America’s only good reality series that covers MMA fighters, The Ultimate Fighter, started airing its episodes earlier this year. Everything from the coaches to the participating contestants seems to be top-notch this time, as the fights will be coached by Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler. Both of these MMA fighters have already proven their skills as fighters, but now as coaches, they have to not just make sure their team wins but also look forward to increasing the strength of each individual on the team.
Ultimate Fighter was first aired back in 2005 as a last attempt by UFC to get the sport into the public eye. With the sport having moved to the shadows during the early 2000s, the future of MMA was grim until Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III decided to make a reality series out of it. It was first released on Spike TV, but following its immense success after the Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar fight, The Ultimate Fighters was taken up by Fox Sports and later in 2021 by ESPN+.
This season, intense fights will be seen between Prospects and Veterans. The prospects are all ambitious and confident men that believe they have the strength to win the contracts, while the Veterans are older players that have already faced multiple matches but weren’t able to stay until the end. After a toss in the first episode, Conor McGregor ended up with the prospects, while Michael ended up with the vets. As the matches between the two teams proceed, stay until the end of the series to witness the much-awaited match between the coaches.
The Ultimate Fighter: Season 30 Recap
The previous season of The Ultimate Fighter began airing on ESPN on May 3rd, 2022. Also known as TUF 30, the season had a total of 16 contestants arrive at UFC, where they would be coached by Featherweight champion Amanda Nunes and bantamweight Julianna Pena. In the first episode, Dana White explains the rules along with the announcement that Forrest Griffin will also be involved in the season.
After a coin toss, Amanda Nunes gets to pick the fighters first. Both of the coaches had already seen the fighters in action and were able to analyze each one of them before the final coin toss. Nunes picks Claire Guthrie, Eduardo Perez, Brogan Walker, Chandler Cole, Kaytlin Neil, Mitchell Sipe, Kathryn Paprocki, and Nyle Bartling.
Julianna, on the other hand, picks Helen Peralta, Mohammed Usman, Juliana Miller, Zac Pauga, Hannah Guy, Jordan Heiderman, Chantel Coates, and Bobby Maximus. In the Women’s Flyweight bracket, the finalists were Juliana Miller and Brogan Walker-Sanchez, out of which Juliana won the series by a TKO of Brogan Walker.
The Ultimate Fighter Season 31: Preview
The Ultimate Fighter Season 31: Episode Schedule
As usual, this season of The Ultimate Fighter will have around 12 episodes, with each having a run time of 46-50 minutes. The episode schedule is:
- Episode 1: May 30th, 2023
- Episode 2: June 6th, 2023
- Episode 3: June 13th, 2023
- Episode 4: June 20th, 2023
- Episode 5: June 27th, 2023
- Episode 6: July 4th, 2023
- Episode 7: July 11th, 2023
- Episode 8: July 18th, 2023
- Episode 9: July 25th, 2023
- Episode 10: August 1st, 2023
- Episode 11: August 8th, 2023
- Episode 12: August 15th, 2023
Each episode usually begins with the fight of the day being revealed, and the fighters start their warm-ups with their coach’s guidance. We also see a little insight into the life of the Ultimate Fighter contestant. With the quarterfinals already having started, the following fights will be seen in the first few episodes:
- Nate Jennerman vs. Roosevelt Robert
- Trevor Wells vs. Timur Valeiv
- Aaron McKenzie vs. Austin Hubbard
- Mando Gutierrez vs. Cody Gibson
- Carlos Vera vs. Brad Katona
- Lee Hammond vs. Kurt Holobaugh
- Landon Quinones vs. Jason Knight
- Rico Disciullo vs. Hunter Azure
The Ultimate Fighter Season 31: Streaming Guide
With ESPN being the frontrunner for the show, new episodes are usually released on the sports platform at around 10:00 pm ET & 9:00 pm CT. These dramatic and intense episodes of The Ultimate Fighter will also be available to stream through ESPN+ and Prime Video. Previous seasons of The Ultimate Fighter are available to watch on Hulu. Episode release timings in other countries will be:
- United Kingdom: 3:00 am, Wednesdays
- Canada: 10:00 pm, Tuesdays
- Australia: 12:00 pm, Wednesdays
- India: 7:30 am, Wednesdays
- Philippines: 10:00 am, Wednesdays
- Germany: 4:00 am, Wednesdays
Also Read: What Happened With Dana White? The UFC President’s Scandal Revealed
