Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has been tabbed as one of two coaches who will appear on season eight of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), which will begin taping soon and is expected to debut on Spike TV on September 17, according to Yahoo!Sports.com.
His opposing coach is none other than UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, setting up an eventual blockbuster title match on New Year’s Eve 2008.
This is quite a reversal of fortune for “The Baddest Man on The Planet.” Less than 18 months ago, most were quick to write off Mir as a gifted and technical fighter who could not replicate his previous exploits inside the Octagon after recovering from a near fatal motorcycle wreck.
In fact, he lost two of his first three bouts when he returned to action — and his lone win over Dan Christison during that span was less than impressive.
But things began to turn around for Mir when he submitted Antoni Hardonk with a textbook kimura at UFC 74: “Respect” in August 2007. He did what everyone was waiting for him to do and he looked good doing it.
The “old” Frank Mir was back.
That was no more evident than when in his next bout Mir weathered a brutal attack from the massive Brock Lesnar at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” to pull off a crafty fight-ending submission (kneebar). It appears that the two back-to-back wins, as well as a visible re-dedication to training, has earned Mir another shot at championship glory.
First, however, he will have to train and manage a team of mixed martial arts hopefuls in front of a national television audience. That shouldn’t be a problem because Mir is comfortable in front of a camera thanks to his role as ringside announcer at World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) events.
He also knows a thing or two about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA overall. Mir has a ton of fight experience and he’s not even 30 years old.
Nogueira — who defeated Tim Sylvia to win the interim heavyweight championship at UFC 81 — is the first man ever to hold Pride FC and UFC belts. He is undefeated inside the Octagon (2-0) and will look to win over several new fans (and students) while on the show.
Despite his talent and unrivaled accomplishments, it appears that Nogueira has yet to gain widespread respect and notoriety from casual fans. That could all change … soon.
TUF 8 is expected to feature light heavyweights and lightweights, breaking from recent tradition of focusing on just one weight class. Filming is set to begin soon and the show will run from September through December.
Should be good … and the eventual fight between Mir and Nogueira should be even better.
118 Comments »
So this means Mir gets a title shot. Good lets see how Nog handles another submission guy.
I need to start training mma, bulk up 20 pounds, and go fight at heavyweight since the UFC is handing out title shots to anyone! What a F’in joke! Forrest gets a shot, now Mir….Marketing is starting to take up all the match making…..This is a joke!
Also, this news leads me to believe that the UFC will not re sign Arlovski! If they planned on bringing Andre back, Nogueira owuld have fought him 1st before this reality show…These 2 coaches have been booked because the UFC has no idea who to award a HW title shot too. Look for news about Arlovski being signed to Affliction to emerge in about 2 weeks. Right now he cant negotiate with anyone other then the UFC but it will expire in 2 weeks and he will sign with Affliction. All the affliction rumors have been very accurate and I expect that this 1 will happen as well. A couple weeks ago Ben Rothwell himself was ticked off that the bout was leaked and he tried to cover it up, since Arlovski isnt supposed to be negotiating with any organization outside of the UFC yet….IMO, its a done deal…Arlovski is GONE! and he will be fighting Rothwell in July! Thats just my guess!!
Mania, are you being serious that this should be good????
This show is fast becoming a title fight version of the cock block. Yeah I guess it’s added revenue for the fighters, but the top tier guys don’t need the extra money to the extent as we need top competotion fighting 4 times a year (I WISH)
Belt on hold again…
“Mir gets a title shot with a victory over Brock Lesnar.” That is how poor the UFC HW division has come. And they need to stall 10 months on top of it. Nog won the belt in February.
Who else is there that can compete with Nog that has deserved it John?
Frank Mir I believe is the only marketable heavyweight who actually has a winning streak inside the octagon right now. I mean that is the money match-up. A Former heavyweight Champion, who slayed the pro wrestler, and defeated the Dutch Kickboxer.
Who else is there? Literally. You want to see Herring vs. Nog 72?
This is the only logical choice. But now I hate it because we have to wait 7 months till we see this fight because of this damn TUF show. Bring back the original format or the TUF 4 format, and bring in coaches from around the world to help train these kids.
Geebus
Greg Jackson, Caesar Gracie, Bob Cook, Pat Militich, royce, Bas! No titles held up, and you get great coaching!!
Point is that NO ONE deserves a title shot by eeking out a submission against a unexperienced fighter! he does not deserve this title shot!
