Reinventing The Ultimate Fighter: Why This May Be The Best Season Ever

I have come full circle on The Ultimate Fighter. What started out as my introduction to MMA instantly became must watch TV for me as I followed the show and it's fighters season after season. But, admittedly, I began souring on it the last few seasons for many reasons. Every component of the show started to seem stale, and with very few of the fighters actually making a mark in the UFC it was hard to consider this the same breeding ground that produced Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck & Rashad Evans. Instead we were starting to see winners sporting a sub .500 record and many of them getting the pink slip before we could even say coaches challenge. But, to Dana White's credit, he doesn't resist change. He embraces it. And that is what smart businessmen do. Dana revamped the show and is now in the midst of the best season I can remember. Even Entertainment Weekly listed it atop their "Must List" a few issues ago. So what is different?

Most importantly, the fights. Great fights make great seasons. This season, thanks to Urijah Hall, we've enjoyed some devastating knockouts, a few sudden victory battles, and many surprises. There have been some disappointments as well, but they pale in comparison to the seasons that seemed to only have boring fights (see The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights). Perhaps the vetting process to make the show got better, or perhaps they just got lucky. But no matter how Dana assembled this cast, it worked.

Next, the coaches. It is easy to utilize TUF as a platform to create juice for otherwise juice-less fights (see Bisping vs. Miller) but Dana White knew that the formula wasn't working. So he offered the gig to two of the best guys in the sport, who needed no extra promotion to sell their fight, and man has it paid off. Not only are these guys good on TV but they are also tremendous coaches. Sonnen in particular, has somehow transformed himself from UFC carnival act to a motivational guru. This season has also shown that you absolutely do not need trash talk to make a season. These coaches seem to get along fine and that hasn't hurt at all. The trash talk on previous seasons had become transparent anyway and it very seldom translated into fireworks inside the octagon.

Lastly, the show has very subtly changed the way it is filmed. It has moved from a standard reality show format and now mirrors the well produced Countdown shows that they use to promote upcoming fights. There is a much greater sense of urgency in the filming of the fights, the interviews and the training, which makes it feel much more intense. Speaking of training, there is more of it and less of the bullshit in the house. Which is good because if I saw one more Junie Browning or Julian Lane I was going stop taking The UFC seriously.

So lets see if Dana White can keep this TUF magic up. The Ultimate Fighter has been on my "Must List" for a while, but it'll take a few more seasons like this to continue getting EW type press.

Is the UFC in trouble???

For starters, I understand that the UFC is not really in trouble. It is just that Mixed Martial Arts, more specifically the UFC, has catapulted into one of my favorite sports to watch and follow in the last 7 years and the excitement is starting to wear off for me for a number of reasons. At this point I still get more excited about a good UFC event than I do about an NFL Sunday, an NBA Playoff game, or any NHL game including the Stanley Cup. I am not the only one either, the sport has grown leaps and bounds since Dana White and the Fertitta brothers purchased the organization for a measly 2 million dollars in 2000 and has now surpassed boxing in almost every measurable way. But I think it may have gotten a bit off track.

Let's start by what the UFC did right.

1. They cleaned the sport up. A lot. Even before White took over, the writing was on the wall for the UFC, that if they didn't clean up their act there were very few, if any, states that would be hosting their events. So over a period of years, the implementation of  timed rounds, weight classes, illegal strikes (headbutting, fish hooking etc.) and the requirement of gloves started turning the UFC into a legitimate sport. As expected, this increased the mass appeal significantly.

2. The Ultimate Fighter. Maybe the most brilliant and well timed decision by the UFC was to use Reality TV as a platform to get the casual UFC fan into the sport and also into the competitors. Imagine watching "The Real World" except at the end of each episode, 2 of the housemates fight in an octagon for the ability to stay in the house. Brilliant. The show wasn't without growing pains however, in fact, the format of the first season is almost laughable (athletes being asked to leave the house without ever fighting because they lost a challenge) and many changes have been made to the increase the validity of the winner. But many fans credit the finale of TUF 1 between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin to be the most critical moment in the UFC's growth.

3. Less is More. Despite being the big dog, the UFC was not without competition (internal and external) early on. So to make things a bit easier to manage, they started swallowing them up. They added the WEC, WFA, Pride, & Strikeforce both increasing the talent pool dramatically, making the titles more relevant and unifying, and more importantly keeping fans tuned into one brand and one brand only, UFC.

