The Ultimate Fighter tryouts generally draw an interesting set of crowds. With the addition of women to this upcoming season of TUF, it appears as if the crowd will have some notable names as well.
According to a report from MMA Mania, a number of notable names like Shayna Baszler, Kim Couture and Tara LaRosa showed up for the TUF 18 tryouts.
Other notable fighters who’ve appeared on Invicta FC cards like Sarah Moras, Jessamyn Duke, Raquel Pennington and Jocelyn Lybarger all showed up looking for a chance to step inside the Octagon as well.
Baszler is a very dangerous submission artist and is the grappling product of Jason Barnett. All but one of her victories can be attributed to submission, a couple of which can be attributed to the rare “twister” submission that Chan Sung-Jung captivated audiences with.
Couture may have the name recognition but sports just a 3-6 professional record and hasn’t competed since Oct. 2011.
LaRosa is considered by many to be a pioneer in WMMA and has been competing since 2002. LaRosa recently lost at Invicta FC 3 but prior to that was on a three-fight winning streak and holds victories over fighters like Baszler, Alexis Davis and Julie Kedzie.
This is just a small sample size of the competitors who attended, but it looks as if the first season of TUF with women could be very competitive.
All competitors were put through the regular audition process of grappling and sparring to see which could make the cut.
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