With something for everyone, this TUF season could be the most compelling ever
Reality television hasn't been cool since when, like 2006? It stopped being actual "reality" probably even earlier than that. By the time we got to the "Jersey Shore" years, reality shows became more scripted than the sitcoms they followed.
The UFC never really wanted to do a reality series. The organization was just trying to figure out a way to get its product on TV and benefited from the genre's popularity when "The Ultimate Fighter 1" debuted on Spike TV in 2005.
UFC president Dana White has called it his "Trojan horse." The UFC snuck cage fights onto cable through the guise of reality television. It was genius at the time and probably saved the company, which had brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta in the hole for more than $40 million.
The series has been a staple of the UFC's programming ever since. There have been ups and downs and maybe it's not as influential as it once was, but TUF has developed new stars, helped prospects become champions and increased the stardom of the season's coaches.
More than anything, "The Ultimate Fighter" has been a walking bridge for the casual fan into mixed martial arts. And this season, the 20th ever, will succeed in that way more than any in years.
"The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned" premieres Wednesday night at 10 p.m. on FOX Sports 1 with an incredible episode that sets the tone for the next few months. This season has something for everyone. For one, it's the first time TUF will feature an all-female cast and also the first time a UFC championship will be earned at the conclusion.
The contestants from "The Ultimate Fighter" attend FOX Sports 1's "The Ultimate Fighter" season premiere party Tuesday night in Hollywood.
Unlike any other season in the past nine years, "The Ultimate Fighter" will feature the best 16 fighters in a single weight class. This isn't a situation where the winner might be a contender in his or her respective division in a couple of years or more. No. The winner, after six weeks of hell crammed into the same house with 15 other alpha females, will be the best in the world, the women's strawweight champion. That has never happened.
Alright, maybe you're not a huge fan of MMA. Why do you care about the UFC title? Fine. How about inspirational people, heart-string tugging stories and tales of survival?
There are cast members on this show who have escaped from Iraq, who were born as orphans in Russia, who have grown up around drugs and abuse, who have been the victims of domestic abuse and who have overcome depression. The list goes on.
On top of all that, man, they really don't like each other. Lines in the sand are drawn from the very start. When a title is on the line, there isn't much room for friendship. Alliances are developed and then shattered. There will be laughs and tears. Yeah, get ready for some drama that an Emmy award-winning writer couldn't churn out.
"If you talk to our editors, they'd say this was fantastic," said Craig Borsari, the UFC's vice president of production. "Great storylines, good personalities, good fights."
Some of the TUF competitors ring the NASDAQ bell last week in New York.
There are also a few new wrinkles the UFC and Pilgrim Films & Television added this season to enhance the experience. This was a whole new venture for them -- not just women, but the best women's strawweight fighters on the planet, women who are multi-dimensional: beautiful, charismatic, intelligent and talented.
This is also a celebration of female athletics. Let's be honest. This group is getting a hell of a lot more attention than its TUF 19 male predecessors got and deservedly so.
"In a lot of ways it was easier for us from an editorial perspective, because [there were] so many rich storylines there that we could take across a story arc over three, four, five episodes and you'll see that play out," Borsari said.
Can you imagine taking the UFC's lightweight top 15 and throwing the fighters into a house together? Can you imagine how good those fights would be every week? Can you imagine how insanely competitive everyone would be trapped together under one roof?
Well, that's exactly what you're getting this season with the 115-pound women's division. It's like nothing the UFC has done before and it could be the most compelling cast ever.
"I'm sure everyone is familiar with other reality shows where producers get much more involved in what's happening and storylines are created through situations that producers maybe put the cast in," Borsari said. "That does not happen in this show."
Nor would it need to. This ain't Snooki and JWoww.