I agree, I can’t even see mir posing a threat to big nog, seriously, but than again, the HW division is pretty slim. they shouldn’t have let timmey go, this could have been a rematch between the two.
Mr NC 17: U r absolutely right. In this case, since the Heavyweight division is trash….they have to give it to Mir! Postponing the HW division is not that bad of an idea because it will give them time to build up some stars…..
Because Nog beat Hearing 3 times already….Kongo loosing to hearing was really bad for the division!
This news means that Arlovski wont be coming back to the UFC
Hopefully Werdum beats Vera because I would really like to see Werdum vs. Nog 2
I think a Vera/Nog fight would be a more appropriate match instead of the Werdum/Nog II match. Vera is a more popular star, and I think seeing him win, and getting the shot at the winner of Mir/Nog would be better for the UFC rather than Werdum.
I would love to see a Mir vs. Vera II, and I would like to see how Nog would do against Vera standing.
Also with Andrei being gone along with Timmy, as you said it. This is hurt.. Terribly. Oh well. Always can lean on Mark Coleman.
Nah John I think you need a little more faith in Vera. If he DOES beat Werdum, that will be because he is that good, and Vera is very marketable, and a very good fighter.
I hope he can beat Werdum, would rather see VEra in contention than Werdum.
And yeah I think this will be a boring JJ match, unless they both try to slug it out sloppyly.
Vera will Not beat Werdum…..U heard it here 1st!
John, fans are split almost 50-50 for the Vera-Werdum fight. You’re hardly the first to call it for Werdum lol.
Vera and Werdum are far more deserving than Mir. Hell, so are Kongo and Herring for that matter.
Nog is going to outstrike him, and finish him in the 2nd when he gasses. Then people will keep going on about the myth that was pre-accident Mir… The same guy who was tooled by Ian Freeman, gassed and barely beat a terrible wes sims, and only won the title due to Sylvia being retarded and taking him down.
This is so stupid it isn’t even funny. Mir doesn’t deserve a shot, and the fans don’t deserve to have the title on hold
mir for sure deserves a shot. he never lost his belt to begin with. he looks fully recovered from the accident. im sure that a title shot was part of the arangement if he beat lesnar who is a beast and will get his own title shot within 18 months. frank mir is the most skilled heavyweight as far as bjj and his striking is great. big nog is probably the econd bets bjj heavyweight. hopefully they will stand for a while then mir gets the subin the 2nd round. war frank mir!!!
If mir deserves a shot then maybe Vera should get a shot since he beat the crap out of Mir. This is a complete mismatch! you dont know shit about jiu jitsu!
Agreed and if Lesnar gets a title shot within 18 months i’m finding a new fight sport to follow. Lesnar is a roid freak and a B Grade athlete. He looks like one of the kids from “Revenge of The Nerds”. ALPHA BETA RULES!!
B grade MMA guy, yes….B grade athlete, No!
I got a BOLD statement that is sure to rub everyone the wrong way and stir up this forum: If the UFC signs Jacre, he will be the one to take Silva’s title….Take that mmamania! lol Today, he could not beat Silva, but once he eventually makes it to the UFC, he is going to choke his way through the entire middleweight division!
I never realized how athletically gifted that kid was…IMO he has the best ju jitsu out of any Brazilian fighting in mma (including Big Nog)!! Also, his striking is getting better.. Forrest Griffin was quoted as saying that Jacre had heavier hands then him, and Forrest is a big Kat (Then again, Forrest is not exactly a KO machine). I also like the fact that he has already suffered a KO loss… Since then he has bounced back and looks truley Amazing!
I am dying to see Jacre vs. Mayhem in the 2nd round of the middleweight grand prix….If they book that fight I will go BONKERS….That would be a great scrap and a good test to see how well Jacre has really evolved to mma… I am a Mayhem monkey for life…But I would have to go with Jacre in that one….Plus I love the aligator crawl he does after his wins! lol
I also would love to see Jacre vs. BJ Penn in a straight grappling match!
Keep in mind that Jacre is training extensively with wanderlei and extreme couture!
Been confirmed John!!!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Rothwell
just remember back at the post “lets get the rumor right its not about who”
ya well i was trying to clear up that i was not fighting AA in Sept on another org. as the original rumor stated. I tried to never say if i was/was not fighting AA but most all the forum took it that way, sorry i guess.
anyway I’m excited to fight a top10 HW, so thanks for the support, peace
Cut n Paste job:
*CLOSE RUMOR** AA vs Rothwell Pretty Much Set For Affliction!?
