According to the Brazilian website GLOBO, UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva and former number one contender Vitor Belfort will be the coaches on the Brazilian version of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins filming in South American country in March 2012.
UFC officials, however told MMAJunkie this afternoon that the report is erroneous, but take the denial with a grain of salt. Remember the company has been guarded in the past when it comes to revealing TUF coaches prior to approximately the month before shooting begins for logistical reasons. The other reason why they could be denying the report, if it is in fact true, is that Silva is likely to face Chael Sonnen in February and it would come off as though they are expecting “The Spider” to win if they were to announce him as a coach, especially if it’s likely that he will defend his title against Belfort at the conclusion of the season. Smoke and mirrors.
Personally, I’d like them to bring in Uncle Chael to coach opposite Anderson. Hell, I’d watch the whole season without subtitles and on mute just to see Anderson’s facial expressions whenever Chael addresses him. It probably won’t happen since 3/4 of the Brazilian MMA fan base don’t know what playing the heel is, which is probably tied into the absence of the Internet in the country and because they often mistake buses for horses.
(“Your face still has my footprint on it, bro.”)
According to the Brazilian website GLOBO, UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva and former number one contender Vitor Belfort will be the coaches on the Brazilian version of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins filming in South American country in March 2012.
UFC officials, however told MMAJunkie this afternoon that the report is erroneous, but take the denial with a grain of salt. Remember the company has been guarded in the past when it comes to revealing TUF coaches prior to approximately the month before shooting begins for logistical reasons. The other reason why they could be denying the report, if it is in fact true, is that Silva is likely to face Chael Sonnen in February and it would come off as though they are expecting “The Spider” to win if they were to announce him as a coach, especially if it’s likely that he will defend his title against Belfort at the conclusion of the season. Smoke and mirrors.
Personally, I’d like them to bring in Uncle Chael to coach opposite Anderson. Hell, I’d watch the whole season without subtitles and on mute just to see Anderson’s facial expressions whenever Chael addresses him. It probably won’t happen since 3/4 of the Brazilian MMA fan base don’t know what playing the heel is, which is probably tied into the absence of the Internet in the country and because they often mistake buses for horses.
Tryouts for the show will take place in the coming weeks, during which time more info should be revealed about the format and location, but it’s unlikely the coaches will be announced until December or January. We’ll just have to watch Belfort’s Twitter posts the next couple months for any tweets about traveling to Brazil for six weeks or about being disrespected at the gym.
It would definitely fly in the face of Dana White’s earlier assertion that Vitor wasn’t ready for a title shot yet, but then again, that wouldn’t be the first time “The Baldfather” contradicted himself *cough* Kimbo *cough*.
Tweet Press Release – Las Vegas – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® returns to the Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort on Saturday, Dec. 3 just in time for Michael “The Count” Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller to settle a feud that has been spilling over for months. The middleweights, who traded verbal barbs for months […]
Press Release – Las Vegas – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® returns to the Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort on Saturday, Dec. 3 just in time for Michael “The Count” Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller to settle a feud that has been spilling over for months. The middleweights, who traded verbal barbs for months as coaches on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter®, will meet in a long-awaited five-round main event in Las Vegas. Plus, the first-ever bantamweight and featherweight winners of The Ultimate Fighter® will be crowned.
“Bisping and ‘Mayhem’ spent the last few months as TUF coaches and they really got on each other’s nerves,” UFC President Dana White said. “On Dec. 3, the talking finally ends and these two will go at it inside the Octagon. There’s a lot at stake in this fight. Not only do they get to settle their feud, but they get to prove that they belong in the mix to fight Anderson Silva.”
Tickets for The Ultimate Fighter® Finale go on sale Friday, Oct. 7 at 12 p.m. PT and will be priced at $450.00, $350.00 and $200.00. Tickets will be available at the Pearl box office, online at ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations, or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Ticket prices do not include service charges.
UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. PT via the website ufcfightclub.com. Non-members may take advantage of the pre-sale by joining at Ticketmaster. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers on Thursday, Oct. 6 starting at 10 a.m. PT.
The Ultimate Fighter® Finale will be televised nationally live on Spike TV beginning at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Winner of season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter®, Michael “The Count” Bisping (fighting out of Manchester, England) is one of the most successful products of the longest running sports reality show on television. Riding consecutive wins over Dan Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Jorge Rivera, the 32-year-old now has his sights set on dominating his opponent on Dec. 3. Knowing a win puts him in contention for a title shot, the motivated Brit Bisping (22-3) seeks his fourth straight against a foe who has pushed his buttons for the last time.
