
(Admit it, the camera loves him.)
It’s almost time again for everyone’s favorite MMA-themed reality show, Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter.” A lot of you were disappointed to hear that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir would be coaching this edition, but does that mean you’ll follow through on your empty threats not to watch when the show premieres on September 17?
Season eight is all about the lightweights and light heavyweights, and the official cast was announced today by Sports Illustrated. Yours truly even has an article about what to expect and what to watch for this time around, which you can read and then send me a hateful email about here. As for the cast list, feast your eyes:
LIGHTWEIGHT
Jose Aguilar
Age: 25
MMA Record: 17-3-0
Trains With: Grapplers Edge
Location: Las Cruces, N.M.Fernando Bernstein
Age: 25
MMA Record: 2-0-0
Trains With: Progressive Martial Arts
Location: San Clemente, Calif.Junie Allen Browning
Age: 22
MMA Record: 2-0-0
Trains With: Four Seasons Martial Arts
Location: Lexington, Ky.Rolando Delgado
Age: 26
MMA Record: 7-3-1
Trains With: We$t$ide Fight Team
Location: North Little Rock, Ark.Joseph Duarte
Age: 24
MMA Record: 3-0-0
Trains With: Unleashed Training Facility/Alliance MMA
Location: San DiegoCharles Diaz
Age: 30
MMA Record: 14-4-0
Trains With: Team EFX
Location: El Cajon, Calif.Efrain Escudero
Age: 22
MMA Record: 10-0-0
Trains With: Southwest Martial Arts
Location: Tempe, Ariz.Brandon Garner
Age: 26
MMA Record: 4-1-0
Trains With: Team ROC
Location: Raleigh, N.C.David Kaplan
Age: 28
MMA Record: 3-1-0
Trains With: Lloyd Irvin Team
Location: Las Cruces, N.M.Brian McLaughlin
Age: 23
MMA Record: 5-0-0
Trains With: Team Gracie Tampa
Location: Tampa, Fla.Wesley Murch
Age: 25
MMA Record: 4-2-0
Trains With: Trojan Gym
Location: Bristol, U.K.Shane Nelson
Age: 24
MMA Record: 11-3-0
Trains With: B.J. Penn’s MMA Academy
Location: Hilo, HawaiiPhillipe Nover
Age: 24
MMA Record: 5-0-1
Trains With: Team Renzo Gracie
Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.Ido Pariente
Age: 30
MMA Record: 13-4-0
Location: Tel Aviv, IsraelJohn Polakowski
Age: 26
MMA Record: 3-1-0
Trains With: The Pit
Location: San Luis Obispo, Calif.George Roop
Age: 26
MMA Record: 7-3-0
Trains With: Ultima MMA
Location: Tucson, Ariz.LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Ryan Bader
Age: 24
MMA Record: 7-0-0
Trains With: Arizona Combat Sports
Location: Chandler, Ariz.Antwain Britt
Age: 29
MMA Record: 4-0-0
Trains With: Bombsquad MMA
Location: Virginia Beach, Va.Jules Bruchez
Age: 30
MMA Record: 3-2-0
Trains With: Ronin Dojo
Location: Lafayette, La.Lance Evans
Age: 30
MMA Record: 4-2-0
Trains With: TKO MMA
Location: Niagara Falls, N.Y.Karen Grigoryan
Age: 26
MMA Record: 5-0-0
Trains With: RusFighters Sport Club
Location: RussiaJason Guida
Age: 30
MMA Record: 26-13-0
Trains With: Hellhouse Gym
Location: ChicagoRyan Jimmo
Age: 26
MMA Record: 6-1-0
Trains With: Titans MMA
Location: Halifax, Nova ScotiaKyle Kingsbury
Age: 26
MMA Record: 7-1-1
Trains With: American Kickboxing Academy
Location: Sunnyvale, Calif.Tom Lawlor
Age: 24
MMA Record: 6-2-0
Trains With: American Top Team
Location: Oviedo, Fla.Ryan Lopez
Age: 25
MMA Record: 5-3-0
Location: Oklahoma CityVinicius Magalhaes
Age: 23
MMA Record: 2-2-0
Trains With: Team Quest
Location: Temecula, Calif.Eric Magee
Age: 23
MMA Record: 3-1
Trains With: South Shore Sports Fighting
Location: Rockland, Mass.Eliot Marshall
Age: 27
MMA Record: 5-1-0
Trains With: Eastern Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Location: Boulder, Colo.Sean O’Connell
Age: 24
MMA Record: 1-0-0
Location: Salt Lake CityShane Primm
Age: 23
MMA Record: 1-0-0
Trains With: Team Gracie Tampa
Location: Tampa, Fla.Krzysztof Soszynski
Age: 30
MMA Record: 16-8-1
Trains With: Team Quest
Location: Temecula, Calif.
P.S. For those of you who do a little research, you may notice a discrepancy between some of the fighter records provided by the UFC and those put forth by Sherdog’s Fight Finder. If this comes as a surprise to you, we can only assume you’re new to the sport of mixed martial arts. In that case, welcome. Have you heard about Fedor yet?








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commentsHe is a fiece competitor and one of the nicest guys I've ever met.
Best Of Luck Ido!
and for remebering that interview...
Anyways, if you guys remember the Joe Duarte interview he said that he is not the next A. Silva that Dana was talking about, but he knows who is.
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