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UFC Reveals Fighters Involved in the Ultimate Fighter 18

The Ultimate Fighter season 18 is only a few weeks away, and the UFC has revealed the upcoming cast of talent to be featured on the show to Fox Sports.
The first season to feature women coaches and talent has given The Ultimate Fighter a breath of fres…

The Ultimate Fighter season 18 is only a few weeks away, and the UFC has revealed the upcoming cast of talent to be featured on the show to Fox Sports.

The first season to feature women coaches and talent has given The Ultimate Fighter a breath of fresh air.

Sixteen men and 16 women will begin on the show, and all fighters will be 135 pounds. The all-bantamweight season will be whittled down by half in the first show. After they fight to get into the house, the remaining eight men and eight women will be divided onto their teams coached by Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey.

Tate replaced Cat Zingano as coach when Zingano suffered a knee injury. The animosity between Tate and Rousey will surely be a focal point of the season as they lead into their fight at UFC 168.

The male cast of the upcoming season has a focus on youthful prospects. The oldest cast members are 30 years old, Tim Gorman and Lee Sandmeier. The average age for the men of the house is just over 25.5 years old.

The women fighters, on the other hand, have an emphasis on experience. Veterans of the sport, such as Shayna Baszler, Tara LaRosa and Roxanne Modafferi help line the roster. The average age of the female competitors is just under 29 years old.

This is a prime chance for the UFC to bolster its women’s division with more talent and bring in some younger talent to be the future. This is a great platform to help foster their development, and put their faces in front of a national audience.

For the first time in TUF history, men and women will live under one roof and compete on the show. The premiere date is set for Sept. 4 on Fox Sports 1. The finale is scheduled for Nov. 30 in Las Vegas.

Women’s Bantamweight Cast

Shayna Baszler (15-8), 33
Revelina Berto (3-1), 24
Jessamyn Duke (2-1), 27
Tonya Evinger (11-6), 32
Laura Howarth (4-0), 26
Tara LaRosa (21-3), 35
Valerie Letourneau (4-3), 30
Bethany Marshall (4-1), 25
Sarah Moras (3-1), 25
Margaret “Penny” Morgan (2-0), 33
Gina Mazany (3-0), 25
Roxanne Modafferi (15-10), 30
Julianna Pena (4-2), 24
Raquel Pennington (3-3), 24
Jessica Rakoczy (1-3), 36
Colleen Schneider (4-3), 31

Men’s Bantamweight Cast

Christopher Beal (7-0), 28
Cody Bollinger (14-3), 22
Louis Fisette (6-1), 23
Rafael Freitas (6-0-1), 29
David Grant (8-1), 27
Tim Gorman (9-2), 30
Anthony Gutierrez (4-0), 22
Emil Hartsner (4-0), 23
Joshua Hill (9-0), 26
Chris Holdsworth (4-0), 25
Patrick Holohan (9-0-1), 25
Sirwan Kakai (9-1), 23
Daniel Martinez (18-4), 28
Matthew Munsey (4-1), 26
Lee Sandmeier (9-0), 30
Michael Wootten (6-0), 24

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Ronda Rousey on TUF: Miesha Tate Spent More Time Worried About How She Looked

When the UFC World Tour rolled into New York City, the dais featured four UFC champions and the fighters that would be challenging for those titles in their upcoming bouts. The two fighters that sat the farthest apart were UFC women’s bantamweigh…

After witnessing the level of animosity between those two fighters, it’s hard to imagine that the on-stage distance between them was not carefully planned by the UFC beforehand.

It’s clear that Rousey (7-0) and Tate (13-4) do not like each other, and when Cat Zingano was injured and forced from coaching opposite Rousey in the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show, the UFC was able to capitalize on the rancor and insert Tate in Zingano’s vacated coaching spot.

Zingano had been awarded the coaching gig after she defeated Tate on April 13 of this year. The fight, winner of “Fight of the Night” honors, was stopped in the third round after Zingano bloodied Tate with knees and elbows. Tate contested the stoppage, feeling that it came too early.

An injury to Zingano’s knee opened the door for Tate to step into the TUF house as a coach. The coaching spot also came with the bonus of getting a title shot against Rousey.

Rousey and Tate have met before in the cage. Rousey defeated Tate on March 3, 2012, taking Tate’s Strikeforce title in the process. Rousey defended that title once before the promotion was absorbed by the UFC, instantly being named the promotion’s champion. Rousey has one UFC title defense on her record. Her upcoming bout with Tate will be her second defense.

Since losing the title to Rousey, Tate has gone 1-1, defeating Julie Kedzie, before losing to Zingano.

Rousey recently spoke to Rick J. Lee about Tate’s coaching style during the filming of TUF. It should come as no surprise that Rousey was not a fan.

Rousey and Tate will fight on December 28 in the co-main event of UFC 168. The bout will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. A rematch between UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman and former middleweight champion Anderson Silva will headline the fight card.

