The Ultimate Fighter 20 does not start until later in 2014, but WMMA fans are already buzzing over the season.
The main question at this point, though, is about casting, as 11 women are already announced and five more will be casted.
Upon the announcement of the season, I wrote a piece that made the case for five women who should be added to the season’s roster. With this article, I update my picks based on recent events and new possibilities.
Now, let’s take a look back at the five I selected before and update them with a new set of faces who should make it onto the show.
Original List
| Name | Record | Status |
| Stephanie Eggink | 4-1 | On |
| Alida Gray | 4-1 | Off |
| Amber Stautzenberger | 4-2 | Off |
| Heather Clark | 6-4 | On |
| Lisa Ellis | 15-8 | On |
As you can see, of the five ladies I picked, three stay while the other two are off the table.
Alida Gray is the first to be taken out of consideration due to the fact that she has since signed and competed with World Series of Fighting. One has to assume she is tied with them for at least another fight. She recently fought for the inaugural women’s title against Jessica Aguilar—albeit in a losing effort.
As for Amber Stautzenberger, the promising prospect was recently beaten rather quickly by veteran Lynn Alvarez, who should be in consideration for a spot on the show. Stautzenberger definitely has a future in this sport, but after that loss she should rebuild herself slowly and take to Invicta to rebound.
The other three should still be considered for the show.
Lisa Ellis is a longtime veteran of the sport whose beef with Rose Namajunas over Twitter could relay nicely onto the show. She is skilled and experienced, and the show could re-surge her career, which is currently off track at the moment due to her becoming a mother.
Heather Clark is another woman with beef coming onto the show that could make it drama-filled and interesting. Clark, who was competing for XFC, got permission to try out for the show (see tweet). Her skill and natural beef with Felice Herrig could make for interesting TV.
Lastly, Stephanie Eggink should still be in consideration for the cast. The current XFC champ has an abundance of skill and the gold to back it up. It is not known if XFC will let her try out, considering she is the champ of their organization, but here’s to hoping they will.
New Additions
| Name | Record | Notables Wins |
| Jessica Penne | 11-2 |
Naho Sugiyama, Lisa Ellis, Angela Magana, Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc, Amy Davis |
| Justine Kish | 4-0 | Munah Holland, Randa Markos, Christine Stanley |
The two women who will now be added to the likes of Clark, Ellis and Eggink are former Invicta 105-pound champion Jessica Penne and RFA veteran Justine Kish.
Penne, who tweeted that she will be trying out for the season, is a former champion with a good resume, camp and skill set at her disposal. She was big at 105 pounds, meaning that a move to 115 wouldn’t make her that small in comparison to the rest of the cast.
She is incredibly well-rounded but showed in her win over Naho Sugiyama that her ground game is to be feared. She tapped out a well-respected grappler with a beautiful triangle choke and can take that accolade in with her to the open tryouts.
Kish is sort of a dark horse at 115 pounds to make the competition. The one thing she really has going for her, other than her undefeated record, is her association with RFA, an unofficial feeder organization for the UFC.
Kish is gifted in the stand-up department—her Muay Thai skills especially impress crowds. She is coming off a big win over the weekend against fellow 115-pound prospect Randa Markos, where she wowed the crowd en route to an impressive unanimous decision victory.
Both women would be great additions and provide depth to an already star-studded cast.
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