16 Bantamweights and 16 Featherweights To Vie For Six-Figure Contracts With The Ultimate Fighting Championship® Two-Hour Premiere To Feature All The Preliminary Fights On Wednesday, September 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV
Press Release – The fourteenth season of Spike TV’s popular original series, The Ultimate Fighter,® will kick off on Wednesday, September 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT with a special two-hour premiere featuring all of the preliminary fights in their entirety. Tune in as 32 of the world’s most promising mixed martial arts competitors begin the quest to advance into the The Ultimate Fighter house. Beginning Wednesday, September 28, new episodes will premiere at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
For the first time in franchise history, the bantamweight (145) and featherweight (135) weight classes will be showcased. Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Michael “The Count” Bisping will compete as coaches this season and will eventually meet in the Octagon® at The Ultimate Fighter Finale in December.
The Ultimate Fighter®: Team Miller vs. Team Bisping cast, whose hometowns range from Gothenburg, Sweden to Winnipeg, Manitoba to Glasgow, Scotland to Yonkers, N.Y. include the following:
BANTAMWEIGHTS
JOHN ALBERT
Fighting out of: Puyallup, Wash. / Victory Athletics
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 24
JOHNNY BEDFORD
Fighting out of: Watuga, Texas/ F3 Alliance
Record: 17-9-1
Age: 28
CARSON BEEBE
Fighting out of: Western Springs, Ill. / Gilbert Grappling
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 22
ROLAND DELORME
Fighting out of: Winnipeg, Manitoba / Winnipeg Academy of MMA
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 27
TJ DILLASHAW
Fighting out of: Sacramento, Calif. / Team Alpha Male
Record: 4-0-0
Age: 25
JOHN DODSON
Fighting out of: Albuquerque, N.M. / Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts
Record: 11-5-0
Age: 26
CASEY DYER
Fighting out of: New Castle, Ind. / No Affiliation
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 21
BJ FERGUSON
Fighting out of: Louisville, Ky. / All-American MMA
Record: 6-2-0
Age: 29
JOSH FERGUSON
Fighting out of: Louisville, Ky. / All-American MMA
Record: 7-3-0
Age: 22
LOUIS GAUDINOT
Fighting out of: Yonkers, N.Y. / Team Tiger Schulmann
Record: 5-1-0
Age: 26
MATT JAGGERS
Fighting out of: Connersville, Ind. / Team Wolfpack
Record: 20-7-0
Age: 25
TATEKI MATSUDA
Fighting out of: Boston, Mass. / Team Sityodtong
Record: 6-2-0
Age: 25
PAUL MCVEIGH
Fighting out of: Glasgow, Scotland / Dinky Ninjas
Record: 18-6-0
Age: 29
BRANDON MERKT
Fighting out of: New Richmond, Wisc. / The Academy
Record: 11-0-0
Age: 27
DUSTIN PAGUE
Fighting out of: Centreville, Va. / MASE MMA
Record: 9-4-0
Age: 23
ORVILLE SMITH
Fighting out of: Indianapolis, Ind. / Integrated Fighting
Record: 11-3-0
Age: 30
FEATHERWEIGHTS
STEPHEN BASS
Fighting out of: Savannah, Ga. / Lloyd Irvin MMA
Record: 10-0-0
Age: 28
DENNIS BERMUDEZ
Fighting out of: Massapequa, N.Y./ Long Island MMA
Record: 7-2-0
Age: 24
DIEGO BRANDAO
Fighting out of: Albuquerque, N.M. / Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts
Record: 13-7-0
Age: 23
MARCUS BRIMAGE
Fighting out of: Coconut Creek, Fla. / American Top Team
Record: 3-1-0
Age: 31
BRYAN CARAWAY
Fighting out of: Sacramento, Calif. / Team Alpha Male
Record: 15-5-0
Age: 26
JOSH CLOPTON
Fighting out of: San Francisco, Calif. / Skrap Pack
Record: 4-0-1
Age: 29
AKIRA CORASSANI
Fighting out of: Gothenburg, Sweden / Team Kaobon
Record: 9-3-0
Age: 28
KARSTEN LENJOINT
Fighting out of: Nottingham, United Kingdom / Wolfslair Academy
Record: 7-1-0
Age: 30
ERIC MARRIOTT
Fighting out of: Independence, Mo. / Grindhouse MMA
Record: 20-5-0
Age: 25
MICAH MILLER
Fighting out of: Coconut Creek, Fla. / American Top Team
Record: 17-4-0
Age: 24
DUSTIN NEACE
Fighting out of: Granite City, Ill. / Hit Squad
Record: 22-17-1
Age: 24
JESSE NEWELL
Fighting out of: Ventura, Calif. / Knuckleheadz Boxing
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 24
BRIAN PEARMAN
Fighting out of: Springfield, Mo. / Springfield Fight Club
Record: 7-1-0
Age: 26
JIMMIE RIVERA
Fighting out of: Elmwood Park, N.J. / Team Tiger Schulmann
Record: 8-1-0
Age: 21
STEVEN SILER
Fighting out of: Ogden, Utah / Riven Academy
Record: 18-9-0
Age: 24
BRYSON WAILEHUA-HANSEN
Fighting out of: Honolulu, Hawaii / MMA Development
Record: 5-1-0
Age: 24
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About The Ultimate Fighter®
Now in its fourteenth season, The Ultimate Fighter® remains the longest-running sports reality show on television today, drawing millions of viewers on a weekly basis. An integral property of the Ultimate Fighting Championship®, The Ultimate Fighter® features up-and-coming mixed martial artists vying for a six-figure contract to compete in the UFC’s hallowed Octagon®.
Filmed over six weeks in Las Vegas, Nev., The Ultimate Fighter® has helped launched the careers of UFC superstars such as Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Kenny Florian, Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping. Likewise, contestants on The Ultimate Fighter® are coached by some of UFC’s most successful athletes of all-time, including Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Georges St-Pierre and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
About Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over 12 UFC live Pay-Per-View events annually around the world. UFC programming is distributed in the United States on Viacom, Inc.’s Spike TV and on Comcast, Inc.’s VERSUS network. UFC content is distributed commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. Globally, UFC programming is broadcast in over 132 countries and territories, reaching 597 million homes worldwide, in 21 different languages.
UFC® also boasts a powerful presence online, with UFC.com attracting over six million unique visitors per month, while also possessing one of the most powerful social media followings in all of professional sports. To date, UFC has over six million fans on Facebook and over 300,000 followers on Twitter. In addition, UFC President Dana White is one of the most accessible and most followed executives in sports with over 1.5 million followers on Twitter. On January 22, 2011, UFC continued to set trends in social media, becoming the first major sports league to stream live, broadcast quality action on Facebook.
Ancillary businesses include the best-selling UFC “Undisputed” videogame franchise distributed by THQ, UFC Gym™, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo™ festivals, branded apparel, trading cards, articulated action figures and other media including best-selling DVDs and a bimonthly magazine.