Originally Posted by MMAMania

Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans named as coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 10


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It appears the bad blood between former light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “Sugar” Rashad Evans will take precedence over the traditional format for the upcoming tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF).

Despite losing to Lyoto Machida at UFC 98 on May 23, Fighter’s Only is reporting that Evans — not Machida — will oppose Jackson, even though Rampage still has a pending showdown with “The Dragon” later this year for the light heavyweight championship.

If correct, that would push a grudge match between Jackson and Evans into 2010, possibly taking some of the fire out of their inevitable confrontations during filming.

While Machida coaching may have been a concern from a production and ratings standpoint for Spike TV, it would have been a nice medium to get the quiet champion some much-needed exposure on national television (much like it did for Antonio Nogueira on TUF 8), leading up to his big money title fight against Jackson in September.

This will not be the first rodeo for Jackson — he served as coach alongside then 205-pound number one contender, Forrest Griffin, during TUF 7 in early 2008. He would later go on to lose his title to Griffin via controversial unanimous decision at UFC 86: “Jackson vs. Griffin” in July 2008.

Rampage was great on camera throughout the season, which is more than likely the reason Spike TV producers wanted him back. His now legendary face-to-face jawing session with current division champion, Rashad Evans, as well as an alleged beef with “Sugar” — the TUF 2 heavyweight winner — during a recent photo shoot, likely helped influence the decision.

TUF 10 is expected to focus on heavier divisions — more than 250 aspiring mixed martial artists from the heavyweight, light heavyweight and middleweight divisions, including three former NFL football players, recently piled into the Marriott Seattle Airport Hotel in Seattle, Wa., with hopes of landing a spot on the show.