TUF 11 Shaping Up: Three Hot Middleweight Prospects Announced for the Cast

This article was originally featured on fiveknuckles.com

Season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter, which is set to debut on Spike TV on March 31, is already beginning to shape up.

During the broadcast for the TUF 10 Finale on December 5, UFC President Dana White announced that the coaches for Season 11 would be none other than arch-rivals, and former light-heavyweight champions, "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell and "The Huntington Beach-Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz.

White also declared that the weight-class for the eleventh season will feature a cast of middleweight fighters. With the way that the UFC middleweight champ, Anderson Silva, is tearing through the division, the UFC's 185-pound division could certainly use some fresh new faces to shake things up.

While we are still a few months away from the season premier, three young prospects have already been announced for the cast. FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed earlier today that up-and-comers Charles Blanchard, Charley Lynch, and Kris McCray will be among the cast of sixteen middleweight fighters for season 11.

Blanchard (7-2) is a member of the elite MMA camp American Top Team, and holds an impressive victory over highly regarded British fighter Jim "Judo" Wallhead.

With a solid background in wrestling, Blanchard made the transition into MMA in 2006 and seems to be on the fast track to success in the middleweight division. He also competed against rising UFC welterweight Ben Saunders early in his career, and was submitted in the first round.

Both Lynch (6-0) and McCray (5-0) will enter the TUF house with undefeated records. None of Lynch's opponents have had the luxury of surviving the first five minutes, as Lynch has stopped all of his fights in the first round. Nicknamed "Savage", McCray has also finished all five of his professional bouts within the first round.

All three of these athletes will enter the competition with an equal amount of hype and talent. Without any knowledge of the identities of the other thirteen cast members, one can certainly pick any one of the three fighters mentioned above as a favorite to win the entire competition.

As previously mentioned, The Ultimate Fighter season 11 is set to debut on Spike TV March 1, and will feature light-heavyweight rivals Liddell and Ortiz coaching a cast of middleweight fighters who will all be competing in a tournament format for a six-figure contract with the UFC.