The various MMA forums are buzzing Tuesday morning with the news that the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 will be heavyweights Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir.
The show will feature Lightweight and Light Heavyweights and begin airing September 17th. This show is expected to lead up to a "Interim" Heavyweight Title match between the two coaches after the show, most likely in December.
As I have noted, this is quite the hot topic on the forums today, and the response is overwhelmingly negative across the board, from the experts to the self-proclaimed "hardcore fans."
Personally I disagree whole-heartedly with all of these people. Now before you stop reading and simply scroll down to leave me an angry comment about not knowing anything about MMA, allow me the opportunity to at least explain my position.
One of the knocks on these two as coaches is that it will suspend the potential title match until after the show. Without the show the match would have likely been on a card in September at the earliest, three months earlier than it is likely to take place now if in fact this is booked for December.
I agree with this—I want to see this match take place and I don't want to have to wait until December to watch it. Going this long between title bouts is very frustrating, but in this particular case I can look the other way because I think two things are accomplished by delaying the fight.
The first thing accomplished is that the match gets the hype it deserves. Everyone wants to say that the UFC Heavyweight Division is on life support and about to die. I can't argue with that, but I don't believe it is because of a lack of talent. This isn't a deep division, but it is top heavy.
Nogueira is an incredible athlete and one of the best heavyweights in the world. He beat Tim Sylvia and I believe, if given the chance, he could take Randy Couture as well.
Behind Nogueira is a bevy of good contenders, including: Mir, Cheick Kongo, Brock Lesnar, Brandon Vera, Gabriel Gonzaga, Fabricio Werdum and Heath Herring.
Talent is not the problem.
The problem is that UFC has lost all the talent that it had spent so much time marketing in Sylvia and Couture, and now possibly Arlovski.
So if the problem is too little press, then what better way to gain some than through The Ultimate Fighter?
Nogueira and Mir has the makings of a great heavyweight fight. Before his injury Mir was the best heavyweight in the UFC, and I don't see a reason to believe he is not near that form again, if not all the way there.
This will be a great fight, but without any marketing people won't watch it. People don't pay for pay-per-views when they don't care about the main event.
What having these two guys on The Ultimate Fighter does is make people care about this match. It will get people to purchase the show, and if these two put on the kind of match I believe they will, it will make people care about the division once again.
UFC didn't lose all their heavyweight talent, they just lost the talent that was being promoted.
It's time to shift gears, and this is the way to do it.
The other thing that will be accomplished by postponing this match is that it will give the heavyweight contenders a chance to sort themselves out a bit.
There are some big heavyweight matches coming up, and hopefully by the time this title match rolls around things will have shaken out a bit. By then we'll have a solidified new number one contender, 'cause right now there isn't one.
Everyone wants to say it should be the winner of Vera/Werdum, but I'd rather see someone put a couple of wins together before they get a shot. With this scenario, that is now possible.
The last point I want to make is that Mir and Nogueira will be excellent coaches. These are two of the smartest fighters in MMA, and both men run their own camps.
All of the "hardcore" fans I talked about earlier spend all their time complaining about how The Ultimate Fighter has turned into more of the "Real World" drama than a show about fighting and training. The UFC gives us these amazing coaches who will do wonders with the kids on the show, and all people want to talk about us how boring the two men will be.
I'm learning that you really can't ever please MMA fans, and I think a lot of people should sit back and just enjoy the show cause we're not going to change things.
And I personally don't think anything needs to be changed in this scenario.
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2 months ago
I think the biggest complaint about Mir vs. Minotauro is, what has Mir done to be the #1 contender? Since the accident he got pounded by "Pe De Pano" Cruz, then beat Dan Christison in a snoozefest, lost to Vera, Subbed Hardonk and Lesnar.
There should have been a #1 contender match, but that didn't happen because Mir would be a better coach than the alternatives. There lies the problem, the TV show is now dictating match-ups and thats unfortunate.
I think Mir is gonna have his hands full with Minotauro, we hear how great Mir is on the ground but he hasn't beaten great BJJ players other than Roberto Traven. Look at the guys he subbed Pete Wiliams, Tank, Sylvia, Hardonk, Lesnar. Not exactly a who's who of ground skills.
