
UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman will be back on TV early next year as a wrestling coach for B.J. Penn’s team on The Ultimate Fighter 19. Coleman, who retired earlier this partly due to an upcoming hip surgery, spoke to Fox Sports about the deal and expressed his gratitude to Penn for bringing him on board:
“Me and BJ Penn have been friends since the beginning of this thing, and I consider him a great friend. Hopefully he respects my ability to coach some wrestling and hopefully help his team win this Ultimate Fighter,” Coleman told FOX Sports on Friday. “That’s the goal to win in the end. I guess he’s got confidence in me and he offered me the position to be his wrestling coach on the show. I’m extremely honored and excited to be on the show.
“Here we go, I’m going to have to put my hip to the test.”
Coleman will also be a special guest of the UFC at their 20th anniversary show in November in Las Vegas. Penn’s team will face off against a team coached by Frankie Edgar, with the two men meeting in the cage at 145 pounds next year.
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