The Ultimate Fighter 7 to kick off with sixteen bouts

The seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter, coached by UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and season one winner Forrest Griffin, will begin with a total of 32 middleweights, Spike TV has confirmed.

But the number of middleweights competing for the six-figure UFC contract will be cut in half by the end of the second episode. A total of 16 elimination bouts will air, mostly through highlights, in the first two episodes to narrow down the field of contestants.

According to Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports, this season's cast includes:

David Baggett (4-2), Steve Byrnes (6-1), Paul Bradley (5-0), Matt Brown (4-2), Erik Charles (0-0), John Clarke (5-2), Daniel Cramer (0-0), Tim Credeur (9-2), Mike Dolce (3-4), Clarence Dollaway (0-0), John Hall (3-3), Gerald Harris (6-2), Nick Klein (3-0), David Mewborn (0-0), Mike Marrello (7-1-1), Jeremy May (5-5), Prince LaDonas McLean (4-5), Aaron Meisner (2-0), Reggie Orr (4-5-1), Matthew Riddle (0-0), Jeremiah Riggs (1-0), Dante Rivera, (10-2), David Roberts (5-7), Nick Rossborough (0-0), Amir Sadollah (0-0), Patrick Schultz (0-3), Brandon Sene (2-0), Dan Simmler (0-0), Jesse Taylor (6-2), Cale Yarbrough (0-0), John Wood (6-3) and Luke Zachrich (7-1).

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest premieres April 2 at 10:00pm ET and will air every Wednesday until the season finale on Saturday, June 21 from the Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The first episode directly follows a live broadcast of the Kenny Florian-Joe Lauzon headlined UFC Fight Night in Broomfield, Colorado.