The UFC is going back to two familiar voices for The Ultimate Fighter 34, with Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping set to coach opposite teams when the new season premieres on June 14, 2026 on Paramount+. New episodes are scheduled to air every Tuesday after the debut. This season will feature 16 prospects, split between the men’s bantamweight division and the women’s strawweight division, with UFC roster spots on the line.
Cormier and Bisping are not random nostalgia picks. Both men have stayed tied to the UFC long after retirement, and both already know how this show works. This will be the third time each has served as a TUF coach, which tells you exactly what the UFC wants here. It wants two recognizable ex-champions who can carry a show, talk on camera, and keep the season moving even when the prospects are still unknown to a big chunk of the audience. The announcement also adds another layer to the UFC’s busy June schedule, which already has a lot of attention around other June event-week plans.
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THE @UltimateFighter is BACK
Team @dc_mma vs Team @bisping
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Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping stay in the mix long after retirement
Cormier retired as one of the most accomplished fighters of his era. He held UFC titles at light heavyweight and heavyweight, beat names like Anthony Johnson, Alexander Gustafsson, Derrick Lewis, and Stipe Miocic, and spent years as one of the promotion’s most reliable headline acts. Since retiring, he has moved into a full media role with commentary, desk analysis, interviews, and podcast work. He is still one of the UFC’s main talking heads, and he still ends up in headlines whenever he unloads on somebody, which has happened plenty lately, including in this recent story involving Daniel Cormier’s clash with Nate Diaz.
Bisping’s road looked different, but it gave the UFC another champion with a built-in TV personality. He won The Ultimate Fighter 3, built a long middleweight run, and finally grabbed the belt when he knocked out Luke Rockhold in one of the sport’s better late-career shocks. After retirement, he moved straight into broadcasting, podcasting, and studio work, and he has stayed active as one of the promotion’s sharpest analysts. He also has a habit of saying exactly what he thinks, which keeps him in the cycle, whether he is talking about matchmaking, title pictures, or a fighter he thinks should walk away, like he did in this recent Michael Bisping breakdown.
The structure of the season is simple. The UFC is using 135-pound men and 115-pound women, so the show still has a clear roster-building purpose instead of being built only around coach banter. That matters because TUF still works best when the fights deliver and a few prospects actually look ready for the big show. The challenge is that the series is no longer the only lane for new talent. The UFC already has Contender Series doing a lot of that sorting, so TUF needs coaches who can carry the episodes while the cast tries to stand out.
Cormier and Bisping fit that job cleanly. They are recognizable, active in UFC media, and experienced enough to make the show feel familiar without leaning on fake drama alone. The season still comes down to whether the prospects can fight, but the UFC picked two retired champions who know how to keep the cameras interested until then.
