It seems the crazy altercation which led to Nate Diaz pulling out of Russia’s take on The Ultimate Fighter hasn’t put off possible coaching alternatives.
In early May, Diaz vs. Jones was announced for ALF Global. Like the UFC’s TUF, the Russian reality show has a format that sees two prominent coaches train teams of fighting prospects.
Bantamweight rivals Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling coached on the show, and they got much further into proceedings than the latest pairing.
Diaz vs. Jones is off after a brawl broke out on set. The Stockton star’s apparent history with Russia’s Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev is said to have served as the catalyst for one fighter targeting him.
And after Jake Shields, a member of Diaz’s team, claimed to have been attacked by a crew member when he stepped in, the group departed and will not return to film the series.
It remains to be seen what happens to the show and whether Jones will still get the chance to coach on it. But the producers appear to have at least one willing replacement for Diaz.
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Daniel Cormier ‘more interested’ in coaching Russian reality show after Jon Jones remarks
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier reacted to the on-set brawl.
‘DC’ revealed that he was originally offered the coaching gig but turned it down. However, after hearing what Jones — Cormier’s longtime bitter rival — has said about the experience, he’s having second thoughts.
“I was supposed to do this show. The more and more that I hear about it, I’m kind of sad that I didn’t go and do Russian TUF,” Cormier said. “I was told, ‘Hey, we’ll get you a massive villa, you’re gonna get paid big money…spend a month in Thailand, and you coach these dudes.’
“I want to do this show today more than I wanted to do the show back then because of something Jones said in regards to the show. … After what Jones said, man, sign me up for Russian TUF.”
Jones was open about the crazy environment that ALF Global is filmed in, and despite that ultimately leading to a brawl, Cormier still “wants in.”
“Jones goes, ‘I have been around the bushido spirit for a long time; martial arts spirit, where everyone has a certain degree of rules they don’t cross…I don’t think there’s a lot of that here. Some guys are warriors and some guys are really just street fighters. There are insults, there are weapons; I mean, this show, there’s nothing like it.’
“How on Earth if you’re a coach or a personality, how could you not want to be involved in something like this, where Jon Jones is telling you, without saying the words, ‘This s—t kind of scares me.'”
The former fighter and current color commentator replacing Diaz likely wouldn’t decrease the chance of another scrap breaking out given his history with the current UFC heavyweight champion.
Cormier and Jones brawled themselves over a decade ago, as their UFC rivalry turned increasingly ugly.
Daniel Cormier recently coached on the original TUF for UFC
One thing Cormier would have in his favor on the Russian reality show is a coaching history.
Beyond just conventional coaching in wrestling and MMA, ‘DC’ also has recent experience serving as a trainer in reality television.
The ex-light heavyweight and heavyweight UFC champ coached the 2025 edition of The Ultimate Fighter opposite the co-host of his podcast, fellow MMA veteran Chael Sonnen.
This marks Cormier’s second time coaching on TUF, having previously battled Stipe Miocic on season 27 in 2018.
The Ultimate Fighter 33, featuring male flyweights and welterweights, is set to air every Tuesday from May 27.