Season nine of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) is starting to take shape after UFC President Dana White recently confirmed the participation of future coach Michael “The Count” Bisping, fresh off his unanimous decision victory over Chris Leben at UFC 89.
Bisping — TUF 3 winner and current British UFC posterboy — is a clear choice for the position, considering TUF 9 will be themed, “U.S. vs. U.K.” White did not confirm the opposing coach, however, he did indicate that Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson are both under consideration.
Perhaps that decision will be made a little easier when “Ace” and “Hollywood” clash in the main event at UFC 93: “Dublin” on January 17.
Time will tell.
TUF 9 was originally set to feature a mix of middleweight and welterweight hopefuls competing for a “six figure” UFC contract in a tournament-style format. However the 185lb weight class was recently scrapped in favor of lightweight.
No reason was given for the change, but tryouts held at London on October 20 yielded over 200 aspiring fighters – a far cry from the mere 25 who auditioned for season three.
Perhaps there was an abundance of talented lightweights at the London evaluations that led to the change?
Even TUF 3 alum Ross Pointon got in on the action, showing up with the letters U-F-C buzzed into his hair.
Tryouts are also scheduled for Chicago, Illinois on October 27 to finish selecting the 32-member cast, which will eventually be whittled down to 16 in the first few days of taping.
That’s not to suggest the UFC is looking for every Tom, Dick and Harry that knows how to shadowbox or submit their five-year old nephew. The UFC recently sent out a memo asking for applicants to have a verifiable background in professional mixed martial arts.
The production schedule has not been revealed at this time; however, if the promotion decides to wait for either Franklin and Henderson then it could be pushed back until January 2009.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com as more details become available for season nine of The Ultimate Fighter.
67 Comments »
“Ace” and “Dangerous”, not “Hollywood”. Anyways, I thought they would start filming before the Franklin vs Henderson fight…guess not
Does anybody know whats going to happen to all the EliteXc compannies.
I thought they’d all go under, but this is a cut and paste from the oficial cage rage website:
Cage Rage Update …22nd October 2008
In light of subsequent developments in the US of the possibility of Proelite.com / EliteXc filing for bankruptcy we would like to issue the following statement. Cage Rage have always operated on an independent basis and have retained control of the operational and administrative infrastructure. Our scheduled remaining events for 2008 will be fulfilled and we will continue to plan for the future events scheduled for 2009. Further information will be made available as and when it is officially released.
I have a horrible feeling that Elite aren’t going to go away for long….although i’d like cage rage to survive.
Maybe Bisping can teach the youngsters how to be a pu$$y and talk like a fa66ot. What a shmuck! If you disagree you are a smuck too.
It’s “dangerous Dan”, but could also be “Hollywood Henderson”…i guess that makes sense, hehe!
Haha..Ross Pointon. WTF was he doing back?!?
“I’m a Gladiator!”
I hope Ross is on the show. The guy cracks me up. I don’t even care if he fights. He makes for good comedic television.
Fighters at the audition were making up fight records to advance to further rounds. The auditions were a joke.
I think they changed to LIGHTER weight classes because if there were LHs….most there would probably be able to kick Bisping’s ass. Bisping coaching, what a joke!!!! Dana is gonna have to FORCE those on the show to take him seriously(make them sign clauses, etc, etc). How could you?? unless you were hanging on to his nuts
TUF 3 had 30 people tryout…..NO wonder Bisping made it 16 of the 30 had to and the UFC wanted to break into the UK….What a better scenario to have him win TUF 3……What a joke that show has become…season 1 was good, season 2 OK..After that HORRIBLE
in his video blog i thought he said they only had 30 people from the UK try out, not 30 people overall.
Season 3 of TUF was not US vs UK. It was a “regular” season with two weight classes. They had one Brit in each weight class. Bisping and Pointon.
theres an article floating around about where kimbo slice will go after elite collapsed. in it, it says that dana white would not offer kimbo to fight in the ufc, but he’d allow him to fight his way on tuf. intersting.
I don’t think he could even beat more than a few of the no-names on TUF. Dana probably agres with me, and would do this just to watch Fergie get humiliated again.
Another bad thing is that I think there’s no HW div in TUF[or is there?]…
That’s too bad that they are doing lightweights…AGAIN! I like to see lightweights fight nd everything, but I want to see some fighters pumped into the middleweight division and the heavyweight division. I guess that might happen with the current season? Many of the lightheavys might drop to middleweight.
They need to get some HWs. Real ones, not the Rashad Evans kind of HW that will immediately drop to 205.
I watched it late last night, but enjoyed seeing Dana interact with the kids trying out. Not only is he the president, but he’s a huge mma fan. You can just see his passion for the sport. This is why he’s succeeding and Gary Shaw and elite are failing. do you think microsoft would be big without a computer geek (gates) etc. you need someone passionate about what you’re trying to build and accomplish to be successful in this world, and for all the Dana hate, I for one appreciate his love for the sport!
