Tag: TUF

Press Release – Las Vegas, Nevada – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization will be hosting a casting call for the next US edition of its long-running reality series, The Ultimate Fighter®, on September 17, 2012, in Las Vegas. Season 17 will feature middleweight (185lbs) and light heavyweight (205lbs) fighters.

All TUF™ 17 candidates must be at least 21 years old, have a minimum of three professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights – and hold a winning record (with verifiable records). Applications, which should be completed and brought to the tryouts, can be found online at http://www.ufc.com/tuf17. Tryout details are provided below:

Where:
Palace Station Hotel, 2411 West Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89102
Tryouts will be held in the Grand Ballroom

When:
Monday, September 17, 2012*
Registration begins at 8:00 AM PT

Fighters will be required to grapple & hit pads. Please bring appropriate gear.

*Applicants will be notified at the end of the tryouts if they have been selected to continue on in the casting process. If selected, applicants must be prepared to stay in Las Vegas until September 22.

Middleweights were most recently featured on TUF 11, where Court McGee emerged as season winner; while light heavyweights were last featured on TUF 8, the title captured by Ryan Bader.

TUF, which debuted in 2005, has launched the careers of more than 100 UFC fighters and has produced past champions such as Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping and Matt Serra.

With the UFC’s landmark seven-year deal with FOX, FX became the new home of TUF in 2012. The two-hour season premiere of TUF 16 is set to air Friday, September 14 at 9 PM ET/PT.

TUF 17 is expected to debut on FX in early 2013. Coaches have not yet been announced.

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About Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Universally recognized for its action-packed, can’t-miss events that have sold out some of the biggest arenas and stadiums across the globe, the UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas and with offices in London, Toronto and Beijing, UFC produces more than 30 live events annually and is the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. In 2011, the UFC burst into the mainstream with a landmark seven-year broadcast agreement with FOX Sports Media Group. The agreement includes four live events broadcast on the FOX network annually, with additional fight cards and thousands of hours of programming broadcast on FOX properties FX and FUEL TV. This also includes the longest-running sports reality show on television, The Ultimate Fighter®, which now airs on FX.

In addition to its reach on FOX, UFC programming is broadcast in over 149 countries and territories, to nearly one billion homes worldwide, in 20different languages. UFC content is also distributed commercially in the United States to bars and restaurants through Joe Hand Promotions, in English throughout Canada via Premium Sports Broadcasting Inc. and in French throughout Quebec via Interbox. The UFC also connects with tens of millions of fans through its website, UFC.com, as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. UFC President Dana White is considered one of the most accessible and followed executives in sports, with over two million followers on Twitter. Ancillary UFC businesses include best-selling DVDs, an internationally distributed magazine, UFC.TV offering live event broadcasts and video on demand around the world, the best-selling UFC Undisputed® video game franchise distributed by THQ, and a new franchise in development with EA, UFC GYM®, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo® festivals, branded apparel and trading cards.

Press Release – (5 September 2012) – FX and the Ultimate Fighting Championship® organisation today unveiled the identities of the sixteen Australian and British mixed martial artists set to represent their nations in The Ultimate Fighter: Australia vs UK – The Smashes™.

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF™) finalists are among the top fighters in both nations’ lightweight and welterweight divisions, with the Australian team comprised of representatives from NSW, QLD and WA, while the UK team features fighters from all over England as well as Northern Ireland.

“These guys have definitely made the second international TUF show ‘can’t miss’ TV,” said UFC President Dana White. “Going into this thing, I had no idea just how much the Aussies and the Brits can’t stand losing to each other. Now I know.”

Premiering Wednesdays at 7:30pm AEST on FX from September 19, the 13-episode, Australian-produced series follows the selected fighters as they live together in The Ultimate Fighter® house, training and competing against each other for a prized contract with the UFC®, culminating with a live three-hour finale in December.

