Following the FX portion of the UFC 158 fight card, UFC President Dana White announced that the coaches of season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter will be UFC Women’s Champ Ronda Rousey and the winner of Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano.
The season will be a bit of a twist, not only as it’s the first time women have coached, but also because both 135lbs men and 135lbs women will be competing on the 18th season of the show.
The only tryouts for this season of TUF will be April 15 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rousey (7-0) is coming off a huge win over Liz Carmouche in the first ever UFC women’s fight at UFC 157. She defeated her by first round armbar, which has become her signature move. The champ has won all seven of her professional bouts by way of armbar in the very first round.
The bout between Tate and Zingano will be at the TUF 17 finale, which takes place on April 13 from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tate (13-3) won the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight title back in 2011 when she submit Marloes Coenen, however was dethroned by current UFC women’s champ Ronda Rousey in her next outing. Her last trip to the cage was a hard fought battle against Julie Kedzie last August. In a back and forth battle she ended up winning by armbar late in the third round.
Zingano (7-0) made her Invicta FC debut in her last fight, where she defeated Raquel Pennington with a second-round rear-naked choke. She is undefeated in her professional MMA career with numerous championships to her credit. Zingano signed with Strikeforce and was expected to take on Amanda Nunes in September, however that card was cancelled and wound up with Invicta.
Tryout details will be released on Monday, March 18. TUF 18 is expected to debut in the fall of 2013.
Lame