I couldn’t agree more. I just wish my Dell didn’t have so many problems. I thinks Gates is slipping man.
Gates makes 50$ off every computer sold in the world. He is banking hard body.
Dell isnt a Microsoft product. Its a Dell.
All computers sold in the world..50$ goes to MicroSoft.. it don’t matter if its a Dell, Mac, Yack, this, or that.. 50 $ goes into Bill’s pocket..now that’s some gangster shit.
Not my point. He said his dell is having problems… that has nothing to do with Bill or Microsoft. He doesnt get paid from Macs either. He makes his money on his O/S.. not just computers in general. The only way he makes money on a mac.. besides advertising.. is if people use the Microsoft office suite. Plus, he doesnt make money off Linux machines either. Only his O/S… which isnt linux. He doesnt get money for hardware… Microsoft should start producing hardware tho. Maybe that is too close to a monopoly?
Every other one he does tho.
haha.. sorry to deny your post.. just clarifying.
Phil: indeed, that’s some gangster sh!t goin’ on there. $50?!? What a rip!
lol, thats why I got a mac. a little more money, no problems!
hahaha yeah. I just need a little more money.
seriously though ryan, i’ve had my mac for about a year. still runs the same, updates itself, I have absolutely zero complaints!
Yeah everyone around me says that I should invest into getting a Mac. It might take some getting used to (it’s a little different that a PC) but I’m thinking it might be a solid investment.
evryone around you is smart.
hey ryan, you see tito and jenna’s new house on tmz or the kimbo’s manager interview on sherdog? how bout the kos saying alves took steroids video here on mania?
I posted a response to this but it didn’t come up. I just saw Tito and Jennas house. Looks pretty nice. That first marble room looked kind of weird though.
I think that is is cool that in that interview, it was said that Dana suggested that Kimbo fights his way onto TUF. That would be cool if it were to happen. I personally think that Kimbo is going to compete in DREAM.
I just looked at that video you were referring to with Kos. I saw that video before but I didn’t even remember that part hahaha.
wow, look at that, 3 great comments. good job ryan, I knew you guys were interested. enjoy the stephan bonnar news!
I don’t think Gates has anything to do with your Dell.
If u watch Dana’s video diary of the tryouts, he comments that there’s so many good 155ers he’s guna include that division instead of 185.
I know but the the lw division is sooo stacked. the draught is in the mw division.
Like season 7 added any depth to the division….
CB Dolloway and Amir sporting a record of 1-0
did i miss something? why is bisping fighting the winner of a lhw match up? franklin is now at lhw, which i’m assuming henderson will gladly compete at, and bisping is trying to cement his status at mw? what happens if franklin wins? will he drop down again for one fight? i’m confused.
they need to find the gold in the rough that may beat silva at 185, plain and simple. the last thing the ufc needs is more lightwieghts. stupid me if you ask me.
***me = move….oops
“stupid me if you ask me.” Great stuff
well LW’s are exciting, so good thing no one asked!
What kind of stringent requirements does Dana want? How about these:
Ability to throw stuff in the pool with a belly full of tequila.
Better aim when pissing on a pillow or crapping in the upper deck of a toilet.
Wussing out and quitting before a match.
Ability to go psycho at any moment and go off on another contestant or even the camera crew.
Limo glass kicking.
those are all valid requirements for the show, isn’t it funny they have nothing to do with mma, yet their looking for the next mma star…pathetic!
You sound like you are over the show too. I DVR’d last weeks and just watched it last night. It was cool to see Anderson, but that was only for 5 minutes. The rest was a bunch of bullsh*t. This season sucks or maybe it is just because I can’t stand Junie. God, I can’t wait until someone smashes that dudes face in. But I still continue to watch. That is the crazy thing about the UFC, just like the PPV’s, I can’t stand to miss one for fear I might miss something special.
hahahaha I am lucky enough to have a local place that plays all of the UFC PPV’s for free. Plus theres good food and I have made a lot of my friends become fans of MMA while eating there.
I couldn’t do that. All the noise in the bar etc., plus I like the option of going back and playing it again in case there some dispute or big discussion online.
Plus, I like my TV, my couch, and I like to pause it considering to amout of beer I consume I need several trips to the bathroom.
hahaha I am usually the loud guy. I hate to say it, but I get really excited. During Lesnars fight with Herring, I was all over the place in that resteraunt. I know the owner so he is pretty cool about it. I promote his resteraunt as being the only place in Nikiski, Alaska that plays UFC for free so he has gotten business off of that.