Guided by Australian coach George Sotiropoulos, Team Australia comprises of:

Lightweights:
Grant Blackler, 23, Sunshine Coast
Patrick Iodice, 19, Gold Coast
Richie Vaculik, 29, Sydney
Ben Wall, 23, Brisbane

Welterweights:
Ben Alloway, 31, Gold Coast
Xavier Lucas, 31, Perth
Manuel Rodriguez, 27, Sydney
Robert Whitaker, 21, Sydney

English coach Ross “The Real Deal” Pearson takes charge of Team UK:
Lightweights:
Colin Fletcher, 29, Sunderland
Norman Parke, 25, Bushmills, Nth Ireland
Michael Pastou, 30, Essex
Mike Wilkinson, 24, Leigh

Welterweights:
Luke Newman, 22, London
Bola Omoyele, 30, London
Valentino Petrescu, 30, Essex
Brad Scott, 23, Melksham

The two lightweight coaches – both alumni of The Ultimate Fighter television series in the Unites States – will also go head-to-head in the Octagon® at the live finale.

Of mentoring his charges, Australian coach George Sotiropoulos said: “It’s a really diverse group of guys on the team, but the thing that’s uniting them is that everyone’s motivated and focused. There’s a lot of personal and national pride at stake but they’re going into the competition with a positive attitude and are really pulling together as a team. I’m very impressed by their maturity.”

British coach Ross Pearson is confident about Team UK’s chances: “Having been where they are, I know exactly what the guys are facing. They’re taking it all in their stride and, despite being so far from home, they’re eager to prove themselves, so morale is high. They each bring unique strengths to the team so the sparks are really going to fly when they meet the Aussies in the Octagon.”

This is only the second time in TUF’s seven-year history that teams will represent their country of origin, the first taking place in 2009 when Team USA took on Team UK.

Broadcast partners in the UK and other countries will be announced in coming weeks.

Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag: #TUFSmashes #TeamAUS #TeamUK.

Press Release – LOS ANGELES (Aug. 30, 2012) – The field of 32 of the most talented unsigned mixed martial artists in the world has been finalized for THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER® FRIDAYS which begins Friday, September 14, on FX with a special two-hour premiere airing at 9 PM ET/PT.

Similar to the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter® on FX, this upcoming season will run for 13 consecutive weeks, airing Friday nights at 10 PM ET/PT. The eventual season winner – who will be crowned at the live finale on Saturday, Dec. 15 on FX, will receive a six-figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization.

As previously announced, former interim UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin and top contender and previous TUF™ winner Roy Nelson serve as coaches this season. The bitter rivals – who have already taken their feud public – will also collide in the eagerly awaited main event of the Las Vegas finale.

“Carwin and Nelson are two guys who just can’t stand each other and Roy and I haven’t exactly seen eye to eye either – he’s been a nightmare for me to work with on this show with all his stupid BS,” said UFC president Dana White.

Chuck Saftler, Executive Vice President, FX Networks said, “We feel that the rivalry between these two guys is going to create a season filled with fireworks and high drama, and we already know we can count on Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta, Craig Borsari and Craig Piligian to bring the highest quality product to UFC fans, so we couldn’t be more pumped about the upcoming season.”

The list of finalists who will now attempt to fight their way on the show was trimmed from more than 60 invited fighters; 29 of the 170 lbs welterweight fighters seeking to cash in on the opportunity of a lifetime are from the United States, two are from Canada while one is Brazilian.

On Sept. 14, the season will kick-off with 16 gripping elimination fights. The winners in the elimination round, or “Fight In,” will become official cast members and earn their way into The Ultimate Fighter house in LasVegas where cameras will document their activity before and after their training and fights. The 16 winners will be drafted into opposing teams of eight by Carwin and eight by Nelson.

Each team will train at the TUF gym and reside in the TUF house together for the duration of theseason. Winners will advance in the tournament until ultimately, one man iscrowned THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER.

The Season Premiere cast:

Bristol Marunde, 30, Las Vegas, Nev.

