T-Berg's Top 10 11.20.09: Week 9 - Top 10 Possible Ultimate Fighter Coaches

Posted by Todd Bergman on 11.20.2009

411’s Todd Bergman returns this week to rank the Top 10 possible The Ultimate Fighter coaching match ups for the upcoming 11th season. Griffin vs. Franklin, Belfort vs. Ortiz, and Silva vs. Marquardt all take a shot at landing the top spot on T-Berg’s Top 10 List. Click inside to see who ranks at the top.

With the 10th Season of The Ultimate Fighter winding down, word has already begun to circulate about the 11th Season. The up-and-coming season will feature Middleweights and Light Heavyweights and, just based on the rumors of tryouts, the anticipated season should be filled with the best roster to date. While the show is most certainly about building "independent" fighters into UFC-caliber fighters, the show often takes a back seat to the interactions between the coaches. Whether you feel that should be the focus of the show or not, you have to understand that the show is somewhat about building anticipation for and promoting the upcoming fight between the two coaches. I supposed most people don't realize that, but, in the end, the show is certainly about putting more money in the pockets of Dana White.




Some of the best seasons of The Ultimate Fighter have featured some pretty heated rivalries between the coaches. Ortiz vs. Shamrock was previously the highest-rated season until Kimbo Slice showed up in the house. Why was the third season so highly rated? It was everyone tuning in to see what the coaches were going to do. Ken's horrible trash-talking mixed with Tito's ability to get under the skin of Shamrock made for some pretty good television. Can the UFC do that again? I'm sure that they can, so in this edition of the Top 10, I'm taking a look at the possible coaching match ups for the upcoming 11th season. The process of selecting this Top 10 gets rather murky because of the upcoming fight schedule and how, at anytime, an injury could change the game. Also, the recent addition of Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman at UFC 109 which takes place Super Bowl weekend in February mucks up the list as well. So what does all that mean? It means that effectively Couture won't be available to coach the upcoming season that is set to tape in January. So without further ado, let's have a look at the list.



10.) Dan Hardy vs. GSP

While I think that this match up is actually good for the show, recent rumors might have this possible pairing shut down before it even gets off the ground. Still I decided to include this pairing because anything can happen in MMA and it's possible that these two could still be the coaches. I know that many of you hate when titles are tied up for a lengthy amount of time because of the taping of the show, but Dan Hardy needs more mainstream, American marketing if he truly is going to get the title shot. GSP could also benefit from the exposure as well. While GSP is commonly known as one of the best fighters on the planet, he still isn't as well-known within the casual audience. Therefore, the potential, overall economic impact could be greater if the UFC decides to put this match up together even though rumors seems to state that it won't happen due to GSP wanting to fight sooner rather than later. Moreover, Hardy has huge potential to be a mega star with his unique charisma and exciting fighting style.



9.) Tito Ortiz vs. Vitor Belfort

There would be a lot riding on this match up considering Belfort would have to move back to the 205-pound division for this rematch, but I think that Belfort would be okay with the move. It's insanely hard to tell when Belfort will get his title shot against Anderson Silva, so this match up could be in jeopardy even before it's put together. However, I think that this pairing would play out tremendously on television. Belfort would have the entire Xtreme Couture team at his disposal, and Ortiz, of course, in the past has proved to be a tremendous coach. Their first fight ended with a controversial Split Decision victory for Ortiz, so an intriguing backstory for this showdown is already there. I would've ranked this match up higher, but I'm not sure that Belfort will abandon the Middleweight division. Ultimately, there could be quite a few possible match ups with Ortiz on this show since now Dana knows that Tito equals ratings.



8.) Penn/Sanchez Winner vs. Diaz/Maynard Winner

With the upcoming title fight between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez, it's totally possible that the winner of that fight could land a spot at coaching the next season. I'm really hoping for the match up of Sanchez and Diaz simply for the comedy gold that the season could produce. Can you imagine the interactions that Sanchez and Diaz would have? While longtime readers know that I've said all long that I'm taking Sanchez in the fight, I highly doubt that Diaz can beat Maynard outside of the The Ultimate Fighter house. I do realize that Diaz beat Gray earlier on the show, but Gray is a much-improved fighter since those days. For Penn or Sanchez it would be a return to the program that launched their careers to a higher mass of audience. If any of these guys were to become the coaches, there's no doubt that the ratings would suffer.



7.) Mike Swick vs. Paul Daley

This feud played out for weeks and evolved on a seemingly a daily basis before Swick took on Dan Hardy at UFC 105. Both guys don't like each other and, for that reason alone, this match up lands here on the list. Daley's upcoming fight with Carlos Condit, will greatly effect the possibility of this fight. If Daley wins, it would be hard to deny him a future title shot against the winner of the Hardy/GSP potential fight. From Swick's stand point, he needs to come back and he needs to get a solid win. Swick looked awful against Hardy this past weekend, and a few more fights like this could mean a huge demotion within the UFC. While Daley isn't a huge name, most fans will remember him for his destruction of Martin Kampmann and his cool English accent. Both guys come from solid camps, and it would be interesting to see how AKA would interact with Team Rough House. I'm not saying that a showdown between Swick and Daley would be a main event caliber showdown, but it's time that the UFC did something with this show outside of tying up titles.