Those are just a few of the many things that the UFC has done over the past decade to become the fasting growing sport in America. Add in the personalities and the increased level of skill and athleticism amongst the fighters, this sport was quite frankly impossible to ignore. But something seems to have happened in the last year and the enthusiasm, at least among my camp, has waned. Although I am still an enormous fan, below are couple of things I think the UFC NEEDS to do to right the ship. Dana, read this and call me.

1. Less is More: We get it, people love the UFC and we understand that the time is now to get it to as many people as possible in as many ways as possible. But what has happened is the UFC has become watered down. Case in point, UFC 151 and 152. The first event gets cancelled because after injuries, there was no viable way you could sell that card to people. It's easy to point the finger at Jon Jones as the guy who cost the UFC that event, but if that card wasn't so thin to begin with you wouldn't have been in that predicament. Now look at UFC 152. Aldo and Rampage pull out with injuries, and the best you can come up with is Stephan Bonnar and Anderson Silva to headline that event? I love both of those guys, but if Silva enters that fight at anything less than -1500 to win, I'll be shocked. Its a transparent and desperate move and UFC fans are smarter than that. They may get it, but its because they're starving for a good event not because they love it. That won't last forever, people like me have stopped getting every card. Look at the hedline fights of the evnts between now and November, they just aren't as good anymore. Free events on Fuel and Fox are great, but not at the cost of the PPV cards. If you can't make them all strong, consolidate. Please.

2. The Ultimate Fighter: You see what I'm doing here, right? Listen, I LOVE the show. It is still must watch TV for me. I have blogged episode recaps of several of the seasons and haven't missed an episode since I started watching. But the talent isn't as strong because real good UFC prospects go straight to the big show and what you get in TUF is about 14 1/2 guys that can't hack it in the UFC once the show is over. What's worse, is even the losers (I'm talking real losers, not finals losers) still get several fights in the UFC after the show is over. How does a guy who doesn't make it to the finals get a crack at a UFC event right after the show? What needs to happen is some sort of UFC Developmental League. Move the guys who don't win the show into that for a few fights against other TUF alumni and up and commer's. Make the glory of winning even more special by limiting the path to the UFC to only 1 or 2 guys from each season.

3. Clean Up the Sport: I'm talking here about the 500 lb gorilla in the room, the officiating. There has got to be more accountability with the refs and with the judges. I have seen way too many bad decisions and early and late stoppages with no repercussions other than a nasty tweet from you. Add 2 more judges to prevent fluke decisions. Clean up how the fights are scored so that takedowns don't trump damage. And please make every main card fight 5 rounds. 3 rounds is just not enough to decide who a top contender should be. These guys deserve a legit shot to showcase themselves. And outside of the rules and regs, clean up the management of fighters. Guys like Jon Jones have started to damage the sport. Not because he didn't take a fight with Sonnen on short notice, but because he isn't a UFC guy. He doesn't care about anything but Jon Jones. Same thing with Nick Diaz. There are guys like them in every sport, but started hitting them where it hurts with more suspensions.

How To Tarnish A Legacy in One Easy Step - The Jon "Bones" Jones Story

I'm writing this under the assumption that you already know about the fate of UFC 151.

By all accounts UFC 151 was a lousy UFC PPV card.  It didn't matter though.  I was going to buy it.  Jon Jones as interesting, dynamic fighter and we might ever see another like him in MMA for a long time.  He is building a sense of invincibility around him that's reaching a Mike Tyson-esque level where on one hand you're paying to watch him dismantle his opponent and on the other, you want to say you were watching if someone pulled off the upset.  But now because of Jon Jones there is not even a UFC 151 to buy.

