Why The Ultimate Fighter No Longer Pays Well

Fronted by Luke Thomas.

Joe Lauzon's blog during TUF 5 provided good entertainment: he gave insight into the inner workings of the house and the relations between the fighters, as well as plenty of interesting tidbits they could not or did not show in the episodes.  Pulver had a blog too, off on some random site outside the main forums and websites.  Short of those two, I personally cannot remember any other fighters or coaches actively blogging on a weekly basis about the TUF experience on that season or prior.

Fast forward three seasons.  For TUF 8, I have so far seen blogs from at least multiple fighters as well as one coach.

MMAJunkie: Ryan Bader and team Mir coach Ken Hahn

Fiveouncesofpain: Phillipe Nover

UFC.com: Junie Browning

CagePotato: Efrain Escudero

MMARated: John Polakowski

MMACanada: Kryzzyzdff Soszdzzki

Fightticker: Eliot Marshall (thanks szucconi!)

And those are only the ones I saw today; I also seem to recall seeing a blog by George Roop as well as an interview with Dave Kaplan, a couple interviews with injury-ousted TUFer Antwain Britt, and MMAWeekly's exit interview, today with Tom Lawlor.

This overwhelming supply of house insight has been caused by two factors.  One obviously is the proliferation of major MMA websites, all trying to provide as much quality content as possible.  But the other factor paints an ugly picture for the future of The Ultimate Fighter.  That exposure that everybody points to as being payment for being on TUF?  It ain't so valuable anymore.

The dirty secret of TUF is that the UFC continues to devalue the worth of TUF exposure every season.  The first three seasons were pure gold in terms of exposure: a new concept that drew big audiences, characters that felt fresh and original, and a weak UFC roster that gave ample opportunities for main card exposure against cans.  A fighter on TUF knew that even if he didn't do too well on TUF or in the UFC, the exposure, combined with the lack of well-known former UFC fighters, meant good paydays even in minor-league organizations.

The past few seasons have played a different note.  While TUF 5 was filled with quality lightweights who should have been in the UFC already, the comparitive lack of talent in season 6 has ravaged the rosters of fighters trying to survive in the shark-filled UFC.  After the ringer Danzig, Tommy Speer has already been released.  Sotiropolous is injury plagued.  Arroyo is underwhelming and doesn't look to escape the undercard anytime soon.  Koppenhaver is gone.  Ben Saunders is undercarded and uninteresting.  Where is the expectation that these fighters will provide core talent over the next few years?  And more than that, even if they last, do many people really remember them?  I can probably name 5 or 6 fighters from season 3 who aren't in the UFC any more.  Can you really recollect any of the characters from TUF 7 beyond Peepants and the top 2 or three other fighters?  I can't, and that season ended only a few months ago.  And the UFC has much less need to coddle their fighters.  Will it make any difference to the UFC if Sadollah crashes and burns?  They're already loaded with successful names and TUFers.

People have gradually lost interest in the characters of TUF, and in attempting to revitalize the franchise, the UFC basically tossed the "TUF" name in the woodchipper.  Now every season sees 25 or more rejects, 16 in the first round followed by however many fail to impress in the house.  The minor organizations are going to be flooded with former TUF fighters over the next few seasons, giving the name much less value when looking for a job at KOTC or Southwest Fury.  And the greatly increased difficulty in establishing a new character that people will remember makes the TUF experience much less valuable overall.

TUF fighters have responded to this new buyer's market by increasing their attempts to gain exposure, both inside the house and outside.  Inside the house, that translates to ridiculous stunts such as the upper decker, and outrageous behavior such as that of Junie Browning.  (In his blog and interviews, he comes off as relatively intelligent and self-aware, to the degree that his behavior in the house could be at least partly a put-on.)  Outside the house, more fighters are blogging, providing interviews, and generally marketing themselves than ever before.

While this increased competition benefits we MMA fans who get insights into the characters, the show, and the sport that we never got before, it also bodes poorly for the show itself.  As the UFC continues to aggregate the top talent, and the most talented fighters choose to forego the TUF experience, the UFC will have to find new ways of making the show relevant.  Failing that, they may finally put the old dog to rest.