The fight has a better chance to be a stand-up war than people think.
from 2 months ago
You can't knock him for submitting guys that aren't great at Jui-jitsu, the point is he submitted them. Nogueira hasn't submitted a ton of guys known for their ground skills either as far as I know. I know Mir hasn't done a whole lot since his return, but who has? EVERYONE at the top of the division has lost. Every single last one of them. Ultimately, Mir has the pedigree of being a former champion and the style of being a fellow BJJ Blackbelt that sets up best for the UFC to sell this fight.
I think the fight certainly has a chance to be a stand up war, because Minotauro doesn't hesitate to bang with guys -- as he did for a long portions against Herring in their UFC match. Mir seems to be more of a take down guy, but his best jui-jitsu has almost always been seen off his back. I think it's a very intriguing fight that will be great to see. But I can wait until December for to happen -- the Heavyweight Division needs the time to settle things at the top and establish the next true #1 contender. The UFC has plenty of other fights to keep me appeased until then.
2 months ago
agreed, this fight will be won on their feet
2 months ago
I also really wanted to say that I loved this article. Good job.
2 months ago
The UFC needs more top heavyweights badly. The 155 and 205 lbs divisions are already stacked, so I don't see the rationale in having those two divisions for this season.
Perhaps there are not enough decent heavyweight prospects out there who can appear on the show? There's gotta be at least eight guys who fit the bill, and then there could be fighters from another weight class also.
We won't see this fight for a while, not until November or December. Nog will win on the feet, and Mir will gas after the first round. Then Nog will take him down and win by sub or tko. It won't really be much of a fight.
The only person who can consistently beat Nog is Fedor. I like Mir and all, but he should enjoy his time in the spotlight while it lasts.
from 2 months ago
I agree that the UFC does need more heavyweights in the worst way, but I don't know if they really could find eight guys who legitimately deserve to be in the UFC. There were two top of the line prospects in the Heavyweight Division and that was Cain Valesquez and Shane Carwin, both guys are now competing in UFC.
The other problem with UFC Heavyweights on TUF is a lot of times they're guys who were light heavyweights who bulked up to get on the show such as Keith Jardiine and Rashad Evans.
UFC needs more talent, but I think adding it one at a time when a prospect comes along as they've done with Valesquez and Carwin is a better way to go than putting a bunch of talentless guys and true light heavyweights on the show.
from 2 months ago
The 155 pound division (along with the heavyweight division now) is by far the least UFC dominated division in all of MMA. So you're way off there. The 205 division on the other hand is pretty stacked, but they haven't done a 205 pound group on the show since TUF 3 if I am remembering correctly. And hopefully TUF 9 has heavyweights.
2 months ago
mir and arlovski should have a fight to determine #1 contender, but arlovski can barely speak english so theres giving a bullshit shot to someone who doesnt deserve it, mirs last 2 wins , he subbed a kickboxer and a guy on his second professional fight, i really dont think he deserves a shot, the ufc should concentrate more on getting couture to fight nog, and sign fedor , then this garbage.........
from 2 months ago
Arlovski is leaving the UFC. Fedor is apparently impossible to get into the UFC. And Randy says he'll only fight Fedor. There's a reason that none of your scenarios are happening ya know.
2 months ago
nogueria is one of my favorite fights in the heavyweight dvision besides andrie arlovski,nogueria has a very impressive record and i have followed him in pride for a long time,he is an animal on the ground besides the beatings he took from fedor he has owned the division i knew he would win agianst tim silvia and he did wasn't surprised at all there but frank mir doesn't impress me that much and i don't think he should have gotten the coaching job he got his ass kicked by brandon vera and the only really stands out right now becuase he beat brock lesnar,he will lose to nogueria when they fight no doubt about it
2 months ago
Mir hasn't done anything to show he's earned a title shot yet. He nearly lost to a newbie Brock Lesnar and now he's got a title shot? I can only imagine how pissed Vera must be right now at him, considering he flattened Mir. Hell any decent contender right now would mop the floor with Mir, in fact if Mir were to fight Lesnar next month my money would go on Lesnar, Mir's just not that great anymore, and in my opinion he pretty much got his last title through coincidence that nobody else decent was around.
13 days ago
What I'd love to see for TUF is two teams led by top instructors, say Gracie vs. Miletitch, even if they dont fight after the season, the talent that came out as a result of training with these legends would be phenomenal
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