If you’ve been following the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, TUF: Brazil 4, on the UFC’s online streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, you may have noticed that former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is still coaching despite reports that he had been replaced on the show.
For the first two episodes, The Spider commanded Team Silva and seemed comfortable in his role as a coach and mentor for the cast of UFC hopefuls.
Now, that is unwinding.
The UFC recently released a teaser for episode three of TUF: Brazil 4, and it shows the exact moment Silva found out he failed his UFC 183 drug test.
This event, of course, sparked a massive reaction in the MMA community. Some were angry. Some were sad. Some stood by Silva’s side. Some abandoned him.
In the end, the drug test failure rubs a significant smear on Silva’s legacy, and it is currently unclear how, exactly, the former champ will ride out the remainder of his career.
He’s still under contract with the UFC, but there is no word whether we’ll see him fight again inside the UFC Octagon. While he’s been scheduled to appear in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) to receive his official punishment for his transgression, he’s pushed the date back twice and is now scheduled to appear some time in May (h/t Bloody Elbow via Combate).
As the UFC’s teaser for the next episode of TUF: Brazil 4 shows, though, one certain result of the drug test failure is that Silva’s time as a coach on the series has come to an end.
He will be replaced by his friend, UFC heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, according to Sherdog.com.
Fight Pass subscribers can watch the full episode April 20 to see how the situation shakes out.
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