After weeks of speculation regarding TUF 13 coaches, the UFC finally made the announcement today through a press release during todays “Fight for the Troops” press conference.
UFC President Dana White announced today that former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and number one contender Junior dos Santos will match wits as the coaches of season 13 of the hit Spike TV reality series.
Following the season, which begins filming this month and begins airing on March 30, Lesnar and dos Santos will then match fists in the Octagon later in 2011.
This will be the first time either fighter has appeared on The Ultimate Fighter, which began airing on Spike in 2005. The last time heavyweights coached the show was during season eight in 2008, when dos Santos’ mentor, “Minotauro” Nogueira, faced off against former champion Frank Mir. This season, the two will coach a host of welterweight hopefuls looking to secure a UFC contract.
One of the biggest success stories of recent years, Brock Lesnar’s rise to the top of the UFC has been well-documented. A former NCAA Division I wrestling champion for the University of Minnesota, Lesnar brought size, speed, and power to the Octagon in 2008, and in only his fourth professional fight, he defeated Randy Couture for the heavyweight crown. After successful defenses against Mir and Shane Carwin, Lesnar lost his belt to Velasquez at UFC 121 last October. Determined to get his championship back, Lesnar knows the quickest way to do so is through dos Santos.
Unheralded Brazilian prospect Junior dos Santos turned into a contender overnight in 2008 when he knocked out highly-regarded veteran Fabricio Werdum in the first round. This spectacular debut was followed by finishes of Stefan Struve, Mirko Cro Cop, Gilbert Yvel, and Gabriel Gonzaga before earning a shot at the heavyweight title with a three round win over Roy Nelson. Yet instead of choosing to wait for Velasquez to return to action, dos Santos will risk his number one contender’s spot by coaching against – and then fighting – Lesnar later this year.
Payout Perspective:
While MMA fans and the MMA media were trying to guess who the TUF 13 coaches would be, Dana White and the UFC were struggling with the decision behind doors. From featuring the Lightweights (Pettis, Maynard, Edgar), the Middleweights (Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva) to featuring the lighter weights acquired from WEC (Cruz, Faber, Torres), speculation ran wild, and although Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir were brought up as potential names for TUF, not many believed Lesnar would actually accept. Lesnar is well known to loathe being away from his home, the travel, and doing publicity work, as he just recently illustrated on a recent promo video he did for his books release tour. The key for Lesnar doing TUF is that it will give him a huge platform to publicize his book, “The Viking”, which becomes available after TUF is finished and just before he headlines the UFC 131 PPV event in Vancouver. We can also safely assume that the UFC gave him plenty of incentives to keep him away from the WWE and for him to fight on again on a big stage against an opponent that is extremely dangerous.
Here are some notes regarding the announcement:
– Dos Santos vs Brock Lesnar will NOT be for the interim HW title. Instead, the winner will get current UFC HW Cain Velasquez when he returns from surgery, which is expected to be in late 2011.
– Dos Santos vs Lesnar is tentatively scheduled to take place at UFC 131 in June (Vancouver), which also has Shane Carwin rumored to participate in the event.
– Dana also made it a point that Lesnar will NOT be doing any WWE work or Wrestlemania. Coincidentally, WWE’s Tuff Enuff is scheduled to be starting in April on the USA Network.
– Putting Brock on Spike TV will get ratings, and is a move expected to give the UFC more leverage in the Spike TV contract negotiations and other TV deals they are looking at.
– Mark Hominick vs Jose Aldo was also announced for UFC 129 in Toronto if Hominick defeats George Roop at UFC Fight for the Troops.
I’m not sure why so many people seem surprised that Brock would do this show. He did entertain in the WWE for all those years. I think this is a good move for the UFC. Should get better than average ratings this year but that will depend on how entertaining the show is. Seems like the UFC is focusing on the later half of the year to showcase their HW division.
