Fall River MMA fighter to be featured on UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter in bid for roster spot

Las Vegas – The highly anticipated The Return of The Ultimate Fighter®: Team Volkanovski vs. Team Ortega will see UFC® featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and No. 2 contender Brian Ortega coach men’s bantamweights and middleweights competing to make the UFC roster, according to a release by the UFC. Following the series, which exclusively debuts Tuesday, June 1 on ESPN+, the two coaches will prepare to square off for the featherweight title at a later date.

The Return of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF 29) will feature 16 athletes in the men’s bantamweight (135 lbs.) and middleweight (185 lbs.) divisions who are looking to fulfill their UFC dreams.

One of those looking to fulfill that dream is Fall River’s Mitch Raposo.

Raposo, who fights out of the Regiment Training Center, is 5-0, 22 years old, and graduated from Durfee High School. Mitch started training at 12 years old and has won multiple championships in kickboxing, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. At 18 he started fighting in MMA where he won the Cage Titans Flyweight Championship on April 14 2018.

Raposo is very excited to have this opportunity.

“It’s an absolute dream come true to get an opportunity like this at 22 years old. I really am living my dream and I’m no different than any other kid that grew up in Fall River. I just worked hard and wanted to be special and I know I have a long way to go, but it’s just the beginning.”

The entire twelve episode season of TUF 29 will be available exclusively on ESPN+, with one episode being released each Tuesday beginning June 1. In addition, UFC fans can re-watch all 28 previous seasons of TUF on ESPN+, with entire seasons premiering on the service each week through the end of May for bingeable viewing.

The Ultimate Fighter has helped shape the careers of the likes of Kamaru Usman, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Rose Namajunas, Michael Bisping, Robert Whittaker, Nate Diaz, Tony Ferguson, T.J. Dillashaw, Matt Serra, Michael Chiesa, Al Iaquinta, Kelvin Gastelum, Uriah Hall and many others.

Ultimate Fighter Coach and undisputed UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski (22-1, fighting out of Windang, New South Wales, Australia) is unbeaten in almost eight years, including nine straight wins in the UFC. Volkanovski proved himself as one of UFC’s top pound-for-pound fighters with two title fight victories over Max Holloway, along with dominant performances against Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes and Darren Elkins. Volkanovski now hopes to experience the same type of success in his first opportunity as a head coach.

Coach Ortega (15-1, fighting out of Los Angeles, Calif.) is determined to make 2021 the year his UFC title dreams become a reality. Two years removed from his first title challenge, Ortega hopes to apply the same skills that helped him defeat the likes of Chan Sung Jung, Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson and Renato Moicano, to foster the careers of future UFC stars.

Here is the full list of competitors scheduled to compete in the show.

MEN’S BANTAMWEIGHTS

Daniel Argueta | 27 | 5-0 | Chicago, IL

Brady Hiestand | 21 | 4-1 | Spokane, WA

Dustin Lampros | 26 | 5-0 | Deerfield Beach, FL

Vince Murdock | 30 | 11-6 | Sacramento, CA

Mitch Raposo | 22 | 5-0 | Fall River, MA

Joshua Rettinghouse | 31 | 16-5 | Spokane, WA

Liudvik Sholinian | 30 | 9-1 | Kiev, Ukraine

Ricky Turcios | 27 | 10-2 | Houston, TX

MIDDLEWEIGHTS

Aaron Phillips | 29 | 5-1 | Kotzbue, AK

Andre Petroski | 29 | 5-1 | Philadelphia, PA

Bryan Battle | 26 | 4-1 | Charlotte, NC

Ryder Newman | 25 | 3-1 | Las Vegas, NV

Tresean Gore | 26 | 3-0 | Decatur, GA

Miles Hunsinger | 30 | 7-0 | Las Vegas, NV

Kemran Lachinov | 30 | 10-3 | West Springfield, MA

Gilbert Urbina | 25 | 6-1 | Rio Grande Valley, TX