The UFC and Spike TV announced the 32-member cast for the upcoming eighth installment of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality television series. Of those 32 fighters, only 16 will be invited to move into the TUF mansion and become official members of the TUF 8 cast.
With the premiere of the new season now less than 30 days away, I decided to take an extended look in my column for CBSSports.com at some of the names I feel viewers should keep an eye on.
To get the lowdown on this season’s hopefuls, just click here.
The latest installment of our feature here on 5 Oz. that gives you a look at what fighters to keep an eye on during this upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter features Joe “Hybrid” Duarte.
There’s been a lot of rumors about Duarte coming into this season. At one point last month, Dana White was quoted as saying that he’d found “the next Anderson Silva” and early speculation points to Duarte as the fighter that White is talking about. “I was going off when I saw this guy,” White said. “He’s 24 and he’s destroying people. It’s sick how bad ass he is. I’m getting goose bumps talking to you about him.”
Duarte, according to his personal website, cuts to 155 lbs. from 185-190 lbs. That’s an absolutely ridiculous cut for a 155 lbs. fighter. You hear of guys at 185 lbs. dropping down to 170 lbs. (i.e. Mike Swick), but to 155 is just ridiculous. Duarte is 9-0 in pro boxing, 19-1 in Muay Thai, and 3-0 in pro MMA and trains out of Alliance MMA in San Diego. He is definitely a lightweight to look out for on this upcoming season. His two most recent MMA fights are below.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks I am going to try to provide you, our loyal readers, with a preview of some of the fighters to look out for on this season of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.
The first fighter to look out for is light heavyweight prospect Ryan “Darth” Bader. Bader was a three-time PAC 10 champion and a two-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State University. He was on a wrestling team at ASU with notable UFC fighters C.B. Dollaway and Cain Velasquez. He currently trains out of Arizona Combat Sports with the likes of Dollaway, Jamie Varner, Jesse Forbes, and Ray Steinbess and carries a 7-0 professional record coming into the show.
With Bader’s strong wrestling credentials he certainly looks like he could contend for the light heavyweight contract on this season of TUF. As you can see in the video below, his striking needs work but his wrestling is pretty explosive. And though his striking may not be very clean just yet, it does appear that his punches have good power on them. Even if Bader doesn’t win the contract or make the finals it’s possible, unless something freakish occurs, that we could see him emerge as a fighter who stays with the UFC after the show is over.
SI.com, courtesy of Spike TV, has revealed the names of the 32 fighters invited to Las Vegas by the UFC to compete for the 16 final spots on the eighth season of the hit reality television show “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Last season saw 32 middleweights compete for the right to become the next “Ultimate Fighter” but this year the season has been broken down into two weight classes: light heavyweight and lightweight with 16 fighters in each weight class once again going through a qualifying round of fights to earn a spot in the final eight and the opportunity to move into the TUF mansion.
Serving as the coaches for TUF 8 will be current UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former champion and current number one contender Frank Mir.
The show will premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 11:00 p.m. ET immediately following UFC Fight Night 15 from Omaha, Nebraska.
The full cast of 32 with our notes is available after the jump.
Is it just me or does Monson sound like he’s reading from a cue card? All joking aside, there’s no chance in hell that Gary Shaw and EliteXC would put Kimbo in the cage with someone like Monson at this point in his career. Either way, it’s entertaining to hear Monson talk trash.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned from multiple sources speaking on the condition of anonymity that this Saturday’s “Godz of War” event that scheduled to take place at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, Carolina has been postponed.
Ticketmaster.com is no longer accepting ticket orders for the event and indicates that the event has been postponed. There is no word when or if the event will be rescheduled.
The event had been scheduled to air on pay-per-view through limited distribution.
One source indicated that poor ticket sales was the primary culprit but that injuries sustained by both fighters in the originally scaled main event was another setback.
The event was initially supposed to be headlined by a heavyweight clash featuring Kevin Randleman taking on Jeff Monson, however, Randleman was forced to pull out of the bout due to injury. He was replaced by former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez.
The Art of War promotion held “Art of War III” in Dallas, TX last night in front of a reported 8,000 fans.
Pedro Rizzo defeated Jeff Monson in the show’s main event via a third round TKO.
Jeremy Horn fought on the card as well but was submitted Jorge Santiago in the first round. Horn tapped to a triangle choke and it was just the second time Horn has lost via submission since the turn of the century.
Other notable results include Ron Waterman defeating Mario Rinaldi via TKO and Alex Andrade TKO’d Fabiano Capoani in round two.
SI.com
