The UFC and Soccer Highlight the Can’t Miss Events This Week on Rogers Sportsnet

- The debut of the new season of The Ultimate Fighter Wednesday-

-Canadian Nick Ring fights in the UFC 135 preliminaries on Saturday night-

-Toronto FC face a must-win match in the CONCACAF Champions League

TORONTO (Sept. 20, 2011) – The UFC and soccer take centre stage on Rogers Sportsnet this week featuring the 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC 135 preliminary fights, a key match for Toronto FC in the CONCACAF Champions League and the Barclays Premier League

The Ultimate Fighter

The latest installment of the reality series The Ultimate Fighter debuts on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. (ET)/6 p.m. (PT) on Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario and Sportsnet Pacific channels.

Sportsnet is the only network in Canada to broadcast this long-running series in High Definition. New shows will debut on Wednesdays for the next 10 weeks with replays on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Each episode will be available on sportsnet.ca.

The coaches for the new season are Michael “The Count” Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Bisping won season three of the Ultimate Fighter and had previously coached on the show during season nine. Miller has fought in a number of MMA organizations including Strikeforce, Dream and the UFC.

The two coaches will guide 16 bantamweights and 16 featherweights in a bid to be crowned The Ultimate Fighter for their respective weight class. Previous winners who have gone on to successful UFC careers include Bisping, Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans.

The season finale on December 3, 2012 will crown two champions. The fight card for the finale will also feature Bisping and Miller in a middleweight tilt.

UFC 135 Preliminaries

All Canadian eyes will be on Calgary’s Nick Ring as he puts his undefeated record on the line as part of the UFC 135 preliminary fights from Denver, Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (PT) on Sportsnet ONE.

Sportsnet is the only network in Canada broadcasting the UFC preliminary fights in HD.

Ring has a professional record of 12-0 including a 2-0 record in the UFC. He is coming off a third-round submission of James Head at UFC 131. Ring’s opponent, Tim Boetsch, has a record of 13-4 and is coming off a win over Kendall Grove at UFC 130. The other fight on the preliminary card will be a lightweight bout between Tony Ferguson and Aaron Riley.

Sportsnet Connected will also provide coverage leading up to UFC 135 with nightly reports hosted by “Showdown” Joe Ferraro from Denver during the evening and prime editions starting on Wednesday, Sept. 21. For even more coverage, sportsnet.ca will have live streaming of the UFC 135 pre-fight press conference on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 2:00 p.m. (ET)/11:00 a.m. (PT), the official weigh-in on Friday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. (ET)/3 p.m. (PT) and the post-fight press conference on Saturday, Sept. 24.

CONCACAF Champions League

Toronto FC look to keep their Champions League hopes alive when they take on Panama’s Tauro in the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (PT) on Sportsnet ONE.

RJ Broadhead will have the play-by-play while Dick Howard will provide the analysis. Kara Lang, the former star of Canada’s Women’s Soccer team, will be on hand as the sideline reporter.

TFC started this Group Stage off with a 2-1 victory over Tauro during the opening week. However, they have since lost two straight, falling 1-0 to Dallas and 4-0 to Mexico’s UNAM. The four teams in the group are playing home-and-away round-robin format with the top two moving on to the Championship Round beginning in March 2012.

Barclays Premier League

Undefeated Manchester United highlights this weekend’s Barclays Premier League schedule when they face Stoke City on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 12 p.m. (ET)/9 am (PT) on Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet West and Sportsnet Pacific.

Gerry Dobson and Craig Forrest host SoccerCentral at 2:30 p.m. (ET)/11:30 a.m. (PT) immediately following the match to wrap up the day’s action.

Sportsnet and Setanta Sports’ BPL broadcast schedule for the rest of the weekend is as follows:

Saturday, Sept. 24

Liverpool v Wolverhampton @ 9:30 a.m. ET (Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific)

Arsenal v Bolton @ 9:55 p.m. ET (Setanta)

Sunday, Sept. 25

Queens Park Rangers v Aston Villa @10 a.m. ET (Setanta)

For all the scores, highlights, breaking news and inside stories, tune in to Sportsnet Connected and visit sportsnet.ca.

-END-