Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva To Coach Brazilian Season Of The Ultimate Fighter

UFC President Dana White today announced that veteran UFC stars Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva will coach the first Brazilian season of The Ultimate Fighter.  The two fighters will face one another at the end of the season. The two previously fought in 1998 in the first UFC to be held in Brazil. Belfort scored a quick KO win over Silva who went on to be the long-time Pride middleweight (200lb) champion.

The show has had a popular 14 season run in the U.S. on Spike TV. The Ultimate Fighter Brazil will be the first international edition of TUF. The show will air on Globo in Brazil and is expected to air on Fuel TV in the U.S.

"This show in the United States is huge. It's one of the longest-running reality shows," said White at the UFC 142 press conference. "It's incredibly popular, it's been huge for us there. We think it's going to be 1,000 times bigger in Brazil. The amount of talent that's in this country right now? There's an undiscovered Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, Vitor Belfort or Wanderlei Silva."

White has been in Brazil to promote the upcoming UFC 142 pay per view which features a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo vs Chad Mendes and to oversee the selection of contestants for the reality show. UFC 142 will take place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 14, 2012.

Joining White at today's press conference in Rio were Aldo and Mendes as well as middleweights Vitor Belfort and Anthony Johnson who will also be fighting on the card.

The press conference was streamed live on UFC.com.