Rumor: Affliction Set to Announce Ben Rothwell-Andrei Arlovski Bout For July Event
A source close to the organization tells CagePotato.com that a bout between former IFL heavyweight Ben Rothwell and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is all but official and an announcement from Affliction is forthcoming. The bout has been rumored for weeks now, but no announcement has been made as of yet.
Rothwell is signed to both Affliction and Adrenaline MMA, a new organization headed by Rothwell’s manager, Monte Cox. Recent reports on the status of the July 19 Affliction card at The Pond in Anaheim, Calif. had Rothwell facing an as of yet unnamed opponent. The source confirmed that the opponent will be Arlovski, who leaves the UFC riding a three-fight win streak.
If true, it would add even more firepower to an already impressive first card for Affliction. The card is expected to be broken into pay-per-view and cable broadcast portions, which was reportedly a sticking point in negotiations between Affliction and HDNet. The addition of Rothwell-Arlovski would add even more top heavyweights to a card already laden with them, as well as position Affliction as a destination for heavyweights moving forward.
At the time of this posting, neither representatives for Rothwell or Arlovski had returned calls seeking confirmation of this information.
Would love it. Rothwell needs to fight some grade A competition.
Gay! Gay!! Gay! This is gonna be as exciting as the HW divsion is now….. lame.com/I’ll still prob watch it :-/
NICE. Mir will destroy. Mirs standup is so much better now. Nog is no match on the ground or standing up.
WAR MIR!!!!!
You must be completely out of your mind if you think Nog will be no match on the ground!
you must be crazy mir sucks, he got great bjj and thats it, even before his accident he had trouble with mid level fighters and the only person he has ever beat is tim sylvia and thats because tim did not respect him. he got destroyed by vera and some other guy who is not in the ufc anymore and beat a striker and a rookie and that deserves a title shot. nog is better on the feet or on the ground.
Yeah.. Mir’s standup looked incredible against Brock Lesnar eh?
LOL, like we didn’t see that take down coming two months before the figh even happened. Mir’s stand up is good, but if Sylvia isn’t KO’ing nog, mir definitely isn’t
believe it or not, nog has a really good boxing game, you just didn’t see it against timmey because of the reach disadvantage. I don’t see any threats for nog in this fight, not standing up and DEFINITELY not on the ground. keep dreaming DJ.
did you forget that his training stand up part is ANDERSON silva!! and nog boxing is much better than mir’s… and the ground he is the best at heavy weight..
“The Real Dj”, You are obviously not an educated fan if you think Mir will own this fight. If anything, Mir should kiss Nog’s feet just for letting him inside the octagon with him. I like Mir as much as the next guy, however, in this fight, Mir is but the learner.
Holy moly - gotta take Nog here….
i knew it was coming, and it still pisses me off, its the worse thing they could do sing the champ in there show tying up the belt.Also no way does mir deserve a title shot but i guess when your h.w. devision is so weak thats all you got.
The worst kept secret in MMA.
Mir’s stand-up is better, but Nog can take a beating. Who makes the first mistake and gets submitted?
This also allows them to tie up the HW title, while they try to recruit some new blood.
I agree 100%, whoever makes the first mistake gets submitted. Nog is tough as nails and recovers fast so this is going to be a hell of a fight.
And Mania, you know you have 2 pics of Mir up there right?
Yeah, WTF?
It’s because nog’s face is so messed up he’s not picture friendly :p
Can’t wait for this fight. It just sucks we have to wait 7 months to see it. Does this mean Arlovski is leaving? And how the hell does Mir go from fighting Mcully to fighting Nog for the title? Weird…
The UFC heavyweight division is easily the weakest division. The current TUF has middleweights and this one will have lightheavys and lightweights. I don’t get it.
did you just ask a question and answered it yourself? Me, Myself and Irene?
The second part was in reference to TUF. Why don’t they do a show with heavyweights since that is the weakest division in the UFC, it could use some help? But, nice try.
yeah I was just playing around, I was bored yesterday. I don’t get why they didn’t do hw’s either though, it seems like Dana isn’t even trying to save that division.
wow…proves the weakness of the HW division when one win gives you a title shot.
Two wins. lol
And how are people saying Mir is better on the ground than Nog? Nog is one of the best on the ground period, let alone the HW division. Mir may have better striking, but I doubt he’ll KO Nog.
