TUF 17 cast announced

The Ultimate Fighter season 17 will debut Tuesday, Jan. 22, on FX at 8 p.m. ET. Twenty-eight middleweight fighters from 16 different U.S. states and territories, as well as international talent from Sweden, England, New Zealand, Jamaica and South Africa will compete for a six-figure multi-fight contract with the UFC.

The 14 fighters who pass the elimination round will be divided into two teams where they will train under coaching staffs led by UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen. Jones and Sonnen will then square off themselves in a championship bout in April.

The cast of TUF 17 fighters is as follows:

• Dylan Andrews (16-4-1), 32, Gold Coast, Australia (by way of New Zealand)
• Kito Andrews (9-2), 34, Sacramento, Calif.
• Luke Barnatt (5-0), 24, Cambridge, England
• Leo Bercier (7-2), 31, Great Falls, Mont.
• Ryan Bigler (9-3), 28, Yona, Guam
• Kevin Casey (5-2), Hawthorne, Calif.
• Adam Cella (4-0), 27, Fenton, Mo.
• Zach Cummings (15-3), 28, Kansas City, Mo.
• Andy Enz (6-1), 21, Anchorage, Alaska
• Nik Fekete (5-1), 32, Las Vegas
• Kelvin Gastelum (5-0), 20, Yuma, Ariz.
• Uriah Hall (7-2), 28, New York City (by way of Jamaica)
• Collin Hart (4-1-1), 23, Santa Rosa, Calif.
• Clint Hester (7-3), 25, Atlanta
• Jake Heun (3-2), 25, Salt Lake City
• Mike Jasper (6-0), 29, Camarillo, Calif.
• Nicholas Kohring (3-0), 22, Valley Springs, Calif.
• Robert “Bubba” McDaniel (20-6), 29, Albuquerque, N.M.
• Fraser Opie (10-5), 29, Milton Keynes, England (by way of South Africa)
• Mike Persons (3-0), 28, Manteca, Calif.
• Jimmy Quinlan (3-0), 26, Metheun, Mass.
• Scott Rosa (4-1), 26, Sparks, Nev.
• Joshua Samman (9-2), 24, Tallahassee, Fla.
• Gilbert Smith Jr. (5-1), Colorado Springs, Colo.
• Eldon Sproat (3-1), 27, Molokai, Hawaii
• Tor Troeng (15-4-1), 29, Umea, Sweden
• Eric Wahlin (5-1), 29, Taylorsville, Utah
• Timothy Williams (7-1), 26, Millville, N.J.

Readers may be familiar with some of these names, and others not. If you know any of these fighters, maybe you’ve seen them fight or trained with them, give us a little insight of what to expect and how you think they will do.

Apparently Dana White said there’s one particular fighter that scared the sh*t out of everyone and gave his opponent a nervous breakdown. Who could it be?

Could it be Robert “Bubba’ McDaniel who has been around for quite awhile, has some quality wins and seems to be the most experienced fighter on the show?

Or maybe Kevin Casey gave his housemates a nervous breakdown with his vicious rhymes. For those who don’t know, Casey is a pretty well-known Gracie black belt, who at least at one time was managed by The Hills star Spencer Pratt. It was their infamous rap music video they made together — “No Surrender” — his warning to the MMA world that he was taking no prisoners, that struck fear into the hearts of fighters everywhere.

HT: USA Today