(“Yes, baby, it is *so* normal.” / Photo via Getty)
The UFC has confirmed that Brazilian MMA legends Anderson Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will serve as opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 4, which will begin filming early next year in Las Vegas and feature bantamweight and lightweight contestants. Open tryouts for the season were already held in Rio on Monday, with a reported 600 fighters showing up to get a shot in the TUF house.
Before you get too excited — no, Silva and Rua will not be fighting each other at the end of the season. (Bummer.) So instead of using the show to hype up a rivalry, they’ll focus on passing on knowledge to younger fighters. As Silva stated in a press release:
“I think I can offer this next generation of Brazilian talent real insight into what it takes to succeed in the UFC. I will bring everything I know about the martial arts, and my own values of what it means to be a martial artist, to my team.”
Said Shogun:
“To coach on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil is a dream come true, and an opportunity I wanted for a long time. To have my team compete against a team coached by a legend and former training partner like Anderson Silva makes it even better. Me and Anderson go a long way, training together back when we were both aiming to be stars, and to do this with him now on the biggest platform and having a chance to show people what MMA is really about is just amazing.”
Mauricio Rua is scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 56 next Saturday in Uberlandia, Brazil, against Ovince St. Preux, who came in as an injury replacement for Jimi Manuwa yesterday. Silva, of course, will be trading arm gestures with Nick Diaz at UFC 183 in January.