Well there really is no one else right now to fight and mir star power shot up when he beat brock. the only other fighter who would werdum if he beats vera
What makes you think Mir has better striking? His striking is actually nowhere near Nog’s. Nog has much better technical boxing, and will easily control the standup. This fight is a huge mismatch, but uneducated fans who consider Lesnar a god don’t know it yet.
LOL like we didn’t already know this. IT SUCKS!!!
thats right, this BS the UFC is always holding up titles. Yes the HW division is weak, so what. What’s the excuse for holding up the other titles? Why not have it Pat Militich vs. Greg Jackson, or Caesar Gracie vs. Bob Cook? How bout Royce Graci vs. Bas Rutten. I just threw out 3 “matchups” as coaches that would have more drawing power than Mir/Nog.
What r they going to announce next??? Brock lesner gets the winner??
By the way, I’ll go on the record as saying, unless a work, Coleman takes that one too!!!
No way in hell Coleman wins that fight. Brock’s GnP is a hell of a lot better than Coleman’s at the peak of his career. Brock wins by stoppage after pounding Coleman’s face through the floor. I am almost positive that Brock will not leave himself open for another submission. He’s got too much money and probably has hired a couple of jiu jitsu guys to make sure he doesn’t make the same mistake. For the record, I hate wrestling(The WWE Fake Crap).
you’re probably right, thats why the ufc gave him 6 months notice. On the other hand, coleman may be old, but he’s olympic caliber, and had Fedors back quite easily, Brock better than fedor…I think not, maybe equal to one of Fedors Pubic hairs
I guess we’ll see if Coleman in his forties can do what Randy has done in his forties. But like you said Brock better than Fedor, no, but I do think that Brock is a better wrestler but him taking Fedor down would only get him submitted.
I would never underestimate Mir, but man it’s no way in hell I’m betting against Big Nog…. Should be an awesome fight, can’t wait!!!
Yeah it’s too bad that we have to wait for Tuf to see this fight and it’s not even going to be HWs. I’m with you, this is going to be a tough fight to call.
The one big down fall that ic here is that Nog has bad english so it would be hard to have him on tv if you cant understand him. how can you learn from a guy when you dont understand him. Then again half the time i cant understand rampage so it should be ok.
you learn from practice. I could show you technique without ever talking to you. The problem is so many guys think they no it all, so an instructor needs to talk over them
When I used to wrestle sometimes we had practices where no one (even the coach) spoke. It made you focus on what was being demonstrated so you could spot the intricacies of the move/technique.
Kevin’s right. Everytime I trained with a brazilian, the technique was what I watched. The english doesnt have to be that good.
Ok i get it but from a show on tv that sounds a lil boring you want to hear from the coaches
Mania you talk about how Nogueira has yet to gain widespread respect and notoriety from casual fans…
im sure it dont help when you do a story on the champion and a challenger but only put pics of the challenger..
if Mir adjusts his cardio we might see him champion again, I would have never expected that.
Awesome match up, this should be a great ground fight. Can’t wait!
I know the UFC is thin with the heavy’s right now but to justify a title shot for Mir since he beat a Green Pea to the sport in Brock. Hmmmm im not impressed with this match up, and of course tie up the Heavyweight belt for over another half a year….
Its getting old isn’t it? Mir and Nog will go 10 months without fighting, if this fight goes as slated in December.
Meh, good picks as far as coaching goes, but I won’t be too excited for this season.
Mir shouldn’t be anywhere near a title shot. Also, this means that another weight class is on hold, because the champion has to coach on TUF. I understood with Rampage since he’s hurt, but Serra coaching TUF6 put the WW division on hold for over a year.
8 Months, its crazy is it not? I guess since th heavyweight division is so weak, we should find a contender for the belt in 7 months. Wether it be Lesnar, Coleman, Cain, Vera, Werdum. Sanchez or whoever it may be, I think in 7 months we should be able to see who the true contender is.
They should pick 2 new coaches, re-sign Arlovski, and set up Arlovski vs. Big Nog for the summer.
Ahhh, a perfect world..
Big Nog cant even speak english.
FRANK MIR F T W !
He speaks English well enough to coach…And probably better than GSP did when he coached TUF 4.
Terrible idea! stop using champions!!!
