THE BIGGEST STARS OF THE UFC®
TAKE CENTER STAGE IN LAS VEGAS ON NOV. 17
JON JONES, RONDA ROUSEY, CHRIS WEIDMAN, ANDERSON SILVA, CONOR MCGREGOR, LYOTO MACHIDA, NICK DIAZ AND MORE
Las Vegas, Nevada –
The stars of the UFC® will converge in Las Vegas alongside UFC President Dana White to launch an incredible slate of upcoming events.
THE TIME IS NOW launch will feature the largest compilation of
champions, contenders and main event headliners on the same stage. The
event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at The
Smith Center for the Performing Arts at 2 p.m. PT
on Monday, Nov. 17, and will be streamed live on www.ufc.com.
As the UFC spans the globe with incredible live events from December’s Fight Night in Brazil to UFC® 184 in Los Angeles in February, the time is now
to gear up for an epic stretch of fights inside the iconic Octagon®. For the first time ever, the UFC will also unveil its entire 2015 calendar and make a very special announcement.
Tickets for UFC Fight Night™ in Boston will be available on Thursday, Nov. 20, while tickets to UFC® 182, UFC® 183 and UFC® 184 will go on sale
Friday, Nov. 21. For more information, please visit www.ufc.com/event-ticket-info.
THE TIME IS NOW launch includes:
UFC FIGHT NIGHT™:
MACHIDA vs. DOLLAWAY
Saturday, Dec. 20 at Ginásio José Corrêa in Barueri, São Paulo, Brazil
·
Lyoto Machida – former UFC light heavyweight champion
and No. 4 middleweight contender· CB Dollaway – No. 10 middleweight contender
UFC®
182: JONES vs. CORMIER
Saturday, Jan. 3 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
·
Jon “Bones” Jones – UFC light heavyweight champion· Daniel Cormier – No. 2 light heavyweight contender and former STRIKEFORCE® Grand Prix champion
UFC FIGHT NIGHT™: McGREGOR vs. SIVER
Sunday, Jan. 18 at TD Garden in Boston, Mass.
·
Conor McGregor – No. 5 featherweight contender· Dennis Siver – No. 8 featherweight contender
UFC®
183: SILVA vs. DIAZ
Saturday, Jan. 31 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nev.
·
Anderson Silva – former UFC middleweight champion and
No. 1 middleweight contender · Nick Diaz – former STRIKEFORCE welterweight champion
UFC®
184: WEIDMAN vs. BELFORT
Saturday, Feb. 28 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
·
Chris Weidman – UFC middleweight champion· Vitor Belfort – former UFC light heavyweight champion and No. 3 middleweight contender
· “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey – UFC women’s bantamweight champion
· Cat Zingano – No. 1 women’s bantamweight contender
UFC® AND GLOBO ANNOUNCE BRAZILIAN ICON ANDERSON SILVA AND “SHOGUN” RUA WILL COACH THE FOURTH SEASON OF
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER® BRAZIL
THE SERIES WILL BE FILMED IN LAS VEGAS IN EARLY 2015 AND WILL STREAM ON UFCFIGHTPASS.COM
Sao Paulo
– Two of the greatest Brazilian fighters of all time will lead the
search for the next generation of Brazilian mixed martial artists, as
the UFC®
and Globo announce that Anderson Silva and “Shogun” Rua will coach the fourth season of
The Ultimate Fighter® Brazil.
The
legendary icon Silva (33-6 in professional MMA, fighting out of
Curitiba, Brazil), the longest-reigning and most successful UFC champion
of all time, will coach the UFC’s
flagship reality competition series for the first time. He will coach
against a team lead by “Shogun” Rua (22-9, also fighting out of
Curitiba, Brazil), the highly decorated striker and UFC light
heavyweight champion. In this season’s format, the two coaches
will not fight each other at the conclusion of the series.
Nearly 600 lightweight and bantamweight hopefuls attended TUF® Brazil 4 try-outs, which took place on October 27 in Rio de Janeiro.
UFC
President Dana White said: “A lot of people were worried we’d never see
Anderson Silva back in the UFC. But, not only is he back in the Octagon
on January 31
at UFC 183,
he’s coaching TUF for the very first time. Anderson Silva is as
committed to the UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts than he’s ever
been, and I cannot wait to see one of the greatest of all time pass his
knowledge on to a new generation of Brazilian fighters.
“And
if there’s any Brazilian fighter who can go up against Anderson as a
coach, it’s Shogun. Shogun Rua has done everything in the sport and if
he trains his team to fight
in the same attacking style he’s always used, Anderson’s team is in for
one hell of a season.”
After
three hugely successful seasons filmed in Brazil, the action will now
shift to Las Vegas, as the 16 finalists will be flown to live, train and
compete in the fight capital
of the world early in the New Year. The reality show will continue
under the creative direction of legendary Brazilian TV producer Boninho,
who promises the change of location will be one of many exciting
innovations for the fourth season.
“Once again,
The Ultimate Fighter Brazil was designed and developed by the
great partnership between Globo and the UFC," Boninho said. "We’ve come
up with some great concepts for this new season and supervised the
creative execution of what I know will be another
hit season.”
Silva
added: "I think I can offer this next generation of Brazilian talent
real insight into what it takes to succeed in the UFC. I will bring
everything I know about the
martial arts, and my own values of what it means to be a martial
artist, to my team."
Rua
said: "To coach on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil is a dream come true,
and an opportunity I wanted for a long time. To have my team compete
against a team coached by a legend
and former training partner like Anderson Silva makes it even better!
Me and Anderson go a long way, training together back when we were both
aiming to be stars, and to do this with him now on the biggest platform
and having a chance to show people what MMA
is really about is just amazing! I look forward to finding great talent
and helping them become winners!"
The fourth season of
The Ultimate Fighter Brazil will be available outside of Brazil on UFCFIGHTPASS.COM, the UFC’s digital streaming service, beginning in April 2015.
For more show information, bios, videos and photos, visit
www.ufc.com/tuf/ and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter
@UltimateFighter or on
Facebook.com/TUF.
