Every avid mma or UFC fan looks forward to the decorated reality show we have all come to know and love. It is of course none other than The Ultimate Fighter. This combines the qualities of fighting and mma, with the reality style drama many Americans crave in media. The premise of the show is multiple fights between fighters in a tournament like style. The ultimate goal is to win the tournament, receive the honor of “The Ultimate Fighter”, and consequently receive a six figure sum contract from Dana White to fight in the top promotional company of mma. The goal is to have a single fighter come out of the tournament as the victor; a single ultimate winner.
However, I find it interesting that the longer the seasons progress, the more fighters from the show are given the opportunity to also fight in the UFC. Clearly every fighter that is in the UFC has not come from the reality show. The fighters in the UFC were up and coming mma fighters signed by Dana White and the presidents of the promotion. So technically any of the fighters from the show that didn’t win are simply just up and coming mma competitors that could potentially be signed by the UFC like any other fighter in the promotion. However, the premise of the reality show is for one man to stand out and to be the fighter signed by the UFC.
As I stated earlier, the more seasons that are being filmed of TUF, the majority of the fighters that just make it onto the show are being signed as well by the UFC. UFC 150, which will be airing August 12, 2012, features the very promising fighter Justin Lawrence as his debut in the Featherweight division. He was an excellent contender on TUF 15, and was the first overall pick. I, personally, was rooting for him to win. Unfortunately, not everyone can win a competition, and it wasn’t his moment to shine. Regardless of the fact, he was signed to the UFC. Cristiano Marcello will be appearing at UFC 153, as well as cast member Sam Sicilia. Andy Ogle is scheduled to fight at UFC on Fuel TV 5, and Daron Cruickshank is slated to fight at UFC 151, just to name a few fighters from the show.
The show has slowly been turning from the tournament style fighting we have all grown to love, into literally an almost everyone gets to win show. There is less zest from the show because more than likely you know as a viewer that half of the fighters are going to be signed with the UFC regardless of whether they are the victor or not. I feel like the show will eventually lose a majority of viewers, because it is not a competition anymore and more of a group of soon to be UFC fighters living in a house together, while America gets the privilege to watch their lives over the segmented time frame.
Written By: Elise Kapala