Yes!!! I hate TUF! All we get is huge delays in championship fights. This could have headlined UFC 85. Screw TUF…I wanna see champions fight more than once a year.
the perfect turn out for me would be Mir wins then resign Arlovski and Mir vs Arlovski.i like Frank and hope he beats Nog. i dont dislike Nog i just hope Frank wins the title back cuz it sucks how he lost it in the first place.off the topic but does anyone have any info on Arlovski? i heard rumors he was fighting Ben Rothwell in affliction banned soon. does anyone know any solid facts on this?
THANK YOU MANIA!!
Kevin- The problem with most of the people you named is taht they are already coaches, devouting all of their time to coaching, they aren’t gonna do the show to comprimise the job they already have. The UFC uses its own fighters because they just wont schedule them to fight while they are coaching. On that note, the UFC realizes that people will watch the show because they believe the coaches will soon be pitted against eachother. So i agree with you that this does block title shots for others, but they can’t really hire people who are already big time coaches.
But with enough notice, couldn’t the coaches arrange for top students to teach while they worked on TUF? I imagine it would be a huge boost in popularity/ new students for their schools.
I think it kinda sucks that the UFC puts a reality show ahead of actual fights. Even more so since they said they were releasing all these extra fighters because their headliners were only fighting once or twice a year. Its unfortunate that we have to wait ten months for Big Nog to defend his title. I guess since no one else is left in the Heavyweight class, Mir is a decent opponent. I would’ve liked to see AA, but I’ll watch him beat Rothwell in the Affliction show. Another sign that the UFC is allowing other promotions to gain momentum by not pushing the big fights along.
MMAMANIA
nice pic of nog!!!!
NOT
this could turn out to be a good one, mir seems to be at his best when a great challenge put in front of him.. i thought silvia and lesnar would of crushed him so
I won’t count him out yet…
I thought Ian Freeman, Pe De Pano, and Vera would have crushed him so… oh wait
this show is just getting worse and worse; now even the coaches are uninteresting
This should be good for TUF, but I really wish they’d stop putting titles on the line for so long.
on hold, rather.
wow now wont that be boring forest and rampage to mir and Nogueira comon now give the fans a break they couldnt find ne body else who cares about the heavy weight title its a fuckin shit division ne way
woah! a battle of jiujitsu! we will see who’s a better technique.
Don’t need to wait. Nog is a notch or two above Mir.
Allright, I have always said that at the end of the day, the UFC stll has more of the best fighters, and usually in every division. It’s getting tough to uphold that argument in the HW division. When Coutre, Fedor, Arlovski, and Sylvia are all out…I’m not seeing it. Not to mention the sheer loss of “star power”. Well, that’s what we all said we wanted. Competition will make for better mma overall right?. Well, it might take some time, but who knows.
Having two fighters coach against each other will only hype a fight well if theres bad blood. Both guys are very classy and will respect eachother to the utmost. This is not a smart idea. Now we have another year layoff before a title defense. Part of me wishes that ALL the elite fighters would leave the UFC so Dana and the Fertitas could just fall off the face of the earth and stop ruining the fights that we want to see sooner.
Those contestants are gonna get the best coach ever. What do you wanna bet that Nog has Anderson Silva as a guest coach.
That would actually be a hell of a team to train with. Not only is Anderson Silva a beast, but Nog’s brother is a great boxer, winning the bronze at the last Pan Ams. Add in Machida, Belfort, and maybe Filho and you have a hell of a training camp. One of the best in all of mma at the moment.
GUARANTEE!!!!!!!!!!
I guarantee Frank Mir wins that fight. Guarantee it. I’ve said in the past Frank Mir would get the title back, and, it’s gonna happen. I’m no mega Frank Mir fan, I just think he’s a really good fighter. He has all the tools and ability to just dominate the HW division for a long time.
So, you heard it. Hold me to it. Frank Mir wins that fight.
And, Mania, when Frank does win that fight, you should realize my brilliance and bring on staff. I write better than I rant. And I rant pretty good.
Thats an empty guarantee. What happens when you’re wrong? Are you gonna pay me? How is Mir gonna win? KO? If Cro-Cop, Fedor (2 tries), Sylvia, Herring (3 tries) couldn’t KO Nog, how the hell is Mir gonna? Submission? Thats just laughable. There isnt anyone in the world that can sub Nog in an MMA match, especially not the HW division. Decision? Mir barely has the gas to last a 3 round match, let alone a 5 rounder. Nog is always in great shape. Craig, maybe you can go write for Yahoo sports or something like that, but not for Mania.