Reports emerged from MMA Junkie on Tuesday that the next coaches for The Ultimate Fighter Brazil would be Brazilian Heavyweights Antonio Noguiera and Fabricio Werdum. Following the ratings success of the first show, the UFC have looked to keep the ratings up in the second stint of the show, with two of the biggest names in Brazilian MMA as the series coaches. Both fighters bring a wealth of experience to their positions and have both appeared on American editions of the show, with Noguiera appearing as a coach opposite Frank Mir in series 8 and Werdum appearing as Wanderlei Silva’s BJJ coach on the TUF Brazil series 1.

Whilst this is a great selection as coaches for the fans in Brazil, it appears quite an odd appointment considering the status of both fighters within the division. Werdum is seen by many as a title contender and can only be a fight or two away from a title shot and I’m surprised that he hasn’t been paired up with a returning Alistair Overeem for a title shot. Big Nog on the other hand is no more than a gatekeeper at Heavyweight and isn’t likely to be receiving a title shot during the rest of his UFC career, unless something dramatically changes at Heavyweight. Whilst I’m sure both fighters will do there best to win the fight on the finale on the show, it will be Werdum who has the most to lose in this fight and I can only see a Werdum victory when these two square off. Having said that, if there’s any man who can pull off the upset its Antonio Rodgrigo Noguiera and Noguiera has beaten Werdum in the past, in an Open Weight fight in the 2006 Pride Grand Prix.

Whilst I may have considered putting Machida and Rua in as the coaches in the next series, providing Rua beats Guatafsson in their fight, this isn’t a bad pick but it’s seemingly the only pick the UFC could have made right now with the majority of the other top tier Brazilian fighter tied up in fights.