The Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters | |
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Genre | Reality, Sports |
Created by | Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White |
Starring | Dana White Robert Whittaker Kelvin Gastelum |
Country of origin | United States |
Production | |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Fox Sports 1 |
Release | August 29[1] – November 30, 2018[1] |
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) |
The Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters (also known as The Ultimate Fighter 28) is an installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)-produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter.[2] The season tournament finale took place on November 30, 2018, at Pearl Theatre at Palms Casino Resort on Fox Sports 1.[3]
Tryouts were announced on April 25, 2018. This season featured fighters from the women's featherweight and men's heavyweight divisions.[4][5][6] The coaches for this season were announced on July 7, pitting The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes winner and UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker against The Ultimate Fighter 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum.[7][8] A middleweight title fight was scheduled between Whittaker and Gastelum after the show on February 9, 2019, at UFC 234.[9][10][11] However, Whittaker pulled out of the event a few hours beforehand after he was forced to undergo emergency dual surgery due to an abdominal hernia of the intestine and a twisted and collapsed bowel.[12] The pairing eventually met 2 years later at UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum.[13] The cast was announced on July 11, 2018.[1]