Lesnar Opens Up on ‘TUF 13’ Coaching
Chris Nelson Mar 28, 2011
Brock Lesnar (above) will coach opposite Junior dos Santos on
TUF 13. | Sherdog.com
UFC President Dana White made no bones about it when he made the announcement in January: with Brock Lesnar helming one of the teams for the 13th iteration of “The Ultimate Fighter,” it was going to be “a tough season.”
Just how tough it was remains to be seen, as the all-welterweight season makes its debut Wednesday on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET. On a Monday media conference call, however, the notoriously cantankerous Lesnar had much to say about his coaching stint on the long-running reality show.
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That is not to say that the 33-year-old former UFC heavyweight champion would be interested in returning to the program. In fact, after some mulling over, Lesnar admitted that he would prefer not to.
“I was there to do a job. My job was to be the coach for ‘The
Ultimate Fighter,’” Lesnar said. “We had a great group of guys. It
was a good opportunity for me to learn, as well, and I probably
wouldn’t do it again... but I did enjoy it.”
Lesnar was quick to dismiss any notion of bad blood between himself and rival coach Junior dos Santos, with whom he will square off in a No. 1 contender’s bout at UFC 131 on June 11.
“I probably spent a total of 30 minutes with Junior on the show,” Lesnar said. “I didn’t make it a point to run into him or anything of that nature. I saw very little of him other than what we were doing for television. The total time I spent with him there was 30 to 40 minutes.”
Likewise, the 26-year-old Brazilian had only praise for Lesnar, whom he repeatedly described as “professional” during the question-and-answer session.
“Prior to the show, I never actually met Brock,” said Dos Santos. “I was a little surprised how professional and easy to deal with Brock was.”
Asked whether he modeled his coaching style after any of his mentors -- specifically, longtime University of Minnesota wrestling coach J. Robinson -- Lesnar stated that he went one better: he took his mentors along with him.
“I brought my own coaching staff there: Marty Morgan, Erik Paulson, Greg Nelson, ‘Comprido’ [Rodigo Medeiros], Luke Richardson. I was surrounded with guys who have taken me to the top,” said Lesnar. “I really wanted [our team] to do well... It really is a short period of time that you’ve got these guys. Five and a half weeks is a short period of time and there’s a lot of fighting going on in that period. So, if these guys bring bad habits to the table or they lack experience in one area, you gotta be pretty creative and figure that out really fast.”
“Some of these guys came into the show with different areas that they were stronger in, and I was able to give them some more wrestling, if that was the case,” Lesnar said, noting that his skill of trade’s current dominance in MMA has come as a surprise even to him.
“Take Jon Jones, for instance. To be able to take a fight wherever you want is very powerful in this sport. I just look across the board and I see the wrestlers starting to take this sport to another level.”
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