Despite a rather ho-hum response to the Conor McGregor-Michael Chandler led Ultimate Fighter 31, the reality fighting series is returning for another go.
On Thursday, UFC officials announced via press release that The Ultimate Fighter 32 will kick off in June, airing on ESPN, ESPN+, and ESPN Deportes. A casting call was also announced, with middleweight and featherweight fighters invited to try out for the show.
Casting for the latest TUF season will involve no physical tryouts and instead be done via remote video call. Casting runs from today through January 19, 2024 with final selections made later that month.
No coaches have been announced for the show. Remarkably, McGregor and Chandler, the two most recent TUF coaches, have yet to face off in their coaches fight. Though Michael Chandler did tell Cageside Press earlier this week that he’s “confident” the fight happens in the first half of 2024.
It’s not necessarily set in stone that coaches on the show must compete. While that has happened in the majority of cases, McGregor and Urijah Faber, fighting in different weight classes, did not face off when they served as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 22 in 2015.
The show, though long in the tooth, is often credited with saving the UFC when it launched in 2005, thanks to a memorable finale fight between Forrest Griffin and the late Stephan Bonnar.
