Miocic and Cormier to coach TUF: Undefeated, fight at UFC 226

Las Vegas, January 27: The highly anticipated 27th season of The Ultimate Fighter which kicks off on Wednesday, April 18, will see UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic coach opposite light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.

The pair will then battle for the heavyweight crown during the 7th annual UFC International Fight Week (July 3-7) at UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 7 after the series.

The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated will also feature a dynamic cast of unbeaten lightweight and featherweight fighters. Each tournament winner will receive a six-figure UFC contract.

The season will air for 12 consecutive Wednesdays on Fox Sports 1, followed by a live finale to be announced at a later date. (In India, you can watch the episodes in a pre-recorded format via Sony ESPN).

All roads lead to Las Vegas! @StipeMiocicUFC & @DC_MMA to coach #TUF27, will face off at #UFC226 for the HW strap!

📰 https://t.co/YSnabHhdls pic.twitter.com/OZ7MGbBk0d
— UFC (@ufc) January 27, 2018

Both coaches recently defended their championships at UFC 220 earlier this month in Boston.

Miocic (18-2, fighting out of Independence, Ohio) netted his historic third heavyweight title defense with a dominant decision over dangerous striker Francis Ngannou.

The NCAA Division I wrestler and Cleveland Golden Gloves boxing champion has been on a tear since 2015. Going into the bout with Ngannou, the consensus "baddest man on the planet" had earned five consecutive knockout victories against Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovski and Mark Hunt.

Miocic now looks to lead his team to victory before further etching his name in the record books.

As for Cormier (20-1 1NC, fighting out of San Jose, California), the former Olympian earned a spectacular TKO win against knockout artist Volkan Oezdemir.

During his reign as light heavyweight champion, Cormier has also earned impressive title defense wins over Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson.

The bout against Miocic will mark his first at heavyweight since defeating Roy Nelson in 2013. Prior to joining UFC, Cormier won the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix by besting Josh Barnett in the final.

He now aims to join Georges St-Pierre, Conor McGregor, BJ Penn and Randy Couture as a two-division UFC champion.

Below is a full list of competitors (name, professional record, age and fighting out of):

LIGHTWEIGHT

Thailand Clark - 7-0 | 28 | Fort Worth, Texas

Joe Giannetti - 6-0 | 22 | Norwell, Massachusetts

John Gunther - 6-0 | 32 | Cleveland, Ohio

José Martinez Jr.- 4-0 | 27 | Lorain, Ohio

Luis Peña - 4-0 | 24 | Hillsboro, Miss. by way of Naples, Italy

Richie Smullen - 3-0-1 | 26 | Arklow, Ireland

Mike Trizano - 6-0 | 25 | Ramsey, New Jersey

Allan Zuniga - 13-0 | 25 | San Miguel, Costa Rica

FEATHERWEIGHT