For the longest time, the formula for The Ultimate Fighter has been fairly simple as far as who winds up as the coaches. The UFC chooses two fighters who can meet at the end of the season for a pay-per-view bout that makes sense in their division.
During the show, they coach opposite each other toward developing a rivalry that serves as a preamble to their eventual clash. Along the way, a group of new fighters undergo the high-level training that is needed to compete in the UFC.
This formula has worked for countless seasons because it is simple. More often than not, everyone is pointed in the same direction and working toward the same goal.
But throughout it all, it has always seemed, at least to me, that the sense of a real MMA-style camp has been absent. Some fighters find the mantle of head coach puts them above the men who, under all normal circumstances, are their head coaches at home.
Has this been a detriment? Probably not; these fighters usually use what has always worked for them, as the blueprints for training are passed from hand to hand.
Still, I have often wondered what a season of TUF would look like if “real” coaches and their teams were used. The contestants would be pulled into a true MMA camp alongside current UFC fighters who go through it all, right beside them, all answering to one leader.
In the spirit of exploration, I give you six men who would be great coaches for The Ultimate Fighter, with a specific idea as to their pairings.