be entertaining, people will watch, and Junior Dos Santos and Brock Lesnar are going to fight when its said and done. The plan has no more faults than any other season but thus is the power of Heavyweights, and Lesnar in particular, to make everyone talk more than they probably should.
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