The first fighter has been officially offered a spot on TUF 29 as UFC president Dana White offered Nick Maximov a spot on the show.

Maximov, a natural middleweight, moved up to heavyweight on short notice and defeated Oscar Cota in the main event of Dana White’s Contender Series 29. Though Maximov didn’t get the finish, he was able to dominate a much heavier opponent who outweighed him by 60lbs. Though White didn’t give Maximov a UFC deal, he decided that he was worthy of being offered a contract to TUF 29.

Dana White says Nick Maximov has an invite to TUF 29. That’s middleweights and bantamweights. #dwcs

— Adam Martin (@MMAdamMartin) November 18, 2020

TUF 29 will start filming in the coming weeks. The return of The Ultimate Fighter franchise will be a staple feature for the UFC on ESPN+ in 2021. The show was the UFC’s driver in the mid-2000s but was shelved in 2018 after several stale seasons. Furthermore, the talent just wasn’t there anymore. So White and the UFC put TUF on the shelf for two years, but it promises to come back in a big way in 2021.

So far, we haven’t heard many details about the show other than it will feature middleweight and bantamweights. But Maximov is the first guy that we have heard that’s been officially offered a spot on the show. A protege of Nick Diaz, Maximov is 6-0 in his MMA career so far. He looks to be a talented prospect and he also put on a hilarious post-fight interview where he really took the Diaz brand to heart.

So far we have no indication of who the coaches will be for TUF 29 but rumors have put fighters such as Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, Israel Adesanya, Jon Jones, and Alex Volkanovski all in the running for a coaches’ spot. Expect White and the UFC matchmakers to make that announcement soon.

Do you think Dana White made the right call offering Nick Maximov a spot on TUF?