The Ultimate Fighter: United Kingdom Vs. Australia Now Official

[VCURamFan]

Yay, another foriegn season of TUF that will be all in subtitles!!

The Ultimate Fighter is set to expand once again. After fourteen seasons in Las Vegas the reality show decided to give Brazil a try, and now they're going to go with a country vs. country format. BE's Josh Nason reported about the potential show last month, and now it's official: The Brits will take on the Aussies. UFC president Dana White tweeted about it a little while ago (he misspelled Smashes):

The name of the show is a play on The Ashes, a cricket match between England and Australia steeped in history (info via K.J. Gould). Tryouts will take place in Sydney on June 12th and London on June 15th, and are open to anyone from 130 pounds (between flyweight and bantamweight) to welterweight (170 pounds). It has been rumored that Brad Pickett might be a coach for the UK side but nothing is set in stone yet. A lot of the details will be ironed out over time, but this should be exciting news for UK and Australian MMA fans.

[Bella79]

There are no good opportunities for coaches for either UK or Australia.. Horrible, horrible. Not many mainstream fans even know who One Punch is.. Grrrrrr..

[VCURamFan]

Originally Posted by Bella79

There are no good opportunities for coaches for either UK or Australia.. Horrible, horrible. Not many mainstream fans even know who One Punch is.. Grrrrrr..

Don't you think that might be the point? Grow UK MMA by showing them another high caliber athlete besides Mike they can root for?

[Bella79]

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

Don't you think that might be the point? Grow UK MMA by showing them another high caliber athlete besides Mike they can root for?

Well they need to grow themselves before they coach and my comment had nothing to do with Mike. lol

[VCURamFan]

Originally Posted by Bella79

Well they need to grow themselves before they coach and my comment had nothing to do with Mike. lol

I just meant that Mike was the only other British guy they've had coach & they probably wanted to use this vehicle to promote someone else since Mike is so firmly a star now.

[Bella79]

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

I just meant that Mike was the only other British guy they've had coach & they probably wanted to use this vehicle to promote someone else since Mike is so firmly a star now.

What my point is. How can you have a coach to promote when the coach needs to be a good fighter first? You just don't put in guys to Coach when they lack experience, and tenure.. If that's the case they can throw that loser Hardy in there since he is a very popular fighter from the UK, however how in the world would he be able to successfully 'coach' when he is still a student?

[VCURamFan]

Originally Posted by Bella79

What my point is. How can you have a coach to promote when the coach needs to be a good fighter first? You just don't put in guys to Coach when they lack experience, and tenure.. If that's the case they can throw that loser Hardy in there since he is a very popular fighter from the UK, however how in the world would he be able to successfully 'coach' when he is still a student?

Yeah, but they've done that a lot: there have been a slew of "coaches" on the seasons who aren't actually good coaches themselves (GSP is the first that springs to mind), so instead they just turn training over to their coaches they bring along & jump into the drills along side their team members.

I agree that Pickett is definitely not who would have been my first pick, but he seems the most logical if they don't want Mike again (or if he doesn't want to do it again, as the case may be).

[Bella79]

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

Yeah, but they've done that a lot: there have been a slew of "coaches" on the seasons who aren't actually good coaches themselves (GSP is the first that springs to mind), so instead they just turn training over to their coaches they bring along & jump into the drills along side their team members.

I agree that Pickett is definitely not who would have been my first pick, but he seems the most logical if they don't want Mike again (or if he doesn't want to do it again, as the case may be).

I think they should go for Terry Etim or John Maguire.. But what the hell do I know.. LOL!!!!!

[VCURamFan]

Originally Posted by Bella79

I think they should go for Terry Etim or John Maguire.. But what the hell do I know.. LOL!!!!!

Those guys may be better suited to coaching (I don't know much about them), but they're not as close to a title shot as Pickett is. The UFC wants to familiarize their audience with the next contender so that the viewers will fell more connected once fight time rolls around.

[Bella79]

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

Those guys may be better suited to coaching (I don't know much about them), but they're not as close to a title shot as Pickett is. The UFC wants to familiarize their audience with the next contender so that the viewers will fell more connected once fight time rolls around.

Brad is still quite away from a title shot. Lets not be daft.