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The Ultimate Fighter 18 Video Preview of Rousey-vs.-Tate-Coached Season

In case it’s slipped your mind, the 18th season of the UFC reality show The Ultimate Fighter is going to premier on Sept. 4 on Fox Sports 1. Coaching the show will be UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and the woman who has…

In case it’s slipped your mind, the 18th season of the UFC reality show The Ultimate Fighter is going to premier on Sept. 4 on Fox Sports 1. Coaching the show will be UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and the woman who has become her archenemy, Miesha Tate.

The upcoming season breaks new ground in two ways. First, it’s the first season to feature female coaches. Second, it’s the first season that will have both male and female fighters living inside the TUF house.

UFC president Dana White, talked about the Rousey-Tate-based season on Saturday night during the post-fight media scrum, saying, “Episode one and two are done, and episode one is great, and episode two is awesome. I know what goes on during the fight, but I don’t see the reality (portion) unless something bad happens and then I get involved. One and two are really good. One is great, and two is amazing.”

Some of that may be the promoter in White talking. The show is moving to a new network with this season, and the fact that Rousey is coaching has the promotion hoping for home run ratings, as the women’s champion is one of the sports most marketable stars.

Then again, White’s words may ring true. The two coaches have shown a healthy dislike for each other in the past. It’s doubtful the time on the show was able to smooth things over.

If you think otherwise, the UFC rolled out a promotional video for the upcoming TUF season during the UFC on Fox 8 fight card. From the video, it’s clear that tensions will run high between the coaches from day one.

Rousey will defend her title against Tate in the co-main event of UFC 168. That fight will take place on Dec. 28 from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and will be headlined by Chris Weidman defending his middleweight title against the man he took the belt from, Anderson Silva.

*All quotes obtained first hand by Bleacher Report.

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3 Reasons Fans Will Need to Tune into Season 18 of the Ultimate Fighter

A conflict between two passionate athletes creates interesting television—especially if those two athletes are fueled by estrogen.Granted, plenty of downright heated beefs have been sorted out on The Ultimate Fighter’s 17 action-packed seaso…

A conflict between two passionate athletes creates interesting television—especially if those two athletes are fueled by estrogen.

Granted, plenty of downright heated beefs have been sorted out on The Ultimate Fighter’s 17 action-packed seasons. But until season 18, the show had never featured a pair of female coaches who held genuine disdain for one another.

Longtime UFC color commentator Joe Rogan reacted to president Dana White’s decision to pit coaches Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate against one another on The Ultimate Fighter by saying the following during the UFC 158 prelims:

“That sounds ridiculous. Men and women living in the house together. That sounds like cats and dogs. You’re going to have problems Dana White.”

Here are three reasons to tune into season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter.

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TUF 18 Preview: Could Some Fighters Have Beef with Rousey and Tate?

The Ultimate Fighter 18 is currently filming, and UFC President Dana White says there is drama every day.“Miesha and Ronda hate each other,” White said. “It’s like literally crazy drama every day.” However, that is between…

The Ultimate Fighter 18 is currently filming, and UFC President Dana White says there is drama every day.

“Miesha and Ronda hate each other,” White said. “It’s like literally crazy drama every day.”

However, that is between the coaches. What about the fighters? Much has been made about the mixed-gender cast heading into this season, but the real drama on the show could be fighters having issues with their coaches.

Why?

Several of the female cast members are long-time veterans of the sport. Rousey, albeit an Olympic medalist in judo, is only 7-0 in the sport. The veterans have been training longer, are more experienced in other disciplines and have had more experienced coaches.

The veterans are likely to give Rousey a break. Her elite status with the UFC, as well as her Olympic background, will gain her favor. The entire cast will at least have that to learn from Rousey.

A couple veteran female fighters took to Twitter prior to the Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano battle to complain about her potential coaching. Tara LaRosa and Tonya Evinger were two of them, and they made no bones about their displeasure of Tate.

We have not seen Tate coach, but we have seen her corner, Bryan Caraway, including the infamous “coast” debacle that led to a split decision loss to Takeya Mizugaki in March. It will be interesting to see which fighters remember that bit heading into this season of TUF.

This is all focusing on the female issues with their less experienced coaches. That is not taking into consideration the male fighters of the cast.

Viewers cannot be naive and believe just because of Rousey‘s background—or Tate’s for that matter—that these fighters will enter willing to listen to them immediately. Misogyny is very real with male athletes. Across all sports, it is a concern when a female is the coach.

That is why the most important factor for the coaches could be who they have brought along as their assistants. They may be able to bridge the gap and allow anyone with an issue to quell their concerns.

The angst of the female veterans and potential misogyny from the male cast only adds to the intrigue of this season.

There will be a lot going on outside of the cage. From potential cast beefs with the coaches to the Rousey-Tate rivalry to in-house antics, this could be one of the most intriguing seasons of the show to date.

It seems as if there is more of a chance that fighters would have an issue with Tate than Rousey, but both interactions will be interesting to watch. Rousey has been on the show before but never as a full-time coach.

When The Ultimate Fighter returns, we will have a whole lot to pay attention to outside of the fights.

One can only hope that any potential cast member that has an issue with Rousey or Tate deals with it quickly. The bottom line is that these coaches are at the top of the food chain in their division and are backed by the UFC. The cast members are simply trying to join the organization. They need to know their role.

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