Has TUF run its course?
To decide whether The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has run its course, we first need to decide exactly what TUFs course was/is. I think it’s fair to suggest a checklist of objectives set up by Dana White would’ve looked something like this -
- Introduce Mixed Martial Arts to the mainstream
- Gain new fans
- Create new stars
- Allow fans to build an emotional attachment to fighters by showing them as people - flaws and all
Which should all ultimately -
- Increase buys on Pay-per-views (PPVs)
- Increase the marketability of fighters
- And make the company more money
So the real question now is -
Has TUF met these objectives to date and will it continue to do so?
Only by answering this can we decipher the original question. I feel the best way to do this is to break it down season by season. Part of my argument will focus on TV ratings, so for an explanation of Nielsen TV ratings click
here.
(I know it‘s Wiki but it‘s the clearest explanation and there is a link to the Nielsen website)
The Ultimate Fighter 1 featured the Light Heavyweights (LHW) and Middleweights (MW) in addition to having the two biggest stars of the UFC, in Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, as coaches.
Season 1 saw the antics of Chris Leben provoke much debate and his bust up with Josh Koscheck and Bobby Southworth was car crash TV at its best. That bust up, amongst much bravado, cemented Koscheck’s place as public enemy number one. Other memorable points included Dana White’s epic ‘Do you wanna be a fighter?’ speech, Diego Sanchez’s kooky ways but dominating octagon style, Nate Quarry’s ’Mr-Nice-Guy’ approach and the whole Sam-Hoger-getting-on-everyones-nerves thing.
The Finale was the first ever live UFC broadcast on non-pay-per-view television - just stop and take in how much of a huge leap of faith that was for the UFC. Considering the company was making its money solely from PPVs at the time, to give away the big pay off for free, after 12 weeks of build-up, was a brave move. The Finale, which was arguably the most important night in the history of the UFC, pulled in a 1.9 with thousands tuning in throughout the Griffin/Bonnar fight. This was following an average weekly rating of 1.6 with a 2.2 rating in Male 18-34 demographic (an advertisers most desired demographic I hasten to add).
Notable fighters to have come from this series - Forrest Griffin (LHW winner), Stephan Bonnar, Mike Swick, Diego Sanchez (MW winner), Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Kenny Florian and Nate Quarry.
The Ultimate Fighter 2 came hot on the heels of the successful first season. This time featuring a Heavyweight (HW) and a Welterweight (WW) division, with coaches being the welterweight and middleweight champions, Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin respectively.
Season 2 started with some controversy as Eli Joslin decided to leave because he couldn’t handle the pressure of the cameras. We also saw Rashad Evans’ showboating much to Matt Hughes chagrin, Rich Franklin outwitting Matt Hughes by allowing Mike Whitehead and Joe Stevenson to tire themselves completing a challenge and then forfeiting to save his fighters, and the self-proclaimed nerd Luke Cummo with his ‘self-recycling’ (read: drinking his own urine!).
The TUF2 Finale drew a 2.0 rating following on from an average weekly rating of 1.4 with a 2.5 rating in the Male 18-34 demographic.
Notable fighters to have come from this series - Joe Stevenson (WW winner), Marcus Davis, Keith Jardine and Rashad Evans (HW winner).
The Ultimate Fighter 3 saw hated rivals Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock take charge of the LHWs and MWs, this was also the first time fighters from overseas were involved.
Tito and Ken provided some fireworks with their clear hatred for each other and the pressure seemed to affect Shamrock in particular. We also saw Tito’s perceived favouritism towards deaf fighter Matt Hamill, which annoyed Michael Bisping, Ross Pointon and Bisping requiring subtitles, Noah Inhofer leaving half way in due to a letter from his girlfriend and the Ed Herman/Rory Singer one-gunmanship culminating in Herman peeing on Singer’s headgear, which he then wears to train in!
The TUF 3 Finale achieved a 2.0 rating but actual viewers were 2.8 million, up from the 2.6 million reported for season 2’s Finale. This was on the back of an average weekly rating of 1.69 with a 2.9 rating in the Male 18-34 demographic.
Notable fighters to have come from this series - Michael Bisping (LHW winner), Kendall Grove (MW winner), Matt Hamill and Kalib Starnes (C‘mon, the running man is notable for that alone!).
The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback saw a departure from the previously successful structure and instead focused on fighters looking for that last big chance. The winner from the WWs and the MWs would receive a title shot in said weight class. There was also no regular coaches, only guest coaches each week.
Notable happenings were eliminated fighters no longer left the house, Scott Smith and Pete Sell spreading a staph infection to half the house, Jeremy Jackson getting chucked out for escaping to go and hook-up with some chick he just meet, Shonie Carter being Shonie Carter, Rich Franklin clashing with the MWs, Matt Hughes rubbing some of the fighters the wrong way and Jorge Rivera’s ‘Phoney Carter’ impression.
