Is it time to end The Ultimate Fighter?

by bigdmmafan on Nov 16, 2009 1:15 AM EST Comment 14 comments

After reading 2 fan posts Why Am I watching TUF 10? (http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/15/1159062/why-am-i-watching-tuf-10) and Is it time for UFC Challengers? (http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/13/1156287/is-this-the-time-for-ufc) and also reading the reaction for GSP and Hardy considered for TUF coaching gig (http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/15/1158574/rumor-georges-st-pierre-and-dan) I think the question is it time to end The Ultimate Fighter is a valid one.

The Ultimate Fighter started out as a good thought. A way to get not well known mma fighters exposure and also the sport of mma exposure. It worked and it debuted to high ratings and opened the door for many new mma fans. But just like every other reality TV show for every good moment you had 2 moments of stupidity. From the first seasons hazing of Chris Leben to the Junie Browning show to the constant jokes involving semen and piss.

Even with this season hitting record highs in viewers, most fans have considered this season a failure. From boring fights and the same immaturity to the fact that most people don't see this season producing good talent for the heavyweight division.

Now I'm going to steal this idea from blueberry muffin( http://www.bloodyelbow.com/users/BlueberryMuffin) who wrote the Is it time for UFC challengers piece(http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/13/1156287/is-this-the-time-for-ufc) and say it is time to cancel The Ultimate Fighter but to also do a similar show to Strikeforce: Challengers where up and coming mma stars can still get attention but where we don't have to sit through 40 minutes of reality TV to see a fight.

So I guess this brings me to the poll question and what other mma fans would like to see.

Poll

What should the UFC do with The Ultimate Fighter?

Keep The Ultimate Fighter

23 votes

Keep The Ultimate Fighter but add a Challengers like show

35 votes

Cancel The Ultimate Fighter and add a Challengers like show

50 votes

Cancel The Ultimate Fighter and dont add anything else

9 votes

Reinvent the show

40 votes

Other (Please specify in comments)

2 votes

159 votes | Poll has closed

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

0 recs | Comment 14 comments

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Comments

It’s cheap to make, has decent ratings, and provides them with mid- to top-level stars (not necessarily fighters). I don’t see them getting rid of it anytime soon.

But I would love something showcasing young blood. A frequently televised show headlined by someone like Bones or Darth Bader, featuring other up-and-comers would be awesome; hell, even throw some of the lower weightclasses on there with some top 10 talent. Also throw better versions of UFNs on a network (2011?) and have 12 PPVs a month, maintaining a steady but balanced presence.

We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms, turning every good thing to rust.

by Robert Downey Sr. on Nov 16, 2009 1:35 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

show is fine for its purpose…what they need to do is stop holding titles up with it…and also would be nice if they aired the show sooner after they filmed it, so we don’t have to avoid everything that could be a spoiler

by Reaser16 on Nov 16, 2009 2:49 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

If they're going to do 20 events per year,

they could easily fit challengers-style fights into those.

I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.

by Llewdor on Nov 16, 2009 3:16 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think they should keep it for an all brazilian season. I’m sure there is undiscovered brazilian talent and i don’t mind watching subtitles. After they do an all Brazilian season they should can it though

by TheBeaves on Nov 16, 2009 5:05 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I don’t know why people get so upset about TUF. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.

It does exactly what it’s supposed to do, it gets non hardcore fans watching an hour of UFC comercials each week, in a format that they can handle.

As for the “UFC Challengers” idea, they have that, it’s called Ultimate fight Night. UFN’s are basically it, they are less quality than a numbered UFC and free, a weekly TV show is really helpful in getting the fans out to people. TUF could probably use a few things to spruce it up, but it’s not going to go anywhere if it’s working, and it is.

by Phildo on Nov 16, 2009 8:41 AM EST reply actions 2 recs

i agree

I think they just need to switch some things up…. Senior Circuit Coaches would be the best, especially since veterans like Hughes, Randy, etc would be at least somewhat qualified to coach prospects… It wouldn’t hold up titles either.

I'm like PacMan fightin you silly kids... throw ya Hatton the ring, and get knocked outlike Ricky did.
lol.

by Loot on Nov 16, 2009 9:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I like senior circuit coaches.

I think to add to that (if they can set it up in time) they should get the people that are going to main event the finale to be assistant coaches on the show.

I don’t know how feasible that is, because coaching TUF probably comes with a bunch of money, and I’m not sure if they are willing to pay that much for fighters at that level, but I think it would be an interesting wrinkle, and also help build up some new fighters.

