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 returned for its 29th season (and first since 2018) with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and upcoming title challenger Brian Ortega serving as coaches ahead of their clash at UFC 266 on Sept. 25. The show, which debuted on June 1, ran for 12 weeks, with eight fighters each in the bantamweight and middleweight divisions competing to win their respective divisions.
Now, as part of the UFC Fight Night card on Aug. 28, champions will be crowned in each division. Tresean Gore initially qualified for the final, but was forced to pull out due to a knee injury. That slotted Gilbert Urbina into the middleweight final, where he'll face Bryan Battle. Gore was the lone remaining representative of Team Ortega, making both final bouts all-Team Volkanovski affairs. At bantamweight, Ricky Turcios faces Brady Hiestand.
Here's what you need to know about each of the four finalists:
Bantamweights
Brady Hiestand | 21 | 5-1
TUF record: 2-0 (def. Josh Rettinghouse by split decision, Week 7; def. Vince Murdock by TKO1, Week 11)
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
Ricky Turcios | 27 | 10-2
TUF record: 2-0 (def. Dan Argueta by unanimous decision, Week 6; def. Liudvik Sholinian by unanimous decision, Week 9)
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
Middleweights
Bryan Battle | 26 | 4-1
TUF record: 2-0 (def. Kemran Lachinov by unanimous decision, Week 5; def. Andre Petroski by SUB2, Week 10)
Nickname: Pooh Bear
Birthplace: Springfield, Maryland
Fights out of: Charlotte, North Carolina
Gym: Hayastan MMA
Trainer/coaches: Tom Ziegler, Kevin Forant
Gilbert Urbina | 25 | 6-1
TUF record: 1-1 (def. Micheal Gillmore by SUB1, Week 8, lost to Tresean Gore in Week 12 by KO2)
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
Watch The Ultimate Fighter on ESPN+
Episode 1: New Beginnings | After TUF
Episode 2: Stake Your Claim | After TUF
Episode 3: Bring in the Rhino | After TUF
Episode 4: On My Time | After TUF
Episode 5: Hard Headed | After TUF
Episode 6: Let The Games Begin | After TUF
Episode 7: Friend or Foe | After TUF
Episode 8: Fight or Flight | After TUF
Episode 9: Clocked | After TUF
Episode 10: Eye on the Prize | After TUF
Episode 11: Snake Bitten | After TUF
Episode 12: A beautiful fight | After TUF
(Results and semifinal matchups at bottom of page)
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
Bantamweights
Dustin Lampros | 26 | 5-0
TUF record: 0-1 (lost to Vince Murdock by TKO1, Week 4)
Nickname: Scrappy
Birthplace: Freeburg, Illinois
Fights out of: Freeburg, Illinois
Gym: Sanford MMA
Trainer/coach: Henri Hooft
Mitch Raposo | 22 | 5-0
TUF record: 0-1 (lost to Liudvik Sholinian by unanimous decision, Week 2)
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)
Middleweights
Aaron Phillips | 29 | 5-1
TUF record: 0-1 (lost to Andre Petroski by SUB1, Week 1)
Birthplace: Kotzebue, Alaska
Fights out of: Kotzebue, Alaska
Fighting history: Alaska wrestling state champion
Ryder Newman | 25 | 3-1
TUF record: 0-1 (lost to Tresean Gore by unanimous decision, Week 3)
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)
Bantamweights
Danny Argueta | 27 | 5-0
TUF record: 0-1 (lost to Ricky Turcios by unanimous decision, Week 6)
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.
Vince Murdock | 30 | 12-6
TUF record: 1-1 (def. Dustin Lampros by TKO1, Week 4; lost to Brady Hiestand by TKO1, Week 11)
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
More about Murdock: One fighter's incredible year: Surprise wedding, brain surgery and MMA return
Josh Rettinghouse | 31 | 16-5
TUF record: 0-1 (lost to Brady Hiestand by split decision, Week 7)
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
TUF record: 1-1 (def. Mitch Raposo by unanimous decision, Week 2; lost to Ricky Turcios by unanimous decision, Week 9)
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)
Middleweights
Tresean Gore | 26 | 3-0
TUF record: 2-0 (def. Ryder Newman by unanimous decision, Week 3, def. Gilbert Urbina Week 12 by KO2)
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
Micheal Gillmore | 34 | 6-3
TUF record: 0-1 (lost to Gilbert Urbina by SUB1, Week 8)
Nickname: The Gentleman
Birthplace: Lansing, Michigan
Fights out of: Las Vegas
Miles Hunsinger | 30 | 7-0
TUF record: 0-0 (withdrew due to injury, Week 8)
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
TUF record: 0-1 (lost to Bryan Battle by unanimous decision, Week 5)
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
Andre Petroski | 29 | 5-1
TUF record: 1-1 (def. Aaron Phillips by SUB1, Week 1; lost to Bryan Battle by SUB2, Week 10)
Birthplace: Chester, Pennsylvania
Fights out of: Philadelphia
Gym: Renzo Gracie Philly
Trainer/coaches: Daniel Gracie, John Marquez
Fighting history: Purple belt BJJ
The results
Episode 1: Petroski defeats Phillips by first-round submission.
Episode 2: Sholinian defeats Raposo by decision
Episode 3: Gore defeats Newman by decision.
Episode 4: Murdock defeats Lampros by TKO.
Episode 5: Battle defeats Lachinov by decision.
Episode 6: Turcios defeats Argueta by decision.
Episode 7: Hiestand defeats Rettinghouse by split decision
Episode 8: Urbina defeats Gillmore by first-round submission
Episode 9: Turcios defeats Sholinian by unanimous decision
Episode 10: Battle defeats Petroski by second-round submission
Episode 11: Hiestand defeats Murdock by first-round TKO
Episode 12: Gore defeats Urbina by second-round KO
Semifinal matchups
Bantamweight
Ricky Turcios def. Liudvik Sholinian (UD)
Brady Hiestand def. Vince Murdock (TKO1)
Middleweight
Bryan Battle def. Andre Petroski (SUB2)
Tresean Gore def. Gilbert Urbina (KO2)
Finals matchups
Bantamweight
Ricky Turcios vs. Brady Hiestand
Bryan Battle vs. Gilbert Urbina