“Jason is one of those guys that you either love him or you hate him,” Bisping said. “I definitely don’t like him. I think most people around him find him very, very annoying. I know people on The Ultimate Fighter did and I was no different. On Dec. 3, I’m going to kick his ass.”
A charismatic performer in and out of the Octagon®, Jason “Mayhem” Miller (fighting out of Los Angeles, Calif.) returns to the UFC on a two-fight winning streak. The 30-year-old’s next task is besting Bisping, and after months of trading verbal jabs on TUF, he’d like nothing more than to shut him up when the two collide at the Palms.
“I definitely got under his skin during the season,” Miller, who owns a record of 34-8 with one no contest, said. “We hate each other’s guts at this point and on Dec. 3, we’re going to get in the cage across from each other and settle it. I’m excited for this fight.”
To find out which bantamweight and welterweight competitors reach The Ultimate Fighter® Finale, tune in to The Ultimate Fighter® Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SPIKE.
Remaining bouts for the card will be released at a later date. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com. All bouts live and subject to change.
About Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over 12 UFC live Pay-Per-View events annually around the world. UFC programming is distributed in the United States on Viacom, Inc.’s Spike TV and on Comcast, Inc.’s VERSUS network. Beginning November 12, 2011 FOX will broadcast four fights annually. In spring 2012, The Ultimate Fighter®, UFC’s signature weekly reality TV show debuts on FX. Globally, UFC programming is broadcast in over 132 countries and territories, reaching 597 million homes worldwide, in 21 different languages.
UFC® also boasts a powerful presence online, with UFC.com attracting over seven million unique visitors per month, while also possessing one of the most powerful social media followings in all of professional sports. To date, UFC has over six million fans on Facebook and over 300,000 followers on Twitter. In addition, UFC President Dana White is one of the most accessible and most followed executives in sports with over 1.6 million followers on Twitter. On January 22, 2011, UFC continued to set trends in social media, becoming the first major sports league to stream live, broadcast quality action on Facebook.
Ancillary businesses include best-selling DVDs, a bimonthly magazine, the best-selling UFC “Undisputed” videogame franchise distributed by THQ, UFC Gym™, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo™ festivals, branded apparel, trading cards,and articulated action figures.
About the Pearl
The Pearl is Las Vegas’ premier concert theater boasting accommodations for up to 2,500 ticket holders. Featuring a stage just four feet from the floor and the farthest seating area being a mere 120 feet from the stage, the Pearl offers the utmost in intimate viewing of your favorite acts. Private and semi-private skyboxes are located on each side of the venue offering private bars, lounges and restrooms. The Pearl is a marvel of modern technology using only top quality sound and video equipment throughout. Hard wired to Studio at the Palms, the Pearl allows artists to create a cost-effective live album with efficiency and without additional venue set-up. For more information, please visit www.palms.com.
About The Palms:
The Palms Casino Resort, heralded as one of Las Vegas’ hippest resorts, is an all-encompassing, one-stop destination. The boutique property boasts three distinct towers and a diverse mix of bars and restaurants across a 95,000-square-foot casino. Amenities include the legendary Playboy Club; Ghostbar; Rain Nightclub; the Pearl Concert Theater; Moon Nightclub; N9NE Steakhouse; Nove Italiano; Little Buddha; Simon Restaurant & Lounge; The Palms Pool & Bungalows; Palms Spa and AMP Salon; Drift Spa & Hammam; LA Sunset Tan; Brenden Theatres, a 14-theatre Cineplex; Huntington Ink Tattoo Lounge; the Fantasy Suites, including the Hardwood Suite, the only hotel room in the world with its own basketball court; and over 60,000 square-feet of meeting space. The Palms has played host to MTV’s Video Music Awards, Real World: Las Vegas, Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown and E!’s Girls Next Door and Sunset Tan feature the resort on a regular basis. The Palms Casino Resort is located just west of the Las Vegas Strip and I-15 on Flamingo Road. For room reservation information, call toll free at (866) PALMS-RES, (866) 725-6773, or visit www.palms.com. For groups of 15 rooms or more, contact the Sales Department at (866) PALMS-MTG or (866) 725-6768.
It looks like Spike TV isn’t going to let the UFC walk away from their longtime liaison quietly.
