The 24th season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) was supposed to feature flyweight fighters with the winner getting an immediate title shot at dominant 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson, but that was cast into a bit of doubt when a recent casting call scheduled for April was canceled. But the unorthodox scheduling has now been confirmed,
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The 24th season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) was supposed to feature flyweight fighters with the winner getting an immediate title shot at dominant 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson, but that was cast into a bit of doubt when a recent casting call scheduled for April was canceled.
But the unorthodox scheduling has now been confirmed, as it was revealed on UFC Tonight that title challengers Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo will be the opposing coaches on the show, of which the winner will immediately face off against Johnson for the belt at the TUF Finale on December 3. Benavidez and Cejudo will meet in the co-main event of the Finale.
It was also reported that the competitors on the show will come from other organizations, although the previously mentioned tryout will no longer take place.
Both top-ranked flyweights have a history with ‘Mighty Mouse,’ the only flyweight champion the UFC has ever known, as Benavidez met him in the inaugural UFC 125-pound title fight at UFC 152, losing a close split decision before being infamously knocked out by the pound-for-pound great in their rematch at UFC on FOX 13.
The former Team Alpha Male standout has won five straight bouts since the second loss to Johnson.
Cejudo, meanwhile, recently met ‘Mighty Mouse’ to similar results, succumbing to a first-round knockout thanks to a brutal barrage of knees in the co-main event of April 23’s UFC 197 from Las Vegas. The loss was the first defeat in the octagon for the Olympic gold medalist wrestler.
It was also the eighth straight title defense for ‘Mighty Mouse,’ putting him only two shy of former middleweight champ Anderson Silva’s UFC record of 10.
Benavidez and Cejudo do have a bit of prior history, as they were linked to a potential fight at UFC 188 that never materialized, giving them another angle aside from TUF.
TUF 24 will debut on August 31, 2016 on FOX Sports 1.
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