(“So what *is* “Mahalo,” like a giant fish or something?” Photo via BJPenn.com)
We’re not sure if the full cast list for The Ultimate Fighter 19 was accidentally leaked or not yet, but being that the members of both *teams* were already revealed by a promo that has since been taken down, all signs seem to point to another technical snafu on FOX’s end. In any case, the information is out there now, and all we can do is pass it along in the hopes of deterring some of you from the premiere episode of yet another unnecessary season of a long dead show. Can you imagine what it would be like if Seinfeld went nineteen seasons? PULL THE PLUG ALREADY, DANA!!
This season’s TUF will feature middleweight and light heavyweight participants as well as the red hot coaching matchup of B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar, with Penn and Edgar completing their trilogy at featherweight next April. Although the season has already started filming, no official air date has been revealed and blah blah blah I’m already bored. Check out the full cast after the jump courtesy of BloodyElbow:
(“So what *is* “Mahalo,” like a giant fish or something?” Photo via BJPenn.com)
We’re not sure if the full cast list for The Ultimate Fighter 19 was accidentally leaked or not yet, but being that the members of both *teams* were already revealed by a promo that has since been taken down, all signs seem to point to another technical snafu on FOX’s end. In any case, the information is out there now, and all we can do is pass it along in the hopes of deterring some of you from the premiere episode of yet another unnecessary season of a long dead show. Can you imagine what it would be like if Seinfeld went nineteen seasons? PULL THE PLUG ALREADY, DANA!!
This season’s TUF will feature middleweight and light heavyweight participants as well as the red hot coaching matchup of B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar, with Penn and Edgar completing their trilogy at featherweight next April. Although the season has already started filming, no official air date has been revealed and blah blah blah I’m already bored. Check out the full cast after the jump courtesy of BloodyElbow:
TEAM EDGAR
Corey Anderson (3-0)
Patrick Walsh (4-1)
Matt Van Buren (6-2)
Todd Monaghan (8-2)
Ian Stephens (2-0)
Dhiego Lima (9-1)
Eddie Gordon (6-1)
Hector Urbina (16-8-1)
TEAM PENN
Anton Berzin (3-1)
Josh Clark (7-2)
Daniel Spohn (8-3)
Chris Fields (10-5-1)
Mike King (5-0)
Tim Williams (8-1)
Cathal Pendred (13-2-1)
Roger Zapata (4-1)
That’s actually…not to bad a list of fighters (on paper, at least). Pendred is a training partner of Conor McGregor who holds a win over UFC veteran Che Mills and Lima is an American Top Team product with some solid wins as well. Absent from this list, however, are the untested, bashful yoga instructors we have grown accustomed to. YOU CAN’T KEEP PLAYING IT FAST AND LOOSE LIKE THIS, DANA!
Well, clearly someone needs to take his pills for the day. I’ll leave you to debate who stands the best chance of winning this season and how long they’ll last in the UFC.
So former lightweight/welterweight champion BJ Penn appeared on Inside MMA last Friday (video above) to plug his upcoming coaching gig on TUF 19 opposite Frankie Edgar, which will culminate in a featherweight rubber match(?) of sorts that is doomed to never actually transpire. Aside from blinking approximately 750 times over the course of his three minute appearance, Penn extended a guest coaching invitation to Inside MMA co-host and former UFC Heavyweight champion Bas Rutten. Kenny Rice, on the other hand, was hung out to dry.
But for now, let’s just celebrate this occasion the only way we know how, with a veritable parade of amazing Bas Rutten gifs…
So former lightweight/welterweight champion BJ Penn appeared on Inside MMA last Friday (video above) to plug his upcoming coaching gig on TUF 19 opposite Frankie Edgar, which will culminate in a featherweight rubber match(?) of sorts that is doomed to never actually transpire. Aside from blinking approximately 750 times over the course of his three minute appearance, Penn extended a guest coaching invitation to Inside MMA co-host and former UFC Heavyweight champion Bas Rutten. Kenny Rice, on the other hand, was hung out to dry.
Former UFC heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer Mark Coleman recently got a call from the returning B.J. Penn asking “The Hammer” to join Penn’s coaching staff on The Ultimate Fighter 19. “It’s hard to put it into words. The word ‘honored’, everybody uses it too much, but I really am just honored that this guy would want to use me as his coach,” Coleman told Fox Sport’s Damon Martin.
