There's a first time for everything.
UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has always enjoyed helping his fellow fighters get better. But actually being a coach? For someone who likes to keep to his own circle and keep things pretty casual, coaching up eight strangers in front of the unblinking cameras of The Ultimate Fighter—the 27th season debuts Wednesday, with Miocic coaching opposite light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier—represented a decidedly formal introduction to the practice.
"I had never coached before," Miocic said in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report. "It was a little awkward at first, and it was a little overwhelming.