Heavyweights and female featherweights invited to TUF 28 tryouts
The next season of The Ultimate Fighter has been announced.
The Ultimate Fighter isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Tryouts for season 28 of the long-running, sports reality television series take place May 22 in Las Vegas, the UFC announced in a press release Wednesday afternoon.
Heavyweights and women’s featherweights are invited to the tryouts, which will occur at Palace Station Hotel. Candidates must be between the ages of 21-34 and have at least three professional fights with a winning record.
TUF 28 will begin filming in July and air on FOX Sports 1 later this year, the release stated. It’s not clear at this time who the coaches will be.
Though both heavyweight and women’s featherweight were selected for the casting process, producers could choose to only proceed to filming with one of the divisions. Some past seasons of TUF have featured two weight classes, while others have featured only one.
With women’s featherweights invited to try out, it appears the UFC will finally attempt to actually build a division around champion Cris Cyborg. The promotion launched the women’s 145-pound class in early 2017 with an inaugural title fight between Germaine de Randamie and Holly Holm, but the only female featherweight bouts that have happened in the UFC have been all title fights.
Cyborg won the vacant title last July and defended it for the first time against Holm at UFC 219 late last year. The first non-title women’s featherweight bout, Holm vs. Megan Anderson, goes down at UFC 225 in June. Because of the division’s lack of fighters, UFC.com has never posted a set of rankings for it as of now.
Heavyweight, of course, is also a very difficult division to fill. TUF: Brazil 3, which aired in 2014, was the most recent season to feature the heavyweight division. Both finalists eventually dropped to middleweight after the show.
TUF 27 began airing on FOX Sports 1 last week. It features a featherweight and lightweight cast of undefeated fighters. The season will wrap up at its Finale on July 6 in Las Vegas.