I didn't watch Jon Jones' UFC debut.  Prelims weren't easily available at the time but his reputation grew pretty quickly.  It was actually after his DQ loss to Matt Hamill that I began thinking that this guy is not going to lose for a long time.  There is no doubt that Jon Jones was going to be champion one day.  Fortunately for him, and apparently, unfortunately for us he was probably given the opportunity to fight for a title ahead of the UFC's plan for him due to injuries in the light heavyweight class.  Before he won the title he seemed like a talented, humble kid with goals.  He even took the title shot on relatively short notice (43 days is by far his quickest turnaround in his UFC career).  Since he won the title he's become a diva.  I have no problem with guys fighting only for the money.  As a fan, I have a problem with a guy SAYING he's fighting only for the money.  You hear him trying to shun a Lyoto Machida rematch because the PPV buys in their first meeting weren't the greatest.  And the icing on the cake today, having a chance to single handedly save a UFC event by fighting a guy he would destroy in Chael Sonnen who was willing to take this fight on 8 days notice.  And knowing what I know about Dana White, I'm sure that if Jones had reservations about taking the fight, White would make it even more than worth his while if it meant not having to withstand the black eye the UFC has today for cancelling a whole event.  Not to mention that you have to think in the unlikely event that Sonnen caught him and won the title, based on Jones' body of work, he'd get an immediate rematch.  It's just sad and ridiculous to me.  It makes me think that despite all the talent in the world that maybe Jones is more insecure in those talents than he leads on.  I don't know.

Jon Jones can be champion for the next 10-15 years but for me, today is how I'll always remember him.  I'll watch a Jon Jones fight on FOX or on an episode of UFC Unleashed and even though I know it doesn't make a difference if one person doesn't buy a UFC PPV, but I don't see myself paying for one of his cards ever again.

UFC 148 Predictions

After what feels like an eternity, the UFC is finally giving its fans the most anticipated rematch in the sport's history this weekend when Anderson Silva looks to defend his title a record 10th straight time against trash talking Chael Sonnen. All fans remember what happened 2 summers ago, when Sonnen man handled Silva for 23 straight minutes before finding himself caught in a triangle forcing him to tap out, but will this time be different?Although the card loses a lot with Faber/Barao moving to UFC 149, it's still a pretty impressive event loaded with previous title holders, title contenders, and legends of the sport. Below are my predictions on 5 of this weekends fights.

Chad Mendes over Cody McKenzie via decision:  Mendes was on a complete roll before losing to Jose Aldo, which hardly is black mark on your resume. "Money" had won 6 in a row, most of which were more against complete fighters than McKenzie. For Cody, this fight represents an enormous jump in class, and I'm just not sure he is ready for it. His guillotine submissions are notorious, but Mendes should be able to avoid the submission and work him for the duration. Mendes isn't a finisher, so I like this fight going the distance.

Dyon Hung Kim over Demian Maia via decision: Kim has won 4 of his last 5, with impressive performances against Nate Diaz and Amir Sadollah. He was KO'ed by Condit, but outside of that he has looked good of late. Maia has lost to Weidman and Munoz in the last calendar year and has never really become the "contender" many thought he would be. His outstanding submission skills have been on vacation since 2009 and you have to wonder if he is outmatched against the best of the weight class.

Cung Lee over Patrick Cote via KO: I had a real hard time with this one. Both fighters are hungry for the victory with them losing a combined 5 of their last 6 fights. Both legit strikers, you would probably favor the much younger Cote in that category. But sometimes, you have to give the edge to the legend who wants to put a stamp on his legacy with an impressive win over Cote.

Forrest Griffin over Tito Ortiz via KO/TKO: You have to hand it Ortiz, he's been active with this being his 6th fight in less than 3 years. The problem is, he has lost 4 of them, and in most cases he has been destroyed. The win against Bader surprised everyone (including Bader when I spoke to him this past September), but I am not convinced that this was part of Ortiz's comeback trail. I look for a motivated Griffin to pick up where he left off the last time these two met, which is a very advantageous position.

Chael Sonnen over Anderson Silva via decision: For the record, I will be rooting hard for Silva. I was never a huge fan of his antics, but after rewatching some of his title defenses and recently watching the documentary "Like Water" I have a new found respect and admiration for him and his brilliance. But after hearing Silva's comments recently regarding what he intends to do to Sonnen this Saturday, I couldn't help but think Sonnen had officially entered and effected Silva's psyche. I am a little surprised that Vegas has this as Sonnen +240, which almost makes me think that people really do think Silva is going to break everyone of his teeth. Although I am hoping that's the case, I think Sonnen will be the one backing up his words on Saturday.

Check out the fights this Saturday at 10 PM and also be sure to check out the prelims on FX beginning at 8:00 EST.