Months of speculation surrounding the coaching announcement for the 13th season of Spike TV’s ‘The Ultimate Fighter‘ ended this afternoon with a behemoth announcement as UFC President Dana White confirmed former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and current division number-one contender Junior Dos Santos as next to coach on the popular MMA reality show.
This announcement dispelled rumors which includes names like Wanderlei Silva, Urijah Faber, Dominic Cruz, Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, and the cleanest former real-estate agent alive, Chael Sonnen, as potential candidates to coach on the next edition of the long-running UFC breeding ground.
The addition of former WWE star and UFC champion Brock Lesnar should guarantee massive ratings for the upcoming season as as the “Frate Trane” has emerged as the UFCs top pay-per-view since bursting onto the scene. His addition should also bring many first-time fans to the popular Spike series. As far as his coaching opponent Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos, the Brazilian has given up the next shot at the title for an opportunity to coach against Lesnar and fight while champion Cain Velasquez heals. According to his management, “he just wants to fight.”
With that being said, newsworthy in today’s announcement is word that there will be no interim title for the heavyweight division. According to Dana White, this coaching matchup will culminate in a June bout at UFC 131 in Vancouver between Lesnar and Dos Santos to determine the next contender for the champion upon his return.
The Ultimate Fighter’s thirteenth season, originally planned to feature both middleweights and welterweights , will now be exclusive to the 170 pound division. As HeavyMMA’s Writer of the Year Ben Fowlkes stated on twitter, “competitors can choose between being coached in broken English or gruff one-liners” with Brock Lesnar and Dos Santos on the show. All hope is not lost as the two should bring in their own coaches, like Rodrigo Comprido and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira respectively, to assist in mentoring the show’s up-and-coming fighters. All in all, this should make for a very interesting season.
