Brock Lesnar: 5 Reasons He'll Be Great on The Ultimate Fighter

On Jan. 24, filming got underway for the 13th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins airing March 30 on Spike TV.  As you may have heard somewhere, heavyweight contender Junior Dos Santos will be coaching against some guy named Brock Lesnar.

Predictably, Lesnar's selection generated plenty of reaction, both positive and negative.  But the bottom line—that little place where businessmen like UFC president Dana White reside—is that Lesnar is a walking generator of good TV, and will thus be a great addition to the TUF coaching lineage. 

Here are five things that will really make it work.

1. The Wrestler Thing

Once a showman, always a showman. Lesnar couldn't be unentertaining if he tried, which he does, often.  But Lesnar, who reaped millions on a magnetic pro wrestling persona, understands that he needs to keep the eyeballs glued to the screen whenever he happens to grace it.  He'll parlay his natural talent in this area into nonstop TUF excitement.

2. The Recluse Thing

Credit: CoolMMAPhotos.com

Speaking of gimmicks...

Lesnar loves to play the rugged individualist, someone who lives by his own code and desires little from the outside world.  As a result, his interactions with the media and the public—either at events or at his remote Minnesota training facility—are minimal and carefully controlled.  This has only served to deepen his mystique and appeal.  You can be sure he knows that, and will play it to the hilt on The Ultimate Fighter.  But at the same time, TUF's reality show format strongly implies--accurately or otherwise--that viewers will catch a rare, if not unprecedented, glimpse at The Real Brock.

3. He Is an Angry Young Man

At some point on the show, Brock Lesnar is going to lose his cool.  You know it. I know it.  I also know I'm really hoping my DVR doesn't malfunction on that particular evening.

4. He Might Walk Off the Set

Lesnar seems like the kind of guy who sort of shuts down when things aren't going his way coughcainvelasquezcough.  If his team drops a few early contests, or he doesn't get his way on something either in front of or behind the camera, he could lose interest. 

Add to this the fact that fellow UFC heavyweight and Lesnar antagonist Roy Nelson recently predicted that a "conspiracy" would lead to Brock's departing the show, and you've got yourself some legitimate intrigue.

5. He's Going To Be a Poor Coach

Oh, was this supposed to be a breakdown of his ability to actually train young fighters?   That wasn't my understanding of what made a great coach on TUF.  I guess all those cameras somehow assist with jiu-jitsu pedagogy.

Because of previously stated reasons—he's temperamental, he's aloof, he's self-motivated—Lesnar doesn't exactly seem like the kind of guy who is going to patiently explain the nuances of the double leg or lend a sympathetic ear to an injured charge.  He also has a ton of natural gifts, such as his freakish size, that simply cannot be taught.  There are several examples of great players who tried coaching—baseball's Frank Robinson and hockey's Wayne Gretzky come to mind—but fell short because they simply could not relate to lesser mortals.

Furthermore, a lot of Lesnar's TUF predecessors relied on their own camps for support.  If you were a TUF combatant, which camp would you prefer: Dos Santos' Black House gym, which molds the likes of Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida, or Lesnar's Death Clutch, which leads a lonely existence somewhere in the North Country hinterlands and boasts a client list numbering exactly one?

All this added up doesn't seem to recommend Lesnar as natural coaching material.  Luckily for him, then, that The Ultimate Fighter isn't a natural coaching environment. But it will all likely lead to hilarity, fireworks, and possibly some humble pie for Lesnar.

In short, he's a great character, and isn't that what makes or breaks any television program? Lesnar's mere presence is going to help him win the show's most important fight: the ratings fight.