The Los Angeles Times is reporting that UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen will coach the next season of The Ultimate Fighter and then fight for the LHW title on April 27.

UFC President Dana White told The Times on Tuesday that Jones and Sonnen have been assigned as opposing coaches in the third installment of "The Ultimate Fighter" on FX, creating some extensive pre-fight hype for their April 27 pay-per-view title match at a site to be determined.

"The Ultimate Fighter" with Jones and Sonnen is set to begin shooting on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas, with a debut in early January as young middleweights participate in a tournament that leads up to an April "TUF" finale at the Vegas Hard Rock Hotel, where the winner will receive a multi-fight UFC contract.

Jones last defended his title against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152. He defeated Belfort via submission in the fourth round but only after a first round Belfort arm bar attempt left Jones with an injured right arm. According to a follow-up tweet from Pugmire, Jones' arm injury will necessitate a long layoff and since Jones would be on hiatus anyway, they decided to book him on TUF.

Sonnen last fought against Middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 148, losing by TKO in the 2nd round. Sonnen had been set to return to the Light Heavyweight division against Forrest Griffin at UFC 155 on December 29 but that fight is now off according to a tweet from Pugmire. This means that Sonnen will be getting an immediate title shot despite not having fought at LHW in years and coming off a loss in his last fight at MW.

Jones notoriously declined to face Sonnen on extremely short notice at UFC 151, forcing the cancellation of the event. Jones had been scheduled to face Dan Henderson who had to bow out with a knee injury. At the time Jones said that his trainer Greg Jackson told him that facing Sonnen on short notice would be "the worst mistake of his career.

The Ultimate Fighter has been struggling against the lowest ratings of its 16 season run this year with Heavyweight coaches Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin failing to click with audiences. It will be very interesting to see if the combination of one of the UFC's best fighters and most outspoken personalities can re-ignite fan interest.

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I did not expect that, ever... my first impression is that the tv show will be great but I don't understand the fight. Sonnen must be a master of manipulation lol.

Anthony Pettis apparently misses out on TUF gig due to injury

It had been assumed by many that UFC lightweight Anthony Pettis was going to be one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 17, opposite Donald Cerrone. The announcement of Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen obviously blew that assumption out of the water, so MMA Fighting got in contact with Pettis to ask what happened. It turns out that his recovery from shoulder surgery is apparently to blame:

"[I'm] still recovering from shoulder surgery," he said, "and it's taking longer than expected. I was hoping to get 'The Ultimate Fighter' gig because I was told it was me and [Donald] Cerrone coaching, and now it's not happening. I'm just frustrated with everything, man."

Pettis thinks he'll be ready to go fairly soon though:

"I'm hoping to return in January," he said.

I find it a tad curious that an injured Jones can coach, but an injured Pettis can't. I'm guessing that coaching on the show involves a lot of physicality and Pettis is probably still worse off than Jones, but if he'd be ready to fight in January, wouldn't he have to start camp in a few weeks anyway? At least he wouldn't have had to fight until April if he was named as a TUF 17 coach.

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To me no matter how i look at this even inside-out is wiggity, wiggity, wiggity WACK