The next international season of The Ultimate Fighter is currently filming in Sao Paulo, Brazil and the UFC has announced that this season will be shown exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.
The Ultimate Fighter Brasil: Team Wanderlei vs Team Sonnen will debut on March 9th at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT and the show sill be available on demand on the UFC digital network. Each new episode of the reality shot will be available every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
“We’re excited to confirm that UFC Fight Pass subscribers won’t miss any of the action from what is certain to be a crazy season of The Ultimate Fighter Brasil,” said UFC Chief Content Officer Marshall Zelaznik. “Subscribers will be able to catch each installment on demand, within hours of the show airing on television in Brazil.
This season of the international reality show is coached by Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva and they will meet each other in a light heavyweight bout in 2014. Along with the show being on Fight Pass, the UFC will be posting exclusive behind the scenes videos and the UFC has posted the first video, which is below.
This is the second time that Sonnen has been a coach on the reality show, as he coached season seventeen of the show against Jon Jones last year. Coaching in Brazil has been a different environment for Sonnen and coaching against Wanderlei has “been an experience” for Sonnen.
“I don’t quite know what to make of it down here,” Sonnen said. Wanderlei has already been an experience, to say the least. He’s like a cartoon character, he gets angry and runs out of words and steam starts to come out of his ears. He’s a caveman. But I feel sorry for him so I’m helping him get to where he wants to go – retirement.”
For Wanderlei, this is the second time that he has been a coach on the international version of The Ultimate Fighter, as he was a coach on the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter Brasil.” He has made his feelings known about Sonnen and promises this will be the most exciting season of The Ultimate Fighter ever.
“Sonnen messed with the wrong guy. Now his time has come. He’s fearful, afraid of me. For everything he said – now he has a payback. I’m here because of Brazil and the Brazilian fans. I’m going to give them what they want – the most exciting season of TUF ever.”
UFC Fight Pass has already launched in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, with a $9.99 price point per month in all four markets. The digital network will be available in more markets shortly and as Zelaznik points out, March will be a big month for the service.
“March continues to be a huge month for UFC Fight Pass. On March 1, we have our second exclusive fight card, live from Macau, featuring top welterweight Dong Hyun Kim taking on the returning John Hathaway, a heavyweight battle between Matt Mitrione and Shawn Jordan and former No.1 featherweight Hatsu Hioki in a must-win fight against Ivan Menjivar.
“Then, on March 8, UFC Fight Pass will be the only place to see the stacked UFC London card, headlined by the No.1 ranked Alexander Gustafsson risking his title shot against knockout specialist Jimi Manuwa. The event will also feature a great flyweight fight between Ian McCall and Brad Pickett, Melvin Guillard taking on fellow TUF alumnus Michael Johnson and a battle between unbeaten welterweights with Gunnar Nelson taking on Omari Akhmedov.”