The part I find interesting is that they want to risk permanently ruining the reputation of Lesnar by putting him in with JDS after Cain. I thought for sure they would set some thing up with a better chance of giving him a win. But I guess baggers can’t be choosers.
I find humour in how fast the UFC HWs have been lined up for action now that SF has gone public with their HW tournament. Competition is indeed good. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the reasons for putting these guys on TUF was to help draw attention away from the SF heavy weights and onto the UFC ones. Dana can get on TV every week and say these are the greatest heavy weights in the world.
I think the UFC is capitalizing on the Vancouver market. Assuming JDS-Lesnar fight in the Vancouver show, it will do big PPV numbers as well as gate. According to Dave Meltzer, last year’s Vancouver showt was the largest gate of all UFC PPVs last year – $4,095,235. The card was less than stellar and was headlined by Chuck Liddell v. Rich Franklin.
I believe that this season will have to be carried by the contestants and other coaches/guest appearances. JDS should have Team Blackhouse members (Big Nog, Silva, Mark Munoz) come in. I assume Lesnar will have other stars show up too. Regardless, I think it should be a good season for ratings.
Ratings bonanza if The Undertaker showed up one day…
Another issue about his matchup. The winner faces Cain next…what happened to JDS’ title shot when he beat Roy Nelson? I know, Cain was hurt and that’s the break. Anthony Pettis may have to face the same reality. Josh Grispi has.
While I see the logical reasoning in having the Brock-JDS match fight Cain, it shortchanges promoting matches when you say that if a fighter beats ____, then they are next in line for the title shot..and then it never comes to fruition. Remember the hype for the WEC LW title…the winner got the title shot versus the Maynard/Edgar winner. This may still happen…provided now that Pettis beat Clay Guida.
This type of promotion is analagous to winning the conference championship in football only to learn that a team that lost earlier in the playoffs will get to play in the Super Bowl. There should be a better way to promote these fights rather than promise a fight that will not happen.
Jason:
Vancouver sold out in record time and brought a big gate last year. But that was because the scalpers went crazy and bought a boat load of tickets. The scalpers ended up stuck with lots of tickets and you could buy them for a song and a dance less the dance up to and including the day of the show. They are unlikely to make the same mistake again. Mind you Brock and JDS would be much better than the show last year.
I see where your coming from Cruz but from a fan perspective why should it matter? To be honest from a fan perspective if Pettis cant beat Clay then he don’t deserve the shot at the title. From a fighter perspective it is a bad situation. But Dos made his decision to take another fight as he should anyone who sits out like Evans shows a weakness in their mentality and uncertainty in their ability. In pettis case he has really proven little as far as the UFC goes and may not have a choice not should he. In the end if you deserve a shot you skills will get you there. Its not like Pettis was given a monster. Guida is a gate keeper. Also Junior should destroy Brock. If he don’t then if he is as good as i and every thinks he will only be a few wins from getting a shot even with the loss. If you are a top 5 guy consistently you will get a shot.
This has worked out for the best. Cain gets to milk his 15 minutes in case he don’t successfully defend his title. UFC gets lots of buzz from TUF. Brock or Jr will come off much more popular than if Cain never got hurt. This gives us many more high profile fights.
JV,
They have been trying to get Brock to agree to TUF since well before the SF announcement of the tourny.
Jason,
Both Pettis and JDS opted to fight rather than wait for their shot.
(Marshawn) Lynchman 🙂
I think that staying active is a good thing, for both Pettis and JDS. It was necessary. If you voluntarily stay inactive, you could end up like Brandon Vera. He was never the same after staying away from the Octagon becaue of contractual issues.
My issue is the promotion that the winner of a fight gets the next title shot. I agree with BSmash that fans do not necessarily care so long as the fights are entertaining. But, it gets hyped up and used to entice you to watch…and then its subsequently changed. I don’t think its fair for the fighter to mentally think they are getting a shot at the title only to be told its going to be postponed…and no guarantee it will happen. With that being said, fighters like Pettis and JDS have to fight to make a living.