Like a woman scorned , Spike will attempt to sabotage Zuffa’s burgeoning relationship with Fox by counter-programming the network’s first UFC event featuring a heavyweight tilt between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos with a three-hour special “Dos Santos vs. Velasquez: Unleashed” series of shows according to MMA Junkie. The November 12 Unleashed Marathon will begin at 9:00 just as Fox’s inaugural UFC event is set to start.
According to the report, Spike owns the broadcast rights to the UFC library through 2012, and unless Zuffa buys back the rights the network will likely continue to counter-program Fox’s events for the next year. The catch 22 of the situation is that unless the UFC buys back the rights, Spike cannot air any other promotion’s events, which explains why it is only airing Bellator’s prelims on its website. The move could be a testing ground to see if there’s enough interest to move Bellator’s weekly events to the rotation when the UFC agreement expires.
(A woman scorned always has her revenge.)
It looks like Spike TV isn’t going to let the UFC walk away from their longtime liaison quietly.
Like a woman scorned , Spike will attempt to sabotage Zuffa’s burgeoning relationship with Fox by counter-programming the network’s first UFC event featuring a heavyweight tilt between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos with a three-hour special “Dos Santos vs. Velasquez: Unleashed” series of shows according to MMA Junkie. The November 12 Unleashed Marathon will begin at 9:00 just as Fox’s inaugural UFC event is set to start.
According to the report, Spike owns the broadcast rights to the UFC library through 2012, and unless Zuffa buys back the rights the network will likely continue to counter-program Fox’s events for the next year. The catch 22 of the situation is that unless the UFC buys back the rights, Spike cannot air any other promotion’s events, which explains why it is only airing Bellator’s prelims on its website. The move could be a testing ground to see if there’s enough interest to move Bellator’s weekly events to the rotation when the UFC agreement expires.
Needless to say, Dana White is not impressed. During an interview he did with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani last week, the UFC president pulled no punches when discussing the move by Spike to air Bellator fights on Spike.com, but added as a last f*ck you that Zuffa has no intention of buying the rights back from Spike.
“UFC programming will be on Spike in 2012. It will continue there. When you look at what I call ‘the spirit of the deal,’ [counter-programming] is the wrong thing to do. In my opinion, it’s Spike not being honorable. They’re not being honorable and they know. [Spike president] Kevin [Kay] knows; [Spike senior vice president of sports and specials] Brian [Diamond] — all the guys who have dealt with me at Spike TV — I’ve been nothing but honorable with them,” White explained. “Everything that I did was to build the UFC and Spike TV. I’ve been a fantastic partner. Whatever they needed from me I’ve done for them and helped them get to where they are today, just like they’ve helped us get to where we are today. And what they’re doing, if that’s the case, and they’re running [Bellator fights] on Spike.com, that’s not the spirit of the deal and they are being 100 percent not honorable.”
MMA H.E.A.T.’s Karyn Bryant catches up with UFC Middleweight Michael Bisping and gets his thoughts on teammate Rampage Jackson’s preparation for his title fight with Jon Jones, and what he thinks will happen if Rampage successfully lands a punch on the young champ’s chin. Michael also talks about the new season of The Ultimate Fighter, which marks his return as a coach after his season 9 session opposite Dan Henderson. During his first turn as a coach, when the USA faced the UK, Micheal was seen as something of a villain to many MMA fans, and he comments on that perception and lets us know how he actually feels about America.
MMA H.E.A.T.’s Karyn Bryant catches up with UFC Middleweight Michael Bisping and gets his thoughts on teammate Rampage Jackson’s preparation for his title fight with Jon Jones, and what he thinks will happen if Rampage successfully lands a punch on the young champ’s chin. Michael also talks about the new season of The Ultimate Fighter, which marks his return as a coach after his season 9 session opposite Dan Henderson. During his first turn as a coach, when the USA faced the UK, Micheal was seen as something of a villain to many MMA fans, and he comments on that perception and lets us know how he actually feels about America.
Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter” begins tonight on SPIKE TV, as opposing coaches Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping and Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller oversee a new crop of featherweight and bantamweight hopefuls. The latest season of TUF begins tonight (Sept. 21, 2011) at 9PM EST on Spike TV with a two hour season-premier.
Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter” begins tonight on SPIKE TV, as opposing coaches Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping and Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller oversee a new crop of featherweight and bantamweight hopefuls. The latest season of TUF begins tonight (Sept. 21, 2011) at 9PM EST on Spike TV with a two hour season-premier.
UFC middleweight, and TUF 14 coach, Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller was a guest on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday night to talk about the latest season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
UFC middleweight, and TUF 14 coach, Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller was a guest on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday night to talk about the latest season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
