Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has finalized the last of its details with the season premiere date and cast revealed last Saturday night on the UFC Vegas 24 broadcast.
The new season premieres June 1 on ESPN+ and the cast consists of eight bantamweights and eight middleweights. Per a report from Nolan King of MMA Junkie, the contestants have already arrived to Las Vegas to complete medicals needed before the start of the season. Filming begins at the end of April.
Here is the full list of contestants:
Ultimate Fighter 29 Cast
| Bantamweights: | Middleweights: |
|---|---|
| Bantamweights: | Middleweights: |
| Daniel Argueta (5-0) | Aaron Phillips (5-1) |
| Brady Hiestand (4-1) | Andre Petroski (5-1) |
| Dustin Lampros (5-0) | Bryan Battle (4-1) |
| Vince Murdock (11-6) | Ryder Newman (3-1) |
| Mitch Raposo (5-0) | Tresean Gore (3-0) |
| Joshua Rettinghouse (16-5) | Miles Hunsinger (7-0) |
| Liudvik Sholinian (9-1) | Kemran Lachinov (10-3) |
| Ricky Turcios (10-2) | Gilbert Urbina (6-1) |
Some of these names may be recognizable as they have previously competed on other original programming such as Dana White’s Contender Series.
The coaches of TUF 29 will be current featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski and No. 2 ranked title challenger Brian Ortega. Volkanovski and Ortega were expected to meet in the co-main event of UFC 260 last month, but the champion tested positive for COVID-19 and withdrew from the fight.
The pairing has remained intact, however, with Volkanovski and Ortega named as coaches for the upcoming season of TUF less than a month later. There is no word on when or where the fight between them will happen, but it is likely to be on a pay-per-view event some time after the season finishes filming.
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