UFC president Dana White told Sportsnet’s Showdown Joe Ferraro that The Ultimate Fighter: Team Canada vs. Team Australia will in all likelihood be the next international edition of TUF and will likely be filmed in Montreal.
“Yes, it’s probably going to be Canada versus Australia,” White said Thursday.
“I think it’s going to be filmed up in Canada; it’s looking like Montreal.”
On several occasions, White has told sportsnet.ca that the UFC had been looking at and planning for a strictly Canadian edition of the popular mixed martial arts reality show. He also mentioned that Montreal would be the most likely destination for the show to be filmed.
The UFC has held six events in Montreal in the last five years – more than any other Canadian city.
Details of who the coaches could be, which weight classes will participate, and when and were the tryouts will take place have yet to be determined.
At first glance, setting up a Canada vs. Australia version of TUF may seem odd, but when you consider that Tom Wright is the UFC’s director of operations in Canada, Australia and New Zealand it starts to make more sense.
Canada and Australia will be closely linked in the UFC, as the UFC Canada team helps run operations in fellow Commonwealth nations Australia and New Zealand.
Like White, Wright has told sportsnet.ca on multiple occasions that the UFC was working on developing TUF Canada.
In late February, Wright told UFC Central Radio: “We’re absolutely going to do a TUF Canada, but it’s looking more like it’s going to be in the first part of 2014.”
It’s unclear at this time whether TUF: Canada vs. Australia will completely take the place of a potential TUF Canada series, or if one is still in the cards.
The Ultimate Fighter has been around for 17 seasons since 2005, filmed in the United States and airing worldwide. TUF has helped start the careers of nearly 200 UFC fighters over the last eight years.
There have been two international editions of the series – TUF Brazil and TUF: The Smashes which pitted Team U.K. against Team Australia – with the third (TUF Brazil 2) currently airing in Brazil and online.
TUF: The Smashes was filmed in Australia in 2012.
