The Ultimate Fighter‘s 20th season will feature an all-female strawweight cast. The UFC made that announcement in early December after acquiring several of Invicta FC’s strawweight roster. From that time going forward, there were questions about the cast.
Carla Esparza, Alex Chambers, Claudia Gadelha, Felice Herrig, Bec Rawlings, Emily Kagan, Juliana Lima, Rose Namajunas, Tecia Torres, Paige VanZant and Joanne Calderwood were the first names to be announced, but Gadelha, VanZant and Lima were forced off the show.
This left eight more spots to be filled via the open workouts. On Thursday, the UFC announced the complete cast before having the fighters and coaches speak at the Ultimate Media Day.
The most notable addition is former Invicta FC atomweight champion Jessica Penne. Other names fans may recognize are Aisling Daly, Lisa Ellis and Heather Jo Clark.
Coaching the upcoming season will be lightweights Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez.
The 20th season of the show is not only historic because of the all-female cast and the new division in the UFC, but also because the two finalists of the season will compete in a five-round bout for the inaugural UFC strawweight championship.
During the Ultimate Media Day broadcast on UFC Fight Pass, Felice Herring noted the difference between the two coaching staffs during the first day of filming. Herring mentioned that Team Melendez was more laid back, while Team Pettis had a more intense approach to the evaluations.
The upcoming strawweight season will begin airing on Fox Sports 1 in September.
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