Dana White confirms The Ultimate Fighter to begin filming in November

UFC president Dana White confirmed that The Ultimate Fighter will commence filming in November, but he says there are no coaches yet.

White has been teasing a TUF comeback for several months now. The UFC’s infamous reality show from 2005 to 2018, TUF has been kicked to the can for two years now and on the back burner following the UFC leaving FOX for ESPN. Now that the UFC is fully entrenched on ESPN and ESPN+, White has said for a while now that the promotion would be bringing the show back. Now we have a better idea of when TUF is returning.

Speaking to reporters on Fight Island, White said that TUF will begin filming next month.

“When I get home,” White said of when filming begins. White returns home from Fight Island to Las Vegas following UFC 254.

The UFC president was quick to add that the coaches for TUF have not been selected yet.

“Not yet, we don’t have anybody yet,” White said. “We’ll let this thing plays out. I mean there’s been times where we’ve had the coaches days before we were getting ready to film.”

There are many candidates for the TUF coaching role, but two fighters we know for sure won’t be the coaches are Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. Nurmagomedov turned McGregor down for the show, but it’s probably for the best. With those two out, there are many other options, including the welterweight division, where Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, Kamaru Usman, and Gilbert Burns could all be a part of the show.

At light heavyweight, you could have Jon Jones return to take on Israel Adesanya in potentially the biggest coaching matchup available. At heavyweight, Stipe Miocic and Jones is another option for the show. At featherweight, Alex Volkanovski could coach the show against a top contender at 145lbs. You could also do Volkanovski vs. Henry Cejudo.

What do you think about Dana White bringing back The Ultimate Fighter?