TUF 4 suffered a sharp downturn in rankings compared to the previous 3 seasons and scored an overall rating of 1.24 with a 2.0 rating in the male 18-34 demographic. The Finale pulled in a 1.1 rating. When all was said and done, TUF 4 was the lowest-rated season of TUF to date, and it also reversed what had been an upward trend, throughout the previous seasons, of increasing ratings in the most advertiser-coveted demographics.
Notable fighters to have come from this series - N/A
The Ultimate Fighter 5 had Jens Pulver and BJ Penn coaching the Lightweights (LW).
The heated rivalry between Pulver and Penn harked back to the Ortiz/Shamrock tension and this was evident from day one as the season opened with anarchy as the fighters were asked to raise their hands to indicate if they wanted Penn as coach and nothing to do with Pulver, Gabe Ruediger made a name for himself as a joke, tensions ran high between the teams throughout, Marlon Sims and Noah Thomas have the ‘most technical streetfight of all time’ after a drinking session, Nate Diaz and Karo Parisyan nearly come to blows and Cole Miller gets his head shaved after falling asleep.
Ratings for this season of TUF continued to droop as TUF 5 brought in an overall rating of 1.3, but amongst the male 18-34 demographic it scored a 1.6. The Finale itself reached 2.6 million people, rating a 2.0 (with a 3.0 rating in men age 18-34 and 2.6 rating in men age 18-49).
The event out preformed a number of sports on that same night, including a Yankees game and HBO’s showing of Ricky Hatton vs. Jose Luis Castillo which aired head-to-head that evening.
Kevin Kay, General Manager of Spike TV said:
"The reason our UFC programming consistently beats all other sports on broadcast, cable and pay TV is The Ultimate Fighter’s ability to build stars like Manny Gamburyan and Nate Diaz who resonate with our audience.”
Notable fighters to have come from this series - Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon, Nate Diaz (Winner) and Cole Miller.
The Ultimate Fighter 6: Team Hughes Vs. Team Serra was coached by, you guessed it, Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, featuring the WWs.
The dislike between Serra and Hughes was obvious with Serra pulling off a great Matt Hughes impression. Other highlights include Joe Scarola quiting the show and as a result losing his job working in Serra’s gym, Dorian Price threatens the film crew and gets reprimanded by Dana as a result, Matt Hughes ongoing frustration at his name failing to win and some of the guys pull an ‘upper decker’ which angers Mac Danzig.
The Finale drew 2.5 million viewers (2.0 rating) and reached more men in the demographics of 18-34, 18-49, and 25-34 than anything else on television (broadcast or cable) in its timeslot. It peaked with an impressive 2.9 million viewers at 11:30pm despite head-to-head competition from the Mayweather-Hatton boxing match. The season ratings again once again dropped and it scored an overall ratings score of 1.12.
In the male 18-34 demographic, season 6 scored a rating of 1.5.
Notable fighters to have come from this series - Only time will tell but Mac Dazing (winner), George Sotiropoulos and Ben Saunders.
The Ultimate Fighter 7: Team Rampage Vs. Team Forrest featured Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin coaching the MWs prior to Griffin challenging Jackson for the LHW belt.
This season saw fighters fight to even earn entry onto the house and the friendly rivalry between Rampage and Forrest particularly the ‘netting’ of Rampage, and the Jesse Taylor incident in Las Vegas after filming was complete. He become the first person to be chucked off the show after it had finished!!
Ratings for TUF 7 were slightly up from season 6 with the show scoring an overall rating of 1.1 while scoring a 1.6 in the male 18-34 demographic. The live finale scored an average rating of 1.4.
Notable fighters to have come from this series - Again only time will tell but CB Dollaway, Amir Sodallah (winner), Jesse Taylor and Matt Brown have potential to make a name for themselves.
The Ultimate Fighter 8: Team Nogueira Vs. Team Mir, surprise surprise had Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir coaching the LHWs and the LWs.
The season is most famous for the behaviour of Junie Browning. Also memorable were the pranks of Krzysztof Soszynski, the subsequent retaliations, the questioning of Roly Delgado’s Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Team Mir urinating in their own fruit, which Team Nog had been stealing, Dave Kaplan eating sushi that been ejaculated on and Tom Lawlor knocking Kaplan out with one punch after Kaplan claimed he couldn’t be knocked out.
The season did an average household rating of 1.14 which puts it roughly alongside the past two seasons in popularity. In the Male 18-34 demographic, it did an overall rating of 1.5, it also drew an overall rating of 1.4 in the Male 18-49 demographic.
The TUF8 Finale drew an overall 1.3 rating with a an averaged 1.9 million viewers. These ratings were the second lowest for a TUF finale in the series history with only the TUF 4 Finale scoring a lower rating.
Notable fighters to have come from this series - Potentially, Ryan Bader (LHW winner), Junie Browning, Efrain Escudero (LW winner), Eliot Marshall, Phillipe Nover and Krzysztof Soszynski.
The Ultimate Fighter 9: Team United States Vs. Team United Kingdom. Coached by Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson has got off to a decent start with the following a press release -
Unlike most television series which suffer ratings decline as they get older, the ratings for “The Ultimate Fighter” are like fine wine, getting better with age.
