Neil Davidson of the Canadian Press has an article out which examines Junie Browning's notorious behavior on The Ultimate Fighter 8. The piece contains several quotes from participants in this most recent iteration of the reality show. One notable quote is via Krzysztof Soszynski:
"To be honest with you, he did everything for show," he said in an interview. "It was a whole joke to him. Basically he told me the very first day we met - and before our fights to get into the house - he basically said 'If I get into this house, I'm going to be the crazy guy. I'm going to get out of hand, I'm going to get out of control, I'm going to pull whatever I can just to get ratings, to become the character that I want to become.'
"He said he was going to become the worst Chris Leben ever," added Soszynski, referring to the Season 1 bad boy.
Frankly, I hesitated to even post this material, because I don't feel that Browning deserves another minute of attention. However, this situation illustrates how unreal reality television can become. Someone always figures out that engaging in shocking antics equals more air time. Those running the show in question could easily break this pattern, but these people generally aren't willing to risk ratings. Unfortunately, good ratings seem to trump good taste more often than not. One could always shoot for both, but that might take too much mind-bending effort.
Zuffa has accomplished much in the realm of MMA and sports on the whole. It's my feeling that the UFC should produce a show that's more representative of what the promotion and the sport of MMA are all about. Currently, The Ultimate Fighter falls well short of that objective. It's less reality and more joke.
HT: Steve Cofield
Photo via Combat Lifestyle