The cast for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7 cast includes 32 up-and-coming middleweight fighters who will be coached by either UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, or number one contender, Forrest Griffin.
Dave Meltzer from Yahoo!Sports.com recently confirmed the participants for the SpikeTV mixed martial arts reality series that debuts on the network on Wednesday, April 2 at 10 p.m. ET.
Here's the list:
- Paul Bradley
- Steve Byrnes
- Mike Dolce
- Gerald Harris
- Dante Rivera
- David Baggett
- Matt Brown
- Erik Charles
- John Clarke
- Daniel Cramer
- Tim Credeur
- Clarence Dollaway
- John Hall
- Nick Klein
- David Mewborn
- Mike Marrello
- Jeremy May
- Prince LaDonas Mclean
- Aaron Meisner
- Reggie Orr
- Matthew Riddle
- Jeremiah Riggs
- David Roberts
- Nick Rossborough
- Amir Sadollah
- Patrick Schultz
- Brandon Sene
- Dan Simmler
- Jesse Taylor
- Cale Yarbrough
- John Wood
- Luke Zachrich
The first and second episodes of the new season will feature elimination matches to determine the final 16 contestants who will live in the house and compete for the "six-figure" contract. It's a new wrinkle designed to revitalize the traditional format.
Here's a snip from UFC President Dana White:
"The new format will give us two incredibly intense episodes to launch the season and will weed out some of the guys who might not have the heart and desire that it takes to become a UFC fighter."
In addition, Meltzer reiterates that there is some heat between Jackson and Griffin on the upcoming season, which is a bit odd to hear because the two are basically big clowns outside the Octagon. Whether or not the beef is contrived to hype their eventual title fight at UFC 86 on July 5 remains to be seen.
Either way it looks like we're in for an interesting season of TUF that weeds out the bad seeds from the get-go and showcases more fights. I'm down for that.
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