The Ultimate Fighter was an instrumental force during the UFC’s explosion of popularity in the early 2000s, shining a spotlight on fighters like Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, who coached a variety of MMA hopefuls in a season-long competition in which all of the participants were housed in one place.
Over the course of 28 seasons — all of which can currently be enjoyed on ESPN+ — the emergence of fighters like Forrest Griffin, Nate Diaz, Tony Ferguson and Kelvin Gastelum, among many others, and the tension between coaches building up to a big fight of their own played out on a week to week basis as fans got to see it all play out behind the scenes.
The Ultimate Fighter returns for its 29th season (and first since 2018) with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and upcoming title challenger Brian Ortega serving as coaches. The show, which debuts June 1 (following an Ultimate Fighter Launch Party to set the stage Tuesday) and runs for 12 weeks with a new episode dropping on ESPN+ every Tuesday, will feature eight fighters each in the bantamweight and middleweight divisions.
The coaches
Alexander Volkanovski
22-1 (9-0 in the UFC)
Windang, New South Wales, Australia
32 years old
Volkanovski debuted in the UFC in 2016, winning his first four fights close to home (three in Australia, one in New Zealand). After wins over Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo, Volkanovski got a shot at Max Holloway‘s UFC featherweight championship in December 2019 in Las Vegas, and won the title via unanimous decision at UFC 245. In his first title defense, against Holloway at UFC 251, Volkanovski won a significantly tighter split decision over Holloway in July 2020 on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
His second scheduled title defense, against Ortega, was initially scheduled for UFC 260 on March 27, but Volkanovski was forced to drop out of the fight after a COVID-19 diagnosis, for which he was hospitalized. The delay set the stage for Volkanovski and Ortega to fight after the culmination of this Ultimate Fighter season.
Brian Ortega
15-1, 1 NC (7-1, 1 NC in the UFC)
Torrance, California
30 years old
Ortega debuted in the UFC in 2014, but still has the same number of fights in the promotion as Volkanovski. Injuries and delays derailed Ortega’s momentum multiple times, with layoffs of 11 months (between July 2014 and June 2015) and 13 months (between June 2016 and July 2017) slowing Ortega down. Despite the stop and start nature of his career, Ortega picked up four straight finish victories, over Clay Guida (KO), Renato Moicano (guillotine choke submission), Cub Swanson (guillotine choke submission) and Frankie Edgar (KO) to set up his own title challenge against Max Holloway, a year and a week prior to Volkanovski’s shot.
Inside of Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, Ortega suffered the first defeat of his pro MMA career when the doctor stopped the fight at the end of Round 4 due to the damage to Ortega’s face. Ortega was scheduled to face Chan Sung Jung in December 2019, but he was forced to pull out of the fight a couple weeks prior to its scheduled date due to a knee injury. After Ortega’s longest career layoff to date stretched to 22 months, Ortega finally returned to the Octagon and defeated Jung by unanimous decision on Fight Island in October 2020.
The fighters
Bantamweight
Danny Argueta | 27 | 5-0
Nickname: The Determined
Birthplace: Chicago
Fights out of: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Gym(s): Jackson Wink Academy and Gracie Barra
Trainer/coaches: Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn and Cub Swanson
Fighting history: Illinois high school state medalist in wrestling, NCAA Div. II wrestler (University of Wisconsin – Parkside) and team captain.
