In an attempt to boost ratings for tomorrow night’s edition of The Ultimate Fighter: Live it’s been announced that the episode will reveal who team coach Urijah Faber’s next opponent will be in the UFC.
Faber had originally been set to face his opposite coach Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight title at UFC 148 in July, but the champion tore his ACL in training last week and has had to pull out of the bout.
With Cruz set to be out for at least nine months the UFC have already confirmed that Faber will fight for the interim title in the meantime, but as yet the name of his opponent has been kept secret.
Tomorrow night we’ll find out for sure and the smart money would be on Brazilian phenom Renan Barao who hasn’t lost since his very first MMA fight some seven years ago and is currently 28-1-1 overall. If it’s not him then look for either Michael MacDonald (15-1) or Ivan Menjivar (24-8) to get the nod with Brad Pickett (21-6) being a long shot.
TUF: Live could certainly use an uptick in ratings after dipping below one million viewers on several occasions during it’s current season on FX, but it remains to be seen if this latest stunt moves the needle or not.
