Things are shaping up well for the latest ‘TUF’ imprint and there’s a fair chance that the next great Brazilian champion will be in the house when the show begins. If anyone can find that star it’d be Anderson Silva & ‘Shogun’ Rua. They are two of the most decorated MMA fighters in Brazil’s history and they will coach the two teams.
Silva has never coached or participated in a season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and it’s the equivalent of Barry Bonds or Hank Aaron teaching minor leaguers how to hit for 6 weeks. Both he and Rua are like rockstars in Brazil, which is undoubtably why this season is poised to shatter the numbers from the first 3 seasons.
The hype for the season is already huge; over 600 fighters came to the lightweight/bantamweight open tryouts.
UFC matchmaker Joe Silva praised the turnout at the open tryouts in Brazil:
“There is a huge untapped pool here,” Silva says. “We do have a lot of Brazilians, but there are still so many more, and it’s different, I find, with the Brazilian ‘TUFs’ in that quite often in the American ones, sometimes you have guys who just want to be TV stars or be famous. But these kids, you see there’s a lot of crying, a lot of emotion in it because for them. This is life-changing.
“This isn’t just about being on TV. It’s like, ‘I can make a better life for myself and my family.’ So the stakes are very high.”
This will also be the first season of ‘TUF: Brazil’ that will take place in Las Vegas.
“We just found it’s an easier way to streamline the process for us,” Dan Farmer, producer for “The Ultimate Fighter” International, tells USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie. “It’s where our headquarters are. We have a full production company that’s been doing it for over 20 seasons, and it just allows us to consolidate our operations. We’re able to involve (UFC President) Dana White more.
“We just think it’s going to lead to a better season because we have that whole dynamic going and just the resources we’ll have.”
UFC Fight Pass will show the entire season of ‘TUF: Brazil 4’ domestically, while it’ll be broadcast on Globo in Brazil.