TUF Season 9 coaches announced

During a special question and answer session at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on Tuesday, UFC President, Dana White announced that the winner of the UFC 93 matchup of light heavyweights, Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin will be a coach on upcoming season nine of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show.

Michael “The Count” Bisping, winner of TUF season 3 at Light Heavyweight, had already been previously confirmed as the other coach for season nine.

“The Ultimate Fighter” season 9 will pit U.S.A. and U.K. welterweights and lightweights against one another on opposing teams. Bisping of course will head up the U.K. team and the winner of Franklin vs. Henderson will coach the U.S. team.

As the season’s conclusion, the coach from Team U.S.A. will face the coach from Team U.K. in a pay per view battle. Although Franklin and Henderson will initially meet at light heavyweight at UFC 93, the winner will face Bisping at middleweight.

The revelation that the winner of the Henderson vs. Franklin match will be a coach on season nine was somewhat of a surprise to fans and media alike, since Rich Franklin had not seemed too fond of the idea of a second stint as a TUF coach.

As many fans may recall, the UFC held open tryouts for TUF season 9, US vs. UK, in Chicago and the UK in early October. Follow up interviews were then scheduled in Las Vegas for the leading applicants. The final roster of contestants will be made some time in January and taping is scheduled to follow shortly after.

The highly touted TUF season 9, will begin airing in early April 2009 preceded by an Ultimate Fight Night event.

UFC 93 featuring the main event between Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin, will be held in Dublin, Ireland on January 17, 2009. UFC 93 will also feature bouts between Mark Coleman and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Adam Belcher vs. Dennis Kang, and Chris Lytle vs. Marcus “The Irish Handgrenade” Davis (which both fighters have promissed to be a standup slugfest!)

-Jeff Howard