The season nine premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K.” on Wednesday, April 1 drew its highest rating in Men 18-49 since Season 4 (August, 2006) and its most watched season premiere since Season 5 (April, 2007). The episode also drew more Men 18-34 and 18-49 than anything else on cable in its timeslot (10:15-11:15pm ET/PT), besting all sports competition including the NBA on ESPN.
Overall, the series drew a 1.8 in M18-49, a 2.1 in M18-34, a 2.7 in M25-34, and an average audience of 1.8 million viewers.
With PPV buys significantly up, there is a legitimate case to be made that the drop off of TV ratings is down to the hardcores being disillusioned, or even bored with TUF and no longer tuning in but, although hard to prove, it would appear new people are being drawn in and each year. It is then these new fans combined with the hardcores, who probably don’t watch TUF anymore, that contribute to the overall PPV buys. So ultimately, TUF is successful.
Based on the continued growth of the UFC, especially since the inception of TUF, it’d be impossible to argue the impact it has had on the industry as a whole. You only need to look at the latest MMA Fighter rankings according to Sherdog (
Here) to see the effect.
Interestingly, out of 50 fighters (comprised of a top 10 for each weight division the UFC has), 6 are TUF alumni. So 12% of the world’s elite fighters came out of TUF. Considering that (a) we’re talking about the absolute best of the best and (b) it’s very subjective - you have to admit that’s a pretty impressive statistic. Add that to the fact, 8 of that 50 (well 7 but I‘m counting Forrest Griffin twice due to the fact he‘s been on both sides of the fence) have coached and you have 26% of the worlds best who have played a significant role in TUF.
I also believe the fact the Nevada Athletic Commission sanction the TUF fights as exhibition matches and do not count for or against a fighter's professional record is a good thing and assists in protecting a fighters credibility and enticing people like Bobby Lashley to consider TUF as a viable option. Which is just another positive.
Now I want to look at the impact TUF has had on PPV buys. Just look at the buyrate for the PPV prior and after each series of TUF, and subsequent Finale, and note the trend -
TUF series Event prior Buyrate Event after Buyrate
1...........UFC 51..............?.........UFC 52.....280,000
2...........UFC 55..............?.........UFC 56........?...
3...........UFC 60......620,000..........UFC 61.....775,000
4...........UFC 64......300,000..........UFC 65.....500,000
5...........UFC 72......200,000..........UFC 73.....425,000
6...........UFC 78......400,000..........UFC 79.....700,000
7...........UFC 85......225,000..........UFC 86.....540,000
8...........UFC 91......920,000..........UFC 92.....1,000,000+
Note: All PPV buy numbers are approximations
Sources:
http://mmapayout.com/index.php?s=ufc+51+buy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_60(Go along ‘Event chronology’ to see futher PPVs. All sources are noted.)
I couldn’t gather any information for UFC’s 51, 55, 56 but I’d stick my neck out and say the trend was in place. You can clearly see that the next PPV shown after a season finale of TUF has an increased buyrate on the event prior. Coincidence? Maybe. A result of people wanting to see the payoff match between coaches? Sometimes, seeing as the payoff hasn‘t always been on the next ‘numbered‘ event. Or just a whole host of fans who caught the MMA bug? In my opinion, definitely.
So, Has TUF met these objectives to date and will it continue to do so?
Let’s see -
- Introduce Mixed Martial Arts to the mainstream
- A resounding yes. Increased growth in the UFC as a company is due to more people being aware of the company and MMA as a whole. Major UFC stars are now starring in film and TV. All signs point to even more mainstream acceptance.
- Check. Company growth and increased buys on PPVs mean more fans must be watching.
- Without a doubt. The current LHW champion is a former TUF winner, so I’d say a star has been created. You only need to look at the list of stars I’ve already mentioned for further proof.
- Allow fans to build an emotional attachment to fighters by showing them as people - flaws and all
- Yes. Forrest Griffin is arguably the most loved fighter of a generation and part of this is because people have been able to follow his journey. The popularity, and or notoriety, of Kenny Florian, Joe Stevenson, Kendall Grove, Michael Bisping, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Junie Browning, Keith Jardine and Nate Diaz, amongst others, are all further evidence of this.
And has the achievement of these objectives amounted -
- Increase buys on Pay-per-views (PPVs)
- Yes. The figures say it all.
- Increase the marketability of fighters
- As mentioned earlier, fighters are now appearing in films and on TV. Merchandise is a major revenue stream for the UFC and TUF even has its own store, where you can buy items such as clothing or equipment you‘ve seen on the show - TUF Store.
- And make the company more money
- Just look at how much the company has grown, how much merchandise it has sold, how much buys for PPVs has skyrocketed and it’s clear more money has been made.
In conclusion, considering that TUF has meet all it's objectives, continues to do so, provides entertaining TV and after looking at all the facts, figures, as well as my opinion, Has TUF run it’s course? The answer is a resounding….
NO!!!