Lisa Ellis

(Sept 11, 2014) - Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter premiered last night with a special two hour presentation on Fox Sports 1. What Dana White says is "the most important season we've ever done" features 16 of the world's top 115 lb women competing to become the UFC's first ever Strawweight Champion. 8 of the 16 fighters were signed by the UFC directly from Invicta FC's roster, while 8 were chosen in open tryouts held last April, including the NW's own Lisa Ells from Olympia WA. The two coaches this season are UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis and the UFC top Lightweight Contender Gilbert Melendez.

In last night's premiere, the women were ranked by the UFC #1 through 16, with the rankings kept secret until the coaches picks were announced. Team Pettis chose first and picked Carla Esparza who was ranked #1 in the list. This meant that Team Melendez was given #16 ranked Angela Hill, and on a future episode Esparza and Hill will fight each other. It was then Team Melendez' turn to pick and they chose #3 Tecia Torres, so that #14 ranked Randa Markos was given to Team Pettis, and these two fighters were set to fight. It went like this until every fighter was matched up.

When Team Pettis chose former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion Jessica Penne, Dana White announced that she was the #4 seed and that her opponent would be #13 ranked Lisa Ellis who joins Team Melendez. Penne and Ellis will fight on an upcoming episode of the show in a rematch from a meeting they had in April 2012 in the co-main event of Invicta FC's inaugural show. In their Invicta fight, the pair battled back and forth until Penne was able to land a huge knee and eventually finish a bloodied Ellis via 3rd round TKO stoppage. The rematch should definitely be a barn-burner!

Jessica Penne (l) and Lisa Ellis (r) throwdown in April 2012 at Invicta FC 1<

In her profile on the show last night, Lisa said that "fighting for this title is a huge opportunity. But I've been at this for a while and I just feel like I deserve to be here. I think it's a great time for me to kick some ass."

31 year old Lisa Ellis, formerly competing under her maiden name of Lisa Ward, is a long-time veteran of the sport, having fought 24 times since her pro debut in 2004. Lisa is married to "Fast" Eddy Ellis, who himself was on Season 16 of TUF, and the duo own the United Training Center in Olympia WA - home of the United Fight Team. Lisa's has fought some of the biggest names in the sport in such organizations as HOOKnSHOOT, Smackgirl, DEEP, Bellator, BodogFight, and Invicta FC. She has won two belts as pro: the Fatal Femmes Fighting Flyweight title back in 2007 and the United Combat Sports 110 lb title in 2012.

Watch Lisa and all the fighters on this season of The Ultimate Fighter every Wednesday night on FOX Sports 1. Visit foxsports.com/watch/foxsports1 for more info. Check out bios, videos and photos, at ultimatefighter.com, and follow TUF on twitter.com/UltimateFighter or on Facebook.com/TUF.

Follow Lisa Ellis on twitter at @LisaEllis115. Lisa & husband Eddy's United Training Center is located at 7619 Martin Way E in Olympia WA, and online at utcmma.com.