Welterweight Champion Matt Serra and former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes will serve as coaches for Season 6 of Spike TV's highly-rated series, The Ultimate Fighter premiering Wednesday, September 19 at 11:00pm ET/PT.
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Serra vs. Team Hughes features sixteen of the best up-and-coming mixed martial artists in the 170 lb. division from around the world. The two finalists will square off in a live finale in December, with the winner netting a six figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship(R), the premier mixed martial arts organization in the world. The series recently wrapped production in Las Vegas. Hughes and Serra will fight each other in a UFC pay-per-view event after the series finale in December. The series will assume its regular timeslot of Wednesdays at 10pm on September 26.
Serra is no stranger to The Ultimate Fighter having won Season 4 last November, earning the right to fight then-welterweight king, Georges St- Pierre. Serra proceeded to stun the sports world by defeating St-Pierre at UFC 69 in April to claim the title. A Long Island native, Serra began training under the legendary Renzo Gracie in the mid 1990's and was awarded the black belt in 2000, the first American to have such an honor under Gracie. Among Serra's most memorable victories prior to beating St-Pierre are his defeat of Yves Edwards at UFC 33 and his win over Ivan Menjivar at UFC 48.
He currently runs two successful jiu-jitsu schools on Long Island. Joining Serra on his coaching staff will be his The Ultimate Fighter 4 cast-mate Pete "Drago" Sell and boxing coach Ray Longo.
One of the sport's all time greats, Hughes, from tiny Hillsboro, Illinois, is a former UFC welterweight champion and four-time collegiate All-American wrestler. A coach for The Ultimate Fighter 2, Hughes' list of victories in the UFC includes the sport's biggest names, including Royce Gracie, Georges St- Pierre, BJ Penn, Carlos Newton and Frank Trigg. Joining Hughes on his coaching staff will be mixed martial arts star Robbie Lawler, Matt Pena, and Marc Fiore.
During the six-week Ultimate Fighter competition, the sixteen men endure a grueling regimen of jiu-jitsu, judo, muay thai, karate, boxing and wrestling. The intense competition between the fighters continues after they leave the gym -- at The Ultimate Fighter House. These warriors are forced to live together, knowing that any day they might be forced to fight each other in the famed UFC Octagon(TM).
In each episode, opponents from each team are selected to square off in battle, officially weighed in and then, in front of their teammates, coaches and the Nevada State Athletic Commission, face off in two five-minute rounds with a sudden death third round in the event of a draw.
Over the first five seasons, the show has delivered approximately two million viewers each week, often beating the NBA, NHL, MLB and NCAA football and basketball head-to-head on Thursday nights with men 18-34.
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