Cameron Diffley, 27, Las Vegas, Nev.

Colton Smith, 25, Fort Hood, Texas via Ankeny, Iowa

Cortez Coleman, 30, Hugo, Okla.

David Michaud, 23, Pine Ridge, S.D.

Diego Bautista, 26, Lakewood, Calif.

Dom Waters, 23, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Eddy Ellis, 29, Olympia, Wash.,

Frank Camacho, 23, Camp Springs, Md.,

George Lockhart, 29, Atlanta, Ga.

Igor Araujo, 31, Albuquerque, N.M. via Patos De Minas, Brazil

James Chaney, 25, Klamath Falls, Ore.

Jason South, 34, West Jordan, Utah

Jerel Clark, 23, Reno, Nev.

Jesse Barrett, 26, Tempe, Ariz.

Joey Rivera, 32, Tucson, Ariz.

Jon Manley, 26, Ludlow, Mass.

Julian Lane, 25, Mansfield, Ohio

Kevin Nowaczyk, 23, Chicago, Ill.

Leo Kuntz, 28, Bismarck, N.D.

Lev Magen, 25, Las Vegas, Nev.

Matt Secor, 25, South Glens Falls, N.Y.

Max Griffin, 26, Sacramento, Calif.

Michael Hill, 25, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Mike Ricci, 26, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Neil Magny, 24, Chicago, Ill.

Nic Herron-Webb, 22, Anchorage, Alaska

Ricky Legere Jr., 26, Corona, Calif.

Saad Awad, 23, San Bernardino, Calif.

Sam Alvey, 26, Murrieta, Calif.

Tim Ruberg, 30, Harrison, Ohio

Zane Kamaka, 23, Klaianae, Hawaii

Many of today’s most recognizable names in MMA have emerged from the TUF series, including,among many others, Rashad Evans, Kenny Florian, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar.

So who will be the champion on THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER FRIDAYS on FX?

Stay tuned.

For more show information, bios, videos and photos, visit ultimatefighter.com and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter under our new name @TUFonFX or on Facebook.com/TUF.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship®

Universally recognized for its action-packed, can’t-miss events that have sold out some of the biggest arenas and stadiums across the globe, the UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas and with offices in London, Toronto and Beijing, UFC produces more than 30 live events annually and is the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. In 2011, the UFC burst into the mainstream with a landmark seven-year broadcast agreement with FOX Sports Media Group. The agreement includes four live events broadcast on the FOX networkannually, with additional fight cards and thousands of hours of programmingbroadcast on FOX properties FX and FUEL TV. This also includes the longest-running sports reality show on television, The Ultimate Fighter®, which now airs on FX.

In addition to its reach on FOX, UFC programming is broadcast in over 149 countries and territories, to nearly one billion homes worldwide, in 20 different languages. UFC content is also distributed commercially in the United States to bars and restaurants through Joe Hand Promotions, in English throughout Canada via Premium Sports Broadcasting Inc. and in French throughout Quebec via Interbox. The UFC also connects with tens of millions of fans through its website, UFC.com, as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. UFC President Dana White is considered one of the most accessible and followed executives in sports, with over two million followers on Twitter. Ancillary UFC businesses include best-selling DVDs, an internationally distributed magazine, UFC.TV offering live event broadcasts and video on demand around the world, the best-selling UFC Undisputed® video game franchise distributed byTHQ, and a new franchise in development with EA, UFC GYM®, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo® festivals, branded apparel and trading cards.

FX

FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable network from Fox. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in more than 98 million homes. The diverse schedule includes a growing roster of critically acclaimed and award-winning hit dramas series including Sons of Anarchy, Justified and American Horror Story, and acclaimed hit comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Louie, Archer and Wilfred. Its library of acquired box-office hit movies is unmatched by any ad-supported television network. The network’s other offerings include the acquired hit series Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother, and live sports with college football and the UFC.