Brady Hiestand | 21 | 4-1
Nickname: Bam Bam
Birthplace: Spokane, Washington
Fights out of: Spokane, Washington
Gym: Sik-Jitsu
Trainer/coach: Rick Little
Fighting history: Brown belt BJJ, black belt karate
Dustin Lampros | 26 | 5-0
Nickname: Scrappy
Birthplace: Freeburg, Illinois
Fights out of: Freeburg, Illinois
Gym: Sanford MMA
Trainer/coach: Henri Hooft
Vince Murdock | 30 | 11-6
Birthplace: Oakland County, Michigan
Fights out of: Sacramento, California
Gym: Team Alpha Male
Trainer/coaches: Joey Rodriguez, Mike Malott, Danny Castillo, Chris Holdsworth, Urijah Faber
Mitch Raposo | 22 | 5-0
Birthplace: Fall River, Massachusetts
Fights out of: Fall River, Massachusetts
Gym: Regiment Training Center
Trainer/coaches: Brian Raposo, Tommy Teixeira
Fighting history: Undefeated pro & amateur MMA record, Cage Titans champion (amateur)
Josh Rettinghouse | 31 | 16-5
Birthplace: Spokane, Washington
Fights out of: Spokane, Washington
Gym: Warrior Camp MMA
Trainer/coach: Pablo Alfonso
Fighting history: BJJ Brown Belt
Liudvik Sholinian | 30 | 9-1
Nickname: Palmeyros
Birthplace: Alaverdi, Armenia
Fights out of: Kiev, Ukraine
Gyms: Aurum (Kiev), KDMMA (Los Angeles)
Trainer/coaches: Alexandr Pudochkin, Karen Darabedyan
Fighting history: Ukrainian national wrestling champion, Ukrainian national MMA champion (amateur)
Ricky Turcios | 27 | 10-2
Nickname: Ricky Hadouken
Birthplace: Houston
Fights out of: Houston
Gyms: Gracie Barra The Woodlands (Texas) and Team Alpha Male
Trainer/coaches: Alex Morono, Urijah Faber, Danny Castillo, Matt Wald, Joey Rodriguez, Chris Holdsworth
Fighting history: Black belt in Taekwondo, brown belt in BJJ
Middleweight
Aaron Phillips | 29 | 5-1
Birthplace: Kotzebue, Alaska
Fights out of: Kotzebue, Alaska
Fighting history: Alaska wrestling state champion
Andre Petroski | 29 | 5-1
Birthplace: Chester, Pennsylvania
Fights out of: Philadelphia
Gym: Renzo Gracie Philly
Trainer/coaches: Daniel Gracie, John Marquez
Fighting history: Purple belt BJJ
Bryan Battle | 26 | 4-1
Nickname: Pooh Bear
Birthplace: Springfield, Maryland
Fights out of: Charlotte, North Carolina
Gym: Hayastan MMA
Trainer/coaches: Tom Ziegler, Kevin Forant
Ryder Newman | 25 | 3-1
Nickname: Rhino
Birthplace: Las Vegas
Fights out of: Las Vegas
Gym: Xtreme Couture
Trainer/coach: Eric Nicksick
Fighting history: TUFF-N-UFF welterweight champion (amateur)
Tresean Gore | 26 | 3-0
Nickname: Mr. Vicious
Birthplace: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Fights out of: Decatur, Georgia
Gym: American Top Team
Trainer/coach: Dhiego Lima
Fighting history: High level purple belt in BJJ
Miles Hunsinger | 30 | 7-0
Nickname: Gun Slinger
Birthplace: Nampa, Idaho
Fights out of: Las Vegas
Gym: Xtreme Couture
Trainer/coach: Amir Sadollah
Fighting history: Second in state Idaho wrestling (amateur)
Kemran Lachinov | 30 | 10-3
Nickname: Killa Kam
Birthplace: Uzbekistan
Fights out of: West Springfield, Massachusetts
Gym: Team Link
Trainer/coaches: Marco Alvan, Jason Franklin, Daniel Fagan
Fighting history: Purple Belt in BJJ; 5-1 record in Bellator, including five-fight winning streak
Gilbert Urbina | 25 | 6-1
Nickname: The RGV Badboy
Birthplace: Ripon, Wisconsin
Fights out of: Rio Grande Valley, Texas
Gym(s): Team Urbina MMA, Jackson Wink
Trainer/coaches: Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn