Source
r/MMA•
DefNotUnderrated

Best and Worst Ultimate Fighter Coaches?

Sorry if this is a common question, but I'm starting to work my way through TUF and I was curious as to what you guys thought as far as who was a good coach and who sucked balls.

I know it can be dumb reality TV but I like seeing new sides of the fighters as coaches and I'm a little fascinated by what qualities make a good coach vs a bad one.

I've only watched seasons 5, 12, and 18 this far. GSP gets my pick for being the best coach out of the episodes I've seen and Koscheck the worst. Although I didn't think Josh was bad at the training portion itself, but he would have been better suited to just be teaching strength and conditioning alongside someone else as who fulfilled the role as head coach. Also he set a terrible example in terms of conduct IMO

Also - who else would y'all want to see coach and why?

Edit: I thought Miesha was probably the better coach than Ronda because she seemed to have a greater concept of game planning for her fighters based on their strengths vs the other person's. Ronda seemed to be pretty decent though. But she didn't game plan and she had Edmund teaching striking, which - yeesh.

Pulver struck me as the better coach though again, I didn't think Penn was bad, just way more obsessed with beating Pulver than with coaching

Posted Feb 15, 2016, 10:54 PM UTC · edited

634
NormanBorlaug69"Mike Hunt"•

Chael was a great coach. He put his feud with Jones aside completely to focus on the fighters. Lesnar, Rampage, and Koscheck were all pretty shit coaches.

19
DefNotUnderratedOP•

I've heard a lot about how Chael was a great coach. Kinda looking forward to watching his season. It's funny how a few of the "heels" turned out to be good coaches (Chael and Ortiz) though not always (Koschech, cough cough)

3
TheZombiezSlayaTeam Mir•

I still don't understand getting Lesnar as a coach. He was a big draw. But come on. He had like what, 6 fights at the time?

2
Slowmoplata•

I don't know if he was actually that great of a coach, but the one guy who really surprised me was Mayhem Miller. I thought he was just a not-particularly-lovable goofball, but he showed up to work and seemed to be genuinely invested in his team. I really liked Sonnen for the same reason--and I thought he came across particularly well on the Brazilian season he did, managing to gain the trust and respect of his team despite his feud with Anderson and ongoing rivalry with Wanderlei.

15
HonorableJudgeIto•

Mayhem is a great BJJ participate in MMA. Makes sense he would be a good coach.

My belief is this: if you are an amazing grappler, you need to be able to break things down to decide which move/setup/escape to do when. I think great grapplers make the best coaches. A lot of striking is reactive timing and feel, comparatively (not completely, but compared to striking). It's harder to teach timing as its more instinctive.

1
Slowmoplata•

I mean, yeah, I knew he was a good grappler, but his personality did not seem like it'd fit the mold of a coach very well. He really pulled himself together for that season; shame what's happened to him since.

Like, for example, Diego Brandao's probably got an amazing understanding of how BJJ works, being a second degree black belt, but it would blow my mind if he were to coach a season of TUF and he wound up looking not just like a good technical trainer, but a sensible coach with empathy and the ability to make his team feel at home.

2
attacktheradical"Jaideep Singh deserves an immediate rematch."•

Mayhem actually seemed to be a fantastic coach. He devoted a lot to his team and took the job seriously (as seriously as Mayhem can take something).

15
BrokeInMichigan•

Well, considering he went 1 - 7 his season, and threw fits like a child every time he lost (Those poor doors), I'd have to say Rampage was the worst coach. Even though I love Rampage, and actually really enjoyed that season, he was probably the worst coach they've had.

Actually, god damnit I'm gonna go watch it again, cause that shit was entertaining.

13
Slowmoplata•

That was his do-over season, too. He managed to only go 2-6 in his first season as a coach!

6
FuuJitsu•

Man I know im gonna get downvoted to hell for this, but I just didnt like the way conor coached his team.

9
iamajew2•

I think for the first couple of episodes that's a universal opinion, up until he had his dad lecture from Faber, he really turned it around after that. And I thought Faber was an excellent coach, one of my favorites.

12
MumrikDK•

Dude, I think even Conor fans came out of that one thinking that maybe Faber isn't such a bad guy to have in your corner.

6
Mrcandleguy"Animal Balloon Gangsta"•

I went into that showing watching it because of Conor, now Faber is probably one of my most favorite people in MMA. Seems like such an awesome guy.

5
DefNotUnderratedOP•

Do you mind elaborating? I haven't seen it yet so I have no opinion-I'm curious

2
CarnalKid•

His attitude was basically that they should have done the work before showing up and it wasn't his responsibility to teach them things.

3†
elehay4aksega"Team Steroids"•

Why sign up to be a coach then?

1
MumrikDK•

Promotion, money, and a chance to get a teammate a shot (Artem "The Torso" Lobov).

2
maxramrod•

He didn't sign up.

-2
CarnalKid•

Good self promotion and/or jumping through hoops. He hadn't beaten Mendes at the time, and wasn't the star he is now.

-7
FuuJitsu•

The teams had two big training sessions per day, and Conor refused to go to the morning one.

2
DefNotUnderratedOP•

Okay that does set a pretty bad example

3
iamajew2•

My top three would be 3. Rashad Evans 2. Tito Ortiz

  1. Jason Miller
7
NotTheBomber•

Rampage was pretty bad as a coach, and almost every episode of Big Country's terrible season there was a part where I was just boggled by what was going on.

One of the most unintentionally funny TUF moments in my opinion is when Roy went up to Dana to suggest that a Team Carwin fighter didn't make weight the day before. Dana was livid that Roy would say that after his guy lost, and not right when he felt like something was off at the weigh in

7
calpolkid•

Ken was really reaally bad

6
Warden_de_DiosTeam Hunt•

Tito made a great coach, he put the fighters first and tried to help each of them be a better fighter. Ken said some dick shit about these fighters should already know how to fight and there should be nothing left for Ken to teach them.

3
VinceOnAPlanePunch Face Champion•

Best - Jason Miller.

Worst - Rampage.

3
poridgepants•

Penn was pretty bad

1
DefNotUnderratedOP•

you thought so? He wasn't especially good but I don't remember anything really standing out to me as him sucking aside from nursing a rather ridiculous grudge against Pulver that got in the way of coaching. But his coaching ability seemed okay

1
Madmaniusmick"Be careful I am prophetic!"•

Koscheck, Tate, Rampage and Lesnar.

0
MexicanBookClubBang's Peanut Butter Supplier•

i didn't watch but heard conor was awful

-6
300andWhat•

he got bitched out by Faber and after that took it a bit more serious

6
IAmJacksPokedEyeDonate to water4.org•

I'm sure plenty of the TUF coaches have not enjoyed doing it but he was the first I saw and genuinely thought that he didn't want to do it at all.

1