TUF 24 to Feature 16 Champions Vying for a Shot at Demetrious Johnson
Breaking from the past format, Season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter is going to feature 16 flyweight champions from other fight promotions around the world, who are going to compete for a shot at current UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. The news of the new format broke on Wednesday night's edition of UFC Tonight.
In addition to bringing in other champions from around the world to compete, the show will feature two of the UFC's top flyweights as coaches, both of whom have fought Johnson already. Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo, neither of which was able to upset Johnson, will coach the incoming would-be contenders.
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“There's some real talent out there in the flyweight division,” said Benavidez after the announcement. “These people are gonna come in, their first fight in the UFC is gonna be for the world title, so that has to get people excited.”
The season will kick off in late summer or early fall with the TUF 24 Finale taking place on Dec. 3 in Las Vegas.
The winner of the show will get a shot at Johnson in the TUF 24 Finale main event, while Benavidez and Cejudo will fight in that night's co-main event slot.
TUF 24 has been set to feature flyweights for the past couple months, but an initial call for flyweights to come in for an open tryout was met with significant backlash when it was announced the winner would get a shot at Johnson. The open tryout was cancelled with the UFC shifting gears and instead bringing in a full slate of other promotion's champions, although who those champions are and what other promotions are involved has yet to be revealed.
