Team Shogun Owner and Head Coach Louai Kiblawi will be coaching in The Ultimate Fighter “TUF 32,” joining former UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko’s team for season 32 in Las Vegas.
Louai, and his brother Rocky, were both selected from Lebanon to join the international event.
“It’s an honor to be alongside Muay Thai Legend and UFC Champion Shevchenko and her team. And it’s a great privilege to be selected from all over the world to be at TUF 32 in the UFC in Las Vegas,” Kiblawi commented.
“It’s a dream come true.”
Kiblawi’s dream started at the age of three, when he took up Muay Thai training. Now at 35, his passion radiates for the art of eight limbs.
“Muay Thai is life,” he said during our chat, and he exemplifies that in many ways.
The relationship between Kiblawi and Valentina Shevchenko, as well as her sister fellow UFC fighter Antonina and Coach Pavel Fedotov, started over two decades ago.
“It’s beautiful to have such a lasting friendship and to continue working together in this field,” he said.
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ABOUT TUF SEASON 32
“The Ultimate Fighter” is back for a 32nd season. The show will be coached by women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and former champ Valentina Shevchenko.
The new season is scheduled to premiere on ESPN on June 4, featuring competitions among men’s featherweight and middleweight fighters. In addition, the filming kicked off earlier this March in Las Vegas.
With records of 16-3-1 in MMA and 8-3-1 in the UFC for Grasso, and 23-4-1 in MMA and 12-3-1 in the UFC for Shevchenko, these two fighters are set to compete in a highly anticipated trilogy bout following the series, with specifics on the date and venue still pending.
The upcoming season is themed “Redemption.” It aims to set former UFC fighters against up-and-coming talents in a dramatic showdown.
Out of numerous applicants, only 16 fighters have made the cut. Fighters will represent fourteen countries, marking this season as potentially the most internationally diverse in the series’ history.
