Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter 3 Goes Into Production in Las Vegas  1/12/06

Spike TV's 'The Ultimate Fighter 3' Goes Into Production in Las Vegas; Bitter Rivals and UFC Legends Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz to Serve as Coaches

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The best up-and-coming mixed martial artists from around the world have convened in Las Vegas in pursuit of one goal -- to be named the "Ultimate Fighter" and to be given a contract in the Ultimate Fighting Championship(R) organization. For the third season of Spike TV's highly successful reality series, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC legends and bitter rivals Ken Shamrock "The World's Most Dangerous Man" and Tito Ortiz will train and coach the participating light-heavyweights and middleweights.

Production on The Ultimate Fighter 3 begins on Monday, January 16 and continues in Las Vegas for about the next 6 weeks. The Ultimate Fighter 3 premieres Thursday, April 6 at 11:00pm ET/PT. The series is hosted by Dana White, UFC President.

During the thirty-eight day competition, the 18 men will endure a grueling regimen of jiu-jitsu, judo, Muay Thai, karate, boxing and wrestling. The intense competition between the fighters will continue after they leave the gym -- at the Ultimate Fighter(TM) House. These warriors will be forced to live with each other, knowing that any day they could be forced to fight each other in the UFC Octagon(TM).

Opponents from each team will be selected to square off in battle, officially weighed in and then, in front of their teammates, coaches, and the sanctioning Nevada Athletic Commission, the two combatants face off in three five-minute rounds.

For the finale in June, the four semi-finalists will fight in a LIVE television broadcast with a location to be determined. In the end, one light-heavyweight and one middleweight will be crowned the new Ultimate Fighter(TM).

The Ultimate Fighter 2 airing this past fall drew a higher rating (2.7) in the hard-to-reach demographic Men 18-34 than the following in 4th Qtr '05: ESPN's Saturday Night ACC Football; the NBA on ESPN and TNT (Tues., Wed., and Thurs.); ESPN's "World Series of Poker" (Tues.), FX's "Nip Tuck" (Tues.) and MTV's "The Real World" (Tues.).

Craig Piligian of Pilgrim Films and Television, Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White of Zuffa, LLC, and Kevin Kay of Spike TV are the show's executive producers. Brian J. Diamond is Vice President, Sports & Specials, Spike TV and Co-Executive Producer. Peter V. Symuleski serves as Executive in Charge of Production for Spike TV.

Spike TV, the first network for men, is available in 88 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc. SOURCE Spike TV

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