I used to be a big fan of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality TV show. The first few seasons were captivating and interesting. The TUF series made stars out of fighters such as Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans, Josh Koscheck and Chris Leben.
Unfortunately, the show has gone stale and there is no reason to watch it anymore. TUF 13, which is on SPIKE TV every Wednesday night, has had very low ratings.
Fans are tired of seeing boring fighters and fights on the show and the coaches this season (Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos) are not creating enough drama to warrant viewership.
The UFC thought that having Lesnar on TUF 13 would spike up the ratings, but this hasn’t been the case.
Maybe it is because Lesnar isn’t the heavyweight champion anymore or maybe it is because Lesnar is calmer and more mellow than before.
Casual MMA fans don’t know who Dos Santos is, even though he is one of the best heavyweights in the world. Lesnar and Dos Santos have been cordial to each other in the episodes, and there is no tension between them.
Fans used to flock to their TV sets to watch Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz go at each other verbally every week on TUF 3. Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson as coaches on TUF 10 helped ratings too, as well as having street fighter Kimbo Slice on the show.
The smart fans are sick and tired of the UFC and SPIKE TV hyping up the episodes and not delivering. Who can forget the weekly previews that implied Kimbo would fight again on TUF 10 even though he lost and was out of the competition already?
How about the time when Dana White kept on saying that one of the fighters on the show (Phillipe Nover) was going to be the next Anderson Silva? Nover isn’t even in the UFC anymore after getting cut.
I can’t even name one of the fighters on TUF 13. I do know who Lew Polley is since I saw an episode where Polley (Dos Santos’ wrestling coach) was riding the guys too hard in practice.
None of the fighters stand out, and I don’t think there is a future UFC champion on TUF 13.
WWE’s Tough Enough reality show is way more interesting than TUF 13 thanks to the charismatic Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin has more charisma than all the TUF 13 coaches and fighters combined.
It doesn’t really matter who the coaches will be on TUF 14 because the show is getting old and boring. The best option might be to have Evans and Jon Jones as coaches and bring in better fighters and personalities to compete.
If Evans and Jones are not available, I think I would rather see Miesha Tate and Gina Carano as coaches than any of the male fighters on the Zuffa roster.
SPIKE TV and the UFC need to revamp the show quickly and change it up if they want more viewers.
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