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The Ultimate Fighter 8 TUF Assistant Coaches Revealed

by Stan Leung
Mixed Martial Arts Betting and MMA odds
June 17, 2008

Spike TV has already announced that Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira and former champion Frank Mir will be the coaches for the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter TUF 8, to premier on September 17, 2008. Production on season eight begins in late May, with the entire cast to be announced in September. The event will feature light heavyweight fighters (186-205 lb) and lightweight fighters (146-155 lb). Both coaches are scheduled to fight for the UFC Heavyweight title after the completion of the series and after the TUF finale on Spike TV.

We have known for awhile that TUF 8 will be for the heavyweights for the UFC six figure contract and the coaches will be former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir versus the current interim UFC heavyweight champion the Minotauro Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.


Frank Mir has announced that his assistants will be are jujitsu champion Robert Drysdale, who won the open weight Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championship in 2007, and conditioning coach Rafael Alejarra, who has recently served as Wanderlei Silva’s conditioning coach. Robert Drysdale is probably the best American jujitsu fighters in the world. Drysdale's submission victory over five-time world BJJ champion Marcelo Garcia at the 2007 Abu Dhabi Absolute tournament was a major upset. Drysdale now trains at Xtreme Couture fight team that includes Forrest Griffin, Karo Parisyan, Tyson Griffin, Chris Horodecki, Joey Varner, Gina Carano and other top fighters. What Mir lacks in jujitsu Drysdale definitely makes up for in fundamentals, experience and training.


The biggest asset on the Mir camp will be Drysdale who will be able to give insight on the Brazilian way of fighting since he has trained in Brazil for a number of years. He got his Black Belt in 2004 from Leo Vieira.


Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s assistants include UFC middleweight champion and pound for pound top fighter Anderson Silva and top UFC light heavyweight Lyoto Machida. This star studded line up will definitely be the team all contestants will want to be a part of since they will have two of the top ten pound for pound fighters in the world in Nogueira and Anderson Silva. Who would not want to be on this team with both UFC heavyweight and middleweight champions. Also Lyoto Machida is one of the best light heavyweights in the world as well.


TUF show contestants will be chopping at the bit to learn grappling for one of the best grapplers in the world in Nogueira and learn kickboxing from the most devastating striker in MMA today. Also they can learn some unorthodox fighting techniques from Machida as well. Many don’t see what Mir can offer as a coach while on the other side the résumés of all 3 fighters far surpass Team Mir.


Nogueira's notable victories in PRIDE include wins over Dan Henderson, Mark Coleman, Heath Herring, former UFC heavyweight champions Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, and Bob Sapp.

Nogueira accomplishments include:

Judo black belt
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt
RINGS: King of Kings 2000 Tournament Winner
First PRIDE FC heavyweight champion
PRIDE FC interim heavyweight champion
UFC interim heavyweight champion
PRIDE FC 2004 heavyweight grand prix Runner-up
First fighter to hold both the UFC and PRIDE heavyweight championships

Frank Mir obtained his Black Belt in Kenpo Karate as a teenager. He also excelled in wrestling and won the Nevada State High School Wrestling Championships in the heavy weight division. After graduating from High School he started studying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is now a Black Belt in Brazilian Jujitsu. He is also an accomplished Muay Thai Kickboxer. He holds notable wins over Pete Williams, Wes Sims, Dan Christison, Tim Sylvia, and Brock Lesnar.

Frank is also the former UFC heavy weight champion but had to vacant the tile due to a vicious motorcycle accident on September 17 2004.


The Ultimate Fighter 8 will debut in September following UFC Fight Night 14 and will feature lightweight and light heavyweight fighters. Nogueria and Mir will then clash following the season in a UFC heavyweight championship bout.