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When looking back at the explosion of MMA in the last decade, all roads lead back to the Ultimate Fighter. You can tell tales of pioneers such as Royce Gracie, Mark Coleman and Dan Severn until your voice gives out, but the fact is The Ultimate Fighter breathed life into a dying sport.
While mixed martial arts diehards such as myself would go far out of our way to follow the sport, pre reality show, it was virtually impossible for a pay-per-view only sport, that had the kind of stigma that “Ultimate Fighting” developed in the early 90’s, to grow and gain significant viewership. The story of the UFC being on the verge of collapse, with the Ultimate Fighter concept being the last bastion of hope for MMA in the United States, has been told time and time again, and is truly a remarkable story for a remarkable sport.
With the demise of PRIDE in 2007, and the subsequent dip in popularity of MMA in Japan, it’s frightening to think of where the sport would be today if MMA didn’t get the surge in popularity in the U.S. that The Ultimate Fighter provided. Luckily, when push came to shove, the fine folks at Zuffa went out, got the best crop of Mixed Martial Arts fighters they could, put them in a house, gave them ample amounts of alcohol, let them fight, and the rest was history. The show not only exposed a new audience to the fighting styles and technique of the sport, but to the dedication and drive that makes MMA such a special attraction.
As I was reflecting back on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, or “TUF” as it is affectionately abbreviated, I couldn’t help but notice the laundry list of today's top names to come out of two seasons. Former Light Heavyweight Champions Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans, former two-time UFC Lightweight Championship contender Kenny Florian and top ten Welterweight Josh Koscheck all made their way from the first season of TUF.
We now have seasons where fighters are horribly one dimensional, horribly out of shape, or just plain horrible. We now suffer through watching fights like the awful ones on TUF 10, where competitors have little to no MMA experience and/or gas in the first round, all in the hopes that there might be some mildly enticing banter between the coaches.
This brings me to the upcoming eleventh season of TUF, featuring Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. Just how relevant are this season’s coaches, and can they boost viewership of this season themselves? Mainstream audiences aren't familar with any of the fighters (always a strike against TUF to begin with), and due to previous seasons we have to assume the fights may not be top notch. Added to the pessimism for the season is that the coaches, usually a selling point of the series, are both past their prime.
Past accolades aside, Tito Ortiz is 0-2 against Chuck Liddell and hasn’t won a fight in 4 years. Chuck Liddell, the obvious favorite to win this fight, is definitely over the hill, and has recently run in to a bit of trouble attempting to stay conscious past the second round. The chances of either coach this season returning to form and dominating at the highest level of the sport are probably equal to any of the aspiring Octagon inhabitants that Ortiz and Liddell will be mentoring.
Aside from Kimbo Slice, the big selling point of the record setting tenth season was the rivalry between coaches Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans. I have a hard time imaging that the same level of excitement will be expected of two foes that have had such a one sided fight history, especially when they both can no longer compete on the level that they did in their primes. While this won’t surpass Ken Shamrock and Tito, Tito and Chuck will go down as one of the more unnecessary trilogies in the history of the sport.
As the hype for this coming season builds in the next few weeks, it’ll be interested to see if Chuck and Tito still draw in viewers, or if their ability to move the needle has faded as substantially as their ability to compete at an elite level.
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