The UFC looked like it was backed into a corner for Season 13 of "The Ultimate Fighter." The bantamweights weren't an option. Chael Sonnen's away-from-the-Octagon nonsense dashed the plan of having him coach against Wanderlei Silva.
What was left?
It was pointed out earlier in the day that Brock Lesnar made sense, but could Dana White get the cranky former champ to spend seven weeks in Las Vegas? Not only did White pull off the coup of Lesnar on TUF 13, he also got Junior dos Santos as the other coach.
Lesnar and dos Santos will hit the ground in Las Vegas some time in the next two weeks to begin taping for TUF 13. They'll oversee a crew of welterweights.
The TUF 13 Finale comes on June 4 in Las Vegas. Lesnar and JDS will meet shortly after that on a pay-per-view card in June. White said everything came together when Velasquez went down for 6-to-8 months because of shoulder surgery.
"There were a lot of people we were looking at, and then, boom. Cain Velasquez gets hurt," White said. "And I was literally driving to work one morning and I said, 'You know what? This makes sense. Let's see if we can do this.'"
White hinted that getting Lesnar to commit to what will turn out to be a massive time commitment wasn't easy. He also knows the work of managing the big guy's mood has just begun.
"I'm already prepared mentally – it's going to be a tough season," White said. "I deal with Brock in very short spurts. The guy fights two to three times a year, and it's always tough. It's going to be an interesting six weeks of filming. ... (Brock) is not exactly a happy-go-lucky guy. Who knows what's going to happen this season. I do know it's going to be very interesting to see."
White told the media today that the deal was finalized about 10 days ago. He was thrilled to see all the speculation especially in regards to Lesnar's hunger to fight on after his rough loss to Velasquez. Lesnar has a chance to prove he can take a punch without turning and running. JDS is one of the top strikers in the world at heavyweight. The winner of their fight is slated to meet Velasquez upon his return.
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