“Me and BJ Penn have been friends since the beginning of this thing, and I consider him a great friend…I’m honored that he respects me enough to handle this position. I don’t take it lightly. It’s going to be a serious job to me out there. I don’t have a whole lot of idols, but BJ Penn is one of them. I love the guy. For him to ask me to do this, I can’t put it into words. Hopefully, I can do a good job with him and as long as he’s happy with me, I’m good.”
TUF 19 will debut on Fox Sports 1 early in 20014. BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar will coach opposite one another on the show and then fight one another for the third time. Coleman will leave for Las Vegas in a few weeks to help Penn prepare the young fighters for the opportunity of their lives.
Former UFC heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer Mark Coleman recently got a call from the returning B.J. Penn asking “The Hammer” to join Penn’s coaching staff on The Ultimate Fighter 19. “It’s hard to put it into words. The word ‘honored’, everybody uses it too much, but I really am just honored that this guy would want to use me as his coach,” Coleman told Fox Sport’s Damon Martin.
“Me and BJ Penn have been friends since the beginning of this thing, and I consider him a great friend…I’m honored that he respects me enough to handle this position. I don’t take it lightly. It’s going to be a serious job to me out there. I don’t have a whole lot of idols, but BJ Penn is one of them. I love the guy. For him to ask me to do this, I can’t put it into words. Hopefully, I can do a good job with him and as long as he’s happy with me, I’m good.”
TUF 19 will debut on Fox Sports 1 early in 20014. BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar will coach opposite one another on the show and then fight one another for the third time. Coleman will leave for Las Vegas in a few weeks to help Penn prepare the young fighters for the opportunity of their lives.
“I’m hoping to do my best to turn one of these guys into a champion,” the 48-year-old said. “The closest thing to actually being in the ring and fighting is getting to know a fighter, and training him and actually watching him in there…I’ve always wanted to be able to give back somehow, and one of the few ways I can give back in general is to help kids like this achieve their goals.”
Coleman has not fought since his loss to Randy Couture at UFC 109 in February 2010, and had a hip replacement surgery earlier this year. “The Godfather of Ground and Pound” seems to be looking forward to getting back on the mat with the young guns on TUF 19.
“Here we go,” he said. “I’m going to have to put my hip to the test.”
Penn’s choice of Coleman as his wrestling coach reflects his appreciation and respect for old-school fighters like himself — but should he have picked a younger, more modern wrestling coach to help guide his team to victory? Or at least one with a fully-functioning hip?
33% of the voters had even less confidence in Penn. What could be worse than getting your ass kicked again, you ask? Not even being able to make 145 pounds in the first place. That’s right. A third of our readership is skeptical about Penn’s commitment to fitness and thinks that Penn at featherweight is a pipe dream.
It also appears that 7% of our readers are delusional (or just decided to be trolls and skew our results by voting for the most insane selection). They believe that Penn will become the UFC featherweight champion by the end of 2014. No joke.
And the ultimate minority, the remaining 5%? They think that Penn will get his revenge on Edgar and then retire afterwards.
Thankfully, it appears that most of our readers have a grip on reality. Penn lost decisively to Edgar two times, largely because he was slower than Edgar and had worse conditioning. These problems will only be exacerbated when Penn, who’s notorious for his poor conditioning and inability to fight to the death, attempts to drop down to featherweight — a weight class Edgar has fought in twice now without any sign that he’s been depleted by the weight cut. Penn, once he realizes that he’s not a young man anymore and that he wasted his prime thinking that he was too good to train hard, will very likely retire again.
(Herb Dean convincing BJ Penn not to drop to featherweight. / Photo via Getty Images)
33% of the voters had even less confidence in Penn. What could be worse than getting your ass kicked again, you ask? Not even being able to make 145 pounds in the first place. That’s right. A third of our readership is skeptical about Penn’s commitment to fitness and thinks that Penn at featherweight is a pipe dream.
It also appears that 7% of our readers are delusional (or just decided to be trolls and skew our results by voting for the most insane selection). They believe that Penn will become the UFC featherweight champion by the end of 2014. No joke.