6.) No Coaches Per Say

It's a novel concept, but what about having no main coaches on the show. Instead have a few different, major camps come in and train the fighters. Obviously this concept would only work with a comeback-style show or, my personal favorite idea of bringing back old The Ultimate Fighter contestants and letting them fight it out for a contract. I've pitched this idea to Dana before, and he didn't like it. ut eventually he's going to have to do something with his quickly-evaporating talent pool. If I had to choose two coaches, it would be Greg Jackson and Shawn Tompkins. I wouldn't want to see any teams particularly as much as just individuals training each day with these great coaches. The ratings would probably suck for this season as well, but it could produce some great comeback stories.



5.) Nate Marquardt vs. Anderson Silva

Outside of Dan Henderson, there is no one in the UFC Middleweight division that deserves a title shot more than Nate Marquardt. I would even go to the extent that Marquardt deserves a title shot over Henderson, especially since I think that Marquardt has beat far greater talent than Henderson has. The idea of putting Silva on the show would more than likely mean that the UFC would be trying to milk the Silva cow for one of the last times before he moves on to the "big money" showdown with Roy Jones Jr. The build up of the show would be great for Marquardt as he still isn't a huge name outside of hardcore MMA fans. Since it appears that Silva won't fight for awhile because of his elbow injury, the possibility of this is still sketchy. The same could be said for Marquardt who is scheduled to take on Chael Sonnen in the next couple of months. I often wonder what the general MMA audience thinks of Silva. Since he began his UFC run, he appears to be the most dominant fighter in UFC history. This is one of the few match ups of coaches that could truly main event a Pay-Per view.



4.) Josh Koscheck vs. Matt Hughes

I think that this could be the best possible match up for the show even though Hughes as stated that he wants no part of fighting the "lesser known" fighters. To me that means that Hughes doesn't want to tarnish his legacy by possibly losing countless fights. Dana White has mentioned that he has one half of the coaches signed, which makes me think that it could be Hughes. The other half could come after the upcoming Koscheck/Johnson fight this weekend. I didn't pick Kos to win the fight but I don't think that would stop him from being a coach. The background of AKA could only help to improve Kos's coaching abilities. Hughes, on the other hand ,was tremendous in his two previous coaching experiences. Who could forget Hughes being "The Queen" or the passing out of the Bibles that greatly offended Mac Danzig. Do any of you think that it's possible for Hughes to not get under the skin of Koscheck? The once-hated Koscheck is now somewhat of a fan favorite and that could lead to ratings success. Here's to hoping that Kos would catch Hughes sleeping somewhere and would then proceed to turn the garden hose on him.



3.) Shane Carwin vs. Cain Velasquez

With all of the craziness that has recently surrounded the Brock Lesnar situation, talk has arisen that these two will clash in a fight that will name a new Interim Champ. First I would like to say that it appears that the UFC's Heavyweight Title has become a giant curse that has seriously damaged, at some point, the careers of Frank Mir, Randy Couture, and now Brock Lesnar. Both of these guys are tremendous up-and-coming talents that could only benefit from being on a National TV show. The build up and promotion of the fight would greatly increase the potential buy rate in the long run. It's hard to believe that nearly a year ago both guys were considered potential champs at some time and now they could be tangling for a title. The ratings for the show might suffer because neither one will trash talk, but they are both competitive and that could lead to some heated face offs.



2.) Forrest Griffin vs. Chuck Liddell

I know that this is a fight that Dana White wants to make happen. However, I'm not completely sure that Griffin or Liddell would have an interest in making another appearance on the show. I do think that if Liddell wanted to return to the Octagon that a potential run on the show would help to promote what could be one of his last fights. Griffin is the likely wild card in this because he is one of the most popular fighters in the UFC. The ratings success for this would be solely based on the UFC promoting the crap out of Liddell, the "old face" of the UFC, returning to take on the "new face" of the UFC, Griffin. The "new face of the UFC" thing is debatable at best, especially with Lesnar taking the lion's share of media attention, but Lesnar wouldn't be enjoying the media attention if it weren't for the path paved by Bonnar and Griffin. What interest would you, as fans, have in this potential match up?



1.) Rich Franklin vs. Forrest Griffin/Tito Ortiz

Supposedly this is the odds on favorite for the upcoming season. I'm guessing that the winner of this weekend's Griffin vs. Ortiz fight would land the coaching gig. If you checked out the roundtable, then you know that I selected Griffin to win this season. Franklin needs a big time victory at the 205lbs division and Griffin/Ortiz could be that victory. The lead up to the potential fight could mean a massive buy rate for the UFC. All three guys are tremendous draws in the UFC. While that means that the coaches would, again, overshadow the fighters themselves, it would mean that, again, the UFC could strike gold. Whoever is selected, it would mean that it would be their second season as the head coach. Is there any interest in any of the potential match ups? That's for all of you to decide, but I most certainly think so. Any chance that Franklin tells someone else to drop to a knee to avoid the takedown or Ortiz/Griffin takes another young group of fighters under their wings?

There's the list of the Top 10 Possible The Ultimate Fighter Coaches. I hope that everyone enjoys UFC 106 this weekend. Who do you think should be a coach on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter? Do you have a suggestion for a future Top 10 list? Let me know below. Remember to support your local MMA and keep your tapping hand strong.