For casual fans and television executives, the news that crossover star Brock Lesnar is going to coach on Season 13 of "The Ultimate Fighter" is great news. For some reason, several media types and many hardcore fans are questioning the choice.
Lesnar, with only seven fights under his belt, clearly has some holes in his game.
Ariel Helwani from Fanhouse asked if the integrity of show would be affected with such a green fighter as the coach (2:35 mark).
"I think that's one of the craziest things I've ever heard you say. the guy's a former world champion. He's beat guys and held the title. No matter what his record is, what the guy's accomplished in a short amount of time in MMA is incredible," said White.
Lesnar, a former NCAA wrestling heavyweight champ, works with Marty Morgan. Morgan is also a former NCAA champ, who went on to wrestle at an elite level on the Greco-Roman international scene.
"He's obviously got a lot that he can teach. Not only that, but the staff he's got around him have a lot to teach up and coming guys. That's really what it's all about," said White.
White then turned it up a notch.
"To say the guy doesn't have the credentials to coach the 'Ultimate Fighter' is probably one of the dumbest things I've ever heard," said White (3:20 mark).
Is the show and the choice of coaches really about the quality of the coach?
Clearly TUF is a mix of entertainment and some fighting. If it were just about the fighting then current MMA stars like Jon Fitch, Frank Edgar and Tyron Woodley wouldn't have been rejected in the past. You'd also see tons of training footage with all those brilliant assistant coaches who've been on the show over the years.
On the subject of Lesnar as a coach. We really have no idea what sort of coach he'll be. He may be great at imparting his knowledge of grappling and wrestling. He may also stink just like 38-fight veteran Ken Shamrock did during his stint on TUF 3. It's also likely that Erik Paulson will be the guy working on striking with Team Lesnar. There's a lot of fighters around MMA who respect Paulson. Are they wrong?
Lesnar comes from similar background as wrestlers like Randy Couture (TUF 1) and Matt Hughes (TUF 2). Would you call either one of those guys boxing savants back when their seasons taped in 2004 and 2005 respectively?
Pipe down. Enjoy the show for what it is. It's part prospect training camp, part personality development for the coaches and part selling the sport. TUF 13 will deliver the biggest ratings in the history of the show. How can that be a bad thing?
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