And the ultimate minority, the remaining 5%? They think that Penn will get his revenge on Edgar and then retire afterwards.
Thankfully, it appears that most of our readers have a grip on reality. Penn lost decisively to Edgar two times, largely because he was slower than Edgar and had worse conditioning. These problems will only be exacerbated when Penn, who’s notorious for his poor conditioning and inability to fight to the death, attempts to drop down to featherweight — a weight class Edgar has fought in twice now without any sign that he’s been depleted by the weight cut. Penn, once he realizes that he’s not a young man anymore and that he wasted his prime thinking that he was too good to train hard, will very likely retire again.
Regarding those who think Penn can’t even make the cut to 145, well, let’s just say that we at CagePotato don’t think that little of Penn. We just think that Edgar is the better fighter. The reasons he beat Penn will still be present (and more apparent) when they face off after their TUF 19 coaching stint.
And Penn winning the title? The 70-odd people who believe that are the last few stragglers that after all this time still believe that the mythical “motivated BJ Penn” is the pound-for-pound GOAT.
Oh, and the 5% of people who think Penn will win and retire? The only part they’re probably right about is the retiring.
Want your voice heard? Be sure to vote in our current sidebar poll “Was Alexander Gustafsson Robbed at UFC 165?” and stay tuned for the next installment of The Potato Nation Speaks!
Yes, folks, it’s official, and kind of bizarre: BJ Penn is coming out of his temporary hiatus to coach against Frankie Edgar on the 19th season of TUF (debut date TBA). The two former lightweight champs will face off in a featherweight bout next April. The news was confirmed on this evening’s installment of UFC Tonight. As UFC president Dana White explained, the UFC was originally thinking of putting together Frankie Edgar vs. Urijah Faber as TUF 19 coaches, but the fighters couldn’t agree on a weight class. (Edgar didn’t want to drop down to 135, Faber didn’t want to go back up to 145, and Dana White wasn’t sold on the idea of a catchweight fight.)
So then (as the story goes), BJ Penn randomly calls Dana White and says he wants to fight Benson Henderson (?), as a way to earn his way back to a redemption fight against Frankie Edgar at featherweight (??). Does that plan make tons of sense? Not really. But White was happy to take the opportunity that presented itself, and offered Penn an immediate fight against Edgar if he coached TUF. White also claimed that Penn is super fired up about fighting Edgar again, because his previous losses to Edgar feel like “a pebble in his shoe.”
(Quick, BJ! Lose ten pounds! It’s your only hope! / Photo via Getty)
Yes, folks, it’s official, and kind of bizarre: BJ Penn is coming out of his temporary hiatus to coach against Frankie Edgar on the 19th season of TUF (debut date TBA). The two former lightweight champs will face off in a featherweight bout next April. The news was confirmed on this evening’s installment of UFC Tonight. As UFC president Dana White explained, the UFC was originally thinking of putting together Frankie Edgar vs. Urijah Faber as TUF 19 coaches, but the fighters couldn’t agree on a weight class. (Edgar didn’t want to drop down to 135, Faber didn’t want to go back up to 145, and Dana White wasn’t sold on the idea of a catchweight fight.)
So then (as the story goes), BJ Penn randomly calls Dana White and says he wants to fight Benson Henderson (?), as a way to earn his way back to a redemption fight against Frankie Edgar at featherweight (??). Does that plan make tons of sense? Not really. But White was happy to take the opportunity that presented itself, and offered Penn an immediate fight against Edgar if he coached TUF. White also claimed that Penn is super fired up about fighting Edgar again, because his previous losses to Edgar feel like “a pebble in his shoe.”
First off, we’re a little skeptical about BJ’s chances of making 145 pounds. (If he goes down with a sudden injury a month out from the fight, don’t say we didn’t warn you.) But more than that, we’re talking about the third fight in a series that already seemed to be settled in the rematch, when Frankie Edgar dominated Penn at UFC 118. Will there be any interest in another go-round where Penn is at an even greater disadvantage, coming back from a 16-month layoff and fighting in a weight-class he’s never competed in before?
It’s a good publicity stunt, but I’m not buying this one as a competitive fight. What do the rest of you shmoes think? The Answer vs. The Hawaiian Skeleton — who ya got?
