While it was never really in question that Michael Bisping would be the head coach for Team United Kingdom on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter (subtitled The USA vs. The UK), his opposing coach had not been named--until now. The head coach of the American team will be the winner of the upcoming fight between Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin, according to Sherdog. The two are scheduled to fight on January 17th, 2009, in Dublin, Ireland. The winner will fight Michael Bisping at the end of the TUF 9 season at middleweight, which means if Franklin defeats Henderson, he will have to drop back down to 185-lbs. The issue with this arrangement is that if Franklin beats Henderson, then beats Bisping on the show, he is back where he started. The UFC will not give him a third shot at Anderson Silva and Franklin himself has told reporters he isn't interested. It would likely be the case that Franklin would return to light heavyweight (205-lbs). The ideal situation for the UFC is that Michael Bisping beats whoever he coaches against and goes on to fight Anderson Silva in London or Liverpool, but at this point he would be an underdog against either Henderson or Franklin.
They should just make Hendo and Bisping the coaches. If Franklin beats Hendo at 205 then let it count as him moving on up the ladder, why make him drop back to 185.
I think you are right, but they are concerned about Henderson earning a number one contender fight (vs. Bisping) after losing to Franklin. That would be pretty unfair to the division. So instead they are just going to let the winner of that fight be coach.
