(This FanPost was edited and promoted to the front page by MMAMania.com)
Earlier this week, it was announced that (former) number one contender Junior dos Santos would be coaching against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar on season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). Filming of the show will begin in the next few weeks and discussion has been plentiful. Topics range from the match-up of the two coaches at the end of the season to whether or not "Cigano" will be able to speak English effectively enough to coach his team of welterweights.
One question that immediately comes to mind is -- who will the lead trainers be? Dos Santos gave us an inside look at what his staff may look like this season (via Sherdog):
"I’m still picking my team. Luiz Dorea will be the boxing coach. Billy [Schiebe], an American friend, should be the muay Thai coach. I’m thinking of someone else for jiu-jitsu, and the wrestling coach could be Rodrigo Artilheiro, who is very good, and speaks both Portuguese and English, which helps with communication. I think early next week, we’ll have the full team."Based on that, I went ahead and included some information of the coaches that we'll probably see and a few more that may show up as well. Follow along after the jump to get to know Team Dos Santos.
Rodrigo Artilheiro
Judo and Olympic Fight Brazilian Champion Rodrigo Artilheiro is the wrestling coach of choice for Junior dos Santos. With Mark Munoz busy, not only with his gym but also his own fight preparations, Artilheiro is one of the main wrestling coaches for the rest of the Black House team. The same man that has prepared Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for many of his fights, Artilheiro also was a big part of Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic's training camps during his best days in Pride.
Luiz Dorea
The primary boxing coach will be an easy pick for the Ultimate Fighter staff. Coach Dorea has maintained an elite standard for his gym, refining the stand up of many fighters such as Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who is an South American And Pan American games boxing medalist, Brazilian prospect Edilberto "Crocota" de Oliveira and former number one contender Damian Maia.
Luiz Dorea is a former professional boxer who held a record of 6-2 before focusing more on coaching and training. The Nogueira’s began training with Dorea while in their teens and he's remained an integral part of the camp ever since. He has other talented boxers in his gym that enable him to give his MMA fighters elite partners to box against.
A prominent Black House coach, Schiebe is an American Muay Thai practitioner who has trained Brandon Vera and his wife Kerry as well as other Alliance MMA fighters. He's helped prepare Phil Davis for a few of his fights and most recently has been recognized as the Muay Thai coach for Mark Munoz Reign MMA gym.
Schiebe is also the lead Muay Thai trainer for the Nogueira’s ever since Luiz Alves had a stroke and could no longer be their coach. He will be another good addition to the Dos Santos team as he has big name experience to offer the contestants.
While the conventional pick for jiu-jitsu coach is Junior’s mentor "Minatauro" Nogueria, "Big Nog" is still currently in the process of rehabbing a hip injury. While it isn’t out of the question for him to be a part of the camp in some form, I would think the logical choice is Maia, who does not have a fight scheduled at this point in time.
The Brazilian's jiu-jitsu credentials are well known but in case you aren't familiar with the, here is a quick rundown -- 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Wrestling World Champion, 2006 Pan American Champion, 2005 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Runner-Up, 3x World Cup Champion, 2x World Champion and he is even a four time winner of the UFC’s "Submission of the Night" award.
Another reason Maia would be a good fit is that he's likely to be roughly the same size as many of the contestants on the show. Learning effective jiu-jitsu can really be enhanced by demonstartions with partners of equal size.
All those coaches aside, "JDS" has an incredible amount of talent at his disposal. He will be able to reach out to his team anytime he needs to. Black House hosts an impressive list of MMA superstars including UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida, WEC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Rafael Cavalcante, Antonio Rogerio Noguiera, Pedro Rizzo, Paulo Filho, Wagney Fabiano and the list goes on and on.
Dos Santos will not need to look very far to assemble the very best team available. With all that said, Maniacs, let's hear your thoughts on the coaching choices made by "Cigano."
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