Dana White officially announces the return of The Ultimate Fighter

UFC president Dana White officially announced the return of The Ultimate Fighter, with the show set to air on ESPN+ in early 2021.

White has been actively teasing the return of TUF — the UFC’s flagship reality show that helped bring the sport of mixed martial arts to the mainstream masses in 2005 — but until now, we had few details of what the TUF comeback would look like. Although we still have some unanswered questions about the show’s reincarnation, including who the coaches will be, the UFC shed some light on what TUF’s return would look like following the official announcement of the show’s comeback on the UFC Vegas 12 broadcast.

According to the UFC, casting for the show will be remote for the first time ever given the coronavirus pandemic. The UFC matchmakers are recruiting both bantamweights and middleweights for the 29th season of TUF, and casting will be open from now until November 13. The lucky contestants for the show will be revealed at the end of November.

What most fans want to know besides who the cast is, is who the coaches will be. At this point, we really have no idea and there have been few hints given by White and the UFC as to who the next TUF coaches will be. We have heard rumors that welterweight rivals Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal could coach the show, but so far nothing has come from it. It is truly anyone’s guess at this point as to who the coaches will be.

White previously said the UFC wanted to book lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and rival Conor McGregor on the show but Nurmagomedov turned the opportunity down as he didn’t feel McGregor was deserving. It seems unlikely Nurmagomedov will be coaching the show unless the promotion could coax Georges St-Pierre out of retirement opposite him. If the UFC wants TUF to return on ESPN+ with a bang, that fight could be it.

Are you excited that Dana White is bringing back The Ultimate Fighter?