UFC
UFC's "The Ultimate Fighter" to get complete overhaul on FX, live fights to air weekly
Aug 18, 2011 - 4:15:55 PM UFC's "The Ultimate Fighter" to get complete overhaul on FX, live fights to air weekly

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The Ultimate Fighter is about to undergo some massive changes as it leaves Spike TV and comes to FX. The upcoming 14th season will be the final to air on Spike TV, with the Finale event on December 3 being the final UFC event on the network.

The organization on Thursday announced a new multi-year and multi-platform television deal with Fox; and in addition to the four cards coming to broadcast television per year, beginning with a November 12 debut event that is likely to take place in Anaheim, 32 live events will come to FX.

Yes, you read that correctly, 32 live events will air live on FX per year, and that number is due to a complete overhaul to The Ultimate Fighter as a show.

It was revealed during Thursday's press conference that The Ultimate Fighter will be going live beginning with its first season on FX. The seasons will kick off with a two hour live event where the fighters compete to make it into the house, then each Friday night the shows will have a reality portion consisting of what happened over the previous several days in the house followed by live fights.

For 12 weeks the Ultimate Fighter tournament will play down to a live Finale event in that fashion, and the coaches preparing the fighters throughout will have their training camps coincide with the 13 weeks of action in order to have their fight on a pay-per-view card following the finale. Additionally, fans will be in on the action as they'll be able to vote on matchups between fighters throughout the season as well.

With 13 live TUF events per season, and two seasons per year, that makes up 26 live events on the network; but they're not done there, as FX will also feature between 4-6 "Fight Night" events live as well.

The new overhaul to The Ultimate Fighter format will kick off in early 2012.

Penick's Analysis: This made what was already a huge announcement even bigger, and having 13 straight live events on FX on Friday nights twice a year is fantastic. This is absolutely a shake up the TUF format needed, and it's going to make for a show that is a lot more intriguing and that will garner a lot more viewership. There could be some drawbacks for coaches attempting to have a camp in the midst of all of this, but all in all this is going to make for a much more interesting show, and a complete game changer for the UFC.