The Ultimate Fighter has been a UFC staple since Season 1 launched in 2005. Fighters come from all over for a shot at making it to “the big show.”
Aside from the contestants, one of the biggest attractions to the show is the coaching matchups. The season-long friction and animosity between the opposing coaches only adds more hype to their eventual end-of-season battle inside the Octagon.
Currently, there are two cycles of TUF in production. The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil—coached by Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort—is wrapping up now and will hit television airwaves in March.
The Ultimate Fighter Live—coached by Urijah Faber and UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz—began airing last Friday.
Through the years we have seen a number of intriguing fights between the coaches. Some have been great battles—Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture, Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra—while others have been huge disappointments—Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans.
What stands out about these three is that the winning coach on TUF also won the coaches’ fight. One must then ask, is there a correlation?
There have been 14 seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, four of which did not feature a fight between the coaches after the season ended. Season 1 featured Hughes and Rich Franklin, who compete in different weight classes.
Season 4 broke from the usual format by selecting current and prior UFC fighters to compete for a chance at a title shot, with a number of UFC vets serving as guess trainers—Franklin and Georges St-Pierre to name a few.
Tito Ortiz had to leave Season 11 early due to neck surgery and did not complete the season or face opposing coach Chuck Liddell.
The contestants from Season 13 were coached by Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos; however, Lesnar was forced to withdraw from the fight due to another bout with diverticulitis. In the remaining 10 seasons, the winning coach went on to win the coaches’ battle seven times:
- Chuck Liddell defeated Randy Couture
- Tito Ortiz defeated Ken Shamrock
- Matt Hughes defeated Matt Serra
- Forrest Griffin defeated Quinton Jackson
- Rashad Evans defeated Quinton Jackson
- Georges St-Pierre defeated Josh Koscheck
- Michael Bisping defeated Jason Miller (there were two weight classes in which they split winners)
While conventional wisdom says that fighters make fights, one cannot help but take notice to this interesting statistic: The winning coach also wins the coaches’ battle 70 percent of the time.
What could it be? Is the ability to game plan for a fight? Is it the ability to analyze fighters and their strengths/weaknesses? Is it just dumb luck?
The upcoming coaching pairs both have a history. Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber have fought twice before with Cruz winning the most recent fight.
Faber is the only man to defeat Cruz and feels he actually won their most recent battle. Faber is still a dominant force in mixed martial arts, but could “The Dominator” have his number?
In the other matchup, Wanderlei Silva will face Vitor Belfort. Silva lost to Belfort in his 1998 UFC debut in 44 seconds. Silva would go on to have a great career and become a legend in the PRIDE organization. However, he is coming into the twilight of his career and conceivably only has a few fights left.
If Silva and Faber lead their respective teams to victory, will that be a prelude to certain victory?
Follow Walt J. as he gives his no-holds-barred opinions on the NFL, MMA and other sports topics on his blog, “Live From AREA 49.” You can also follow him on Twitter @area49sports.
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