It seems that Spike TV will be getting a new MMA reality show soon thanks to Bellator and honestly, it’s not that surprising.
Viacom recently purchased the newest American rival to the UFC in Bellator and is already doing their best to hype the product. This is probably partly to do with keeping their momentum going as Spike TV will broadcast their final UFC card on December 3 with The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 Finale.
The other part might have to do with keeping MMA fans interested in their programming as they won’t be able to air anything new until 2013. They still hold the UFC library for all of 2012 and with it they can’t air any other type of MMA programming until the deal is up.
Whether they will be able to keep the audience they have grown accustomed to or if those fans will disappear remains to be seen.
In the end, it will come down to how Spike and Viacom decide to handle the show. They have mentioned that they don’t plan on making it a copy of The Ultimate Fighter, but they may try to stick to what they know.
Spike is able to see that the format that was used by the UFC works. They may stick to it, but if they want to beat the MMA Goliath at it’s own game, they won’t.
Spike TV president Kevin Kay mentioned in the SI article posted above that the tournament format was like The Ultimate Fighter in a way and had “reality baked into the idea already.”
Weighing those words, it’s possible the fans might see a reality-based show having to do with Bellator’s tournament fighters and their quest for the championship shot given to the winner. If that is the case then it could make for compelling television.
The Ultimate Fighter has gotten stale in recent years and if Spike was able to introduce fans to top-level talent instead of middling fighters and very young prospects then they might have something.
Though The Ultimate Fighter at one point at had some of the top prospects and fighters in the world on the show, MMA has gotten to the point where most top-tier combatants only need to keep winning for the UFC to offer them a slot.
In the old days, being on TUF might have been their only chance. Now fighters with mixed records or a few fights seem to be the only ones that apply.
If Spike focused on Bellator’s top fighters and the potential chance at a championship title it would be wildly different.
It would not only create reality stars, but potentially make the next Bellator champion one as well.
Mixing characters, reality TV and high-level MMA is something that The Ultimate Fighter no longer does and if Bellator and Spike can pull it off, they might just have a winner on their hands.
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