They are sort of in a rough spot, TUF is a good way to build up a fight, but they need to use names that are already built up to get people to care about TUF.a\

by Phildo on Nov 16, 2009 9:59 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

In fairness

the winners of TUF9 looked pretty damn good Saturday night.

Heavyweights are just a very rough group. That’s the way it goes.

by Trysdor on Nov 16, 2009 10:28 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

The loser from TUF 7 looked pretty good too

Brown

by Shaun32887 on Nov 16, 2009 11:28 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs

I agree with most people on here. The show serves its purpose, it gets people to watch UFC, whether they have seen a PPV or not. Why people continue to complain is beyond me. So far i have been able to see Roy Nelson fight twice (although not very exciting fights), i’ve seen some prospects such as Schaub, Wren, and Marcus Jones, who i probably wouldn’t have been able to see if they weren’t on the show.

As far as a challengers show, I doubt the UFC would ever do this. TUF is good because they don’t have to pay 18 fighters, only a possible finishing bonus to one fighter. Plus it gets ratings and its advertising…

This is a link to a article on Cagepotato.com that mentions TUF might become an international show, much like american idol, where they have different shows in different countries. http://www.cagepotato.com/international-audiences-bear-witness-fitness-modern-warrior

by Fedorable on Nov 16, 2009 3:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I thought Ultimate Fight Nights was basically the same thing as StrikeForce Challengers these days, only some times with more recognizable names in the main event.

Furthermore here’s another business perspective I haven’t seen in the respnses yet. Everyone who’d be on a “Challengers” sort of show would still have to be under some sort of multi-fight contract to the UFC already, making it no different from an Ultimate Fight Night. If you wanted to sign someone to a one-fight contract for one of these up-and-comer fight cards, the UFC risks that person going to the competition if they get a better offer. On the other hand on The Ultimate Fighter if someone shows a lot of promise but doesn’t win the tournament, the UFC has almost all the leverage since that person’s last fight was a loss, and everyone but the runner up will have a period of several months before anyone outside the UFC will even know about the loss, giving the UFC plenty of time for exclusive negotiations. Thus the UFC gets a lot of guys to fill out their undercards for a bargain that their audience will be familiar with ahead of time.

I still do think The Ultimate Fighter is really stale these days, and would prefer that it go down to one season a year. I’d also love it if the UFC added Featherweights and Bantamweights, did six more Ultimate Fight Nights each year, and made the WEC a true developmental league (with its own Flyweight division), with Champions at Flyweight through Middleweight, and some exhibition matches in LHW and HW which would be unofficial “winner goes to the UFC” matches (or both if the fight is really awesome, or neither if both guys look terrible). The people in the latter category would already be under multi-fight contracts to Zuffa so there wouldn’t be the threat of one guy bolting for StrikeForce or wherever.

by Chromium on Nov 16, 2009 3:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Even with this season hitting record highs in viewers, most fans have considered this season a failure

I completely disagree with this premise.

Perpetually unhappy internet fans might consider it a failure, but the fact that the ratings are still sky high even weeks after Kimbo got knocked off says that casual fans don’t consider it a failure. If they did, they wouldn’t still be tuning in.

Spike TV and the UFC don’t give a shit about online chatter. They care about ratings and media buy rates driven by those ratings. By that measure, TUF 10 has been astounding success. The idea of canceling TUF after the most successful season in the history of the show is ludicrous.

by Steve4192 on Nov 16, 2009 6:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I personally

would like to see a UFC/ WEC merger, and then have a season w/ Featherweights (Brown vs. Faber, if they win their respective upcoming fights), and one w/ Bantamweights (Bowles vs. Torres- again, if they win their next fights).

It’d be a great way to promote the WEC stars, and revamp TUF. To accommodate the extra fighters, the UFC could just do 1 ultimate fight night a month (something like the ‘Challengers’ idea brought up before).

I think it would help fill out cards, and would be a great way of producing new stars that could step up when a main event fight falls through (which has happened with disturbing regularity as of late).

Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.

'09 is the year of the FW's.

by ElliotMatheny on Nov 17, 2009 12:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I wish they would do more of like the 24/7 shows they do on HBO but focus on different camps. Also I wish the UFC would sponsor some more events like grapplers quest or something and air some of that or get some competition footage of some of it’s grappling superstars seems like that could be a way to showcase some of their fighters and educate the fanbase on ground fighting (I’m not saying anything crazy maybe some higlight footage) but yeah I see the TUF hanging around for a while

by drano on Nov 17, 2009 1:32 AM EST reply actions 0 recs