Advertisement

TUF The Smashes Lands on ESPN for UK Viewers

MMA Weekly
TUF The Smashes Lands on ESPN for UK Viewers

U.K. and Aussie fans have been excited for the upcoming The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes, which pits Team Australia vs. Team U.K., but now U.K. fans finally know how they’ll be able to watch the show.

UFC officials on Wednesday announced that The Smashes would air on ESPN in the U.K. All 12 episodes of the series will air at midnight on Wednesdays, beginning with the season premiere at midnight on Wednesday, Sept. 19. The final regular season episode will be on Dec. 5.

The Smashes will also debut on Sept. 19 on FX in Australia.

Australian coach Georges Sotiropoulos and U.K. coach Ross Pearson, as well as the TUF finalists, will square off at UFC on FX 6 on Dec. 15 in Australia (Dec. 14 in the U.S. due to the time difference).

The Smashes features eight lightweights and eight welterweights per team. The rosters are as follows:

Team Australia

Lightweights:

  • Grant Blackler, 23, Sunshine Coast

  • Patrick Iodice, 19, Gold Coast

  • Richie Vaculik, 29, Sydney

  • Ben Wall, 23, Brisbane

Welterweights:

  • Ben Alloway, 31, Gold Coast

  • Xavier Lucas, 31, Perth

  • Manuel Rodriguez, 27, Sydney

  • Robert Whitaker, 21, Sydney

Team UK

Lightweights:

  • Colin Fletcher, 29, Sunderland

  • Norman Parke, 25, Bushmills, Northern Ireland

  • Michael Pastou, 30, Essex

  • Mike Wilkinson, 24, Leigh

Welterweights:

  • Luke Newman, 22, London

  • Bola Omoyele, 30, London

  • Valentino Petrescu, 30, Essex

  • Brad Scott, 23, Melksham

TUF: The Smashes is the second international edition of the UFC’s venerable reality series. The first was TUF Brazil, which took place earlier this year.

TUF Brazil concluded with the finals at UFC 147 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The fight between the TUF Brazil coaches, Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort, was to have also taken place at UFC 147 before Belfort had to withdraw do to injury. Silva instead fought and lost to Rich Franklin in the UFC 147 main event.

The UFC on Tuesday announced the next international flavor of the reality series. TUF India will premier in 2013 as part of the UFC’s new television deal with Sony Six in India.