On a sidenote, recently I went to watch UFC 89(I know it was free on Spike TV but I was hungry haha) with a buddy of mine and during the main event, a bunch of girls that we know came and sat with us and were loudly gossiping about some chick drama. Yeah. THAT NOISE really pissed me off haha.
I prefer being at the house, but if going somewhere else means keeping an extra 50 bucks, you can count me in.
I get pretty excited too. I was screaming at Vera last weekend to pull the fu*king trigger!!! And listening to a bunch of “cackeling hens” during a fight would really piss me off. That is just more confirmation that I will stay home.
I am assuming the UFC probably won’t come to Alaska, but if you ever get a chance, go to a live UFC event. If you have decent seats it is the best sporting event you can attend, IMO.
5 minutes?? you must have gotten a special episode. he was on for like 90 seconds tops.
go check out the comments on last weeks recap!
Okay, 90 seconds… You sound like my wife.
BNF: LOL HAHAHA
yeah but I’m cuter.
is anyone else having problems getting onto mania this afternoon? my computer keeps freezing, only on mania. I’m ok if I take a “backdoor” directly into thread, but it’s a hassle going through google
That’s not the way I would have imagined BNF’s wife and backdoor appearing in the same thread.
What happens if in the Chicago tryouts.. there a bunch of nasty 185′rs.. and no that many 155′rs.. what to do what to do.. UK is for sure getting alot of cred from Dana.. for him to switch up weight divisions.. TUF8 has 155′rs.. and TUF9 will have 155′rs??
So the coaches won’t be choosing teams this time right? Just UK coached by Bisping, US coached by some boring guy. Please find a coach that is not Franklin or Henderson. Although since Bisping will be one coach I guess we need to find someone at 185, hmmm that sucks. Henderson I guess would be my choice.
exactly, so how could it be hendo or franklin?? their both fighting at 205!
Kev..but they can with ease fight at 185. My only thing is
Rich like many of us do not want to see Silva/Franklin 3.. Rich doesn’t want to be the 1 # contender killa.. Hendo I’ sur wouldn’t mind.. and is still confident in his chances against Silva.. but does the winner of Coach vs Coach deserve a title shot?? This is a reason why IMO coaches should not be champsor get title shots off the bat.
I think that people potentially getting title shots make for good coaches. I think that it is a good way to get to better know a potential champion. I absolutely HATE when coaches are champs. Luckily Randy came back to fix this heavyweight coach problem. More title shots. It makes sense.
Franklin won’t be coming back to 185. It is a struggle enough to get his body up to where he needs to be. Hendo goes back and forth like I change my underwear. Plus he is the only person at 185 with a real chance at beating Silva. I just think it is a good idea, but will be boring with the coaches we will have.
Regardless, I can’t wait to see Bisping move up with competition. He seems to be ever improving. He just needs some more power in his strikes. Leben just stood there with his hands down and took it. Granted, Leben has a solid chin but striking is Bispings greatest weapon. He needs to step it up if he ever hopes to become a champ in a division owned by Anderson Silva.
Bisping will never be the UFC 185 champ as long as Silva is there.
I completely agree. He seems to think that he could possibly do it some day. I am just saying that if he does think that, you would think that he would work on his power.
As for the other coach, there is a lack of good MWs out there. Outside of Hendo I could only come up with Marquardt as somebody they would actually want to put on television and promote Bisbing a fight with.
Am I the only one that thinks it is getting kind of boring? I love the show and watching free fights is great and seeing people like Anderson Silva in a different light kicks ass, but the show is just missing something. Remove some, not all, of the drunken antics and pranks, and add in something new.
I like the idea someone had of several teams from different countries. Or different fight camps going at it. There is just so much that can be done with this show that they are not even doing.
You are not alone. With UpperDecker incidents, Gabe Rutager and every one else that walks out early wimpouts, crying a la Andy Wang, and just general dumbasses like Jessie Taylor on the show, it is *really* getting hard to watch.
Maybe this is a case of too much information? Maybe all of these guys in the UFC have always been screw-ups and now shows like TUF have exposed them for what they really are.
Too bad. Maybe guys that have a black belt or two will change that but I doubt it. Martial arts mastery and personal mastery don’t always go hand in hand e.g. Steven Segal, Jean Claude Van Damme. I doubt that SS and JCVD ever upperdecked before though…
There is too much focus on the all the dumbass stuff in the house, and almost none on the training.
The reason behind lightweights maybe due to WEC in most cases the fighters dont stay at the same weight class dropping sometimes one or even two weight classes. The WEC does not have their own reality show but guys that dont win the contract maybe kept under Zuffa for the WEC and creat more name recognition for the WEC. Possibly getting more fighters to challenge Urijah and Torres.
That show is run and produced by TapOut, not WEC
“The WEC does not have their own reality show”
He never said it was