With The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7 set to premiere on April 2, immediately following UFC Fight Night 13 (which is now rumored to be a three-hour event), it got me thinking about the TUF franchise as a whole and what it has meant to fans and critics alike.
TUF 7 will feature middleweights, but will be coached by light heavyweights Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Forrest Griffin, who are scheduled to fight for the Jackson’s 205-pound title (presumably sometime in July/August) after the completion of the series.
It’s also been confirmed that the new season will include a cast of 32 fighters — rather than the traditional 16 — who will have to win a preliminary fight to be invited to stay in the Las Vegas house.
Looks like those first few episodes are going to be chock full of fights.
While the TUF franchise has introduced the sport of MMA to millions of viewers, the series has its share of critics. From my perspective, there seems to be two main bones of contention among them:
- The UFC shows unfair favoritism toward its TUF champions; and
- The filming of the show ties up the coaches (one of which is usually a titleholder) and delays progress of the division.
[Note: I will avoid discussion of a favorite TUF criticism of some MMA chat rooms and invite you to do the same: Namely, that fans introduced to the sport via TUF are only “newbs” and not real fans of MMA. Critics constantly relying on this sort of one-upsmanship are the MMA-equivalent of indie rock snobs. To me, it doesn’t matter how you got here; if you’re a fan of the sport, you’re okay by me.]
Back to reality … TV, that is.
Criticism #1: The UFC plays favorites with its TUF champs.
TUF critics almost exclusively point to TUF 3 winner, Michael Bisping, and his fights against Eric Schafer and Elvis Sinosic, as well as his upcoming bout with Charles McCarthy at UFC 83 as evidence of this criticism.
Some critics go further, pointing to Kendall Grove, whose toughest challenge to date has been against TUF 4 runner-up, Patrick Cote (who was just 1-4 in the UFC at the time) — a fight “Da Spyda” lost. To make the case for favoritism even stronger, Grove was given what was largely seen as a rebound opportunity in Jorge Rivera, who surprised many by stopping Grove at via technical knockout at 1:20 of the first round to send the TUF3 winner’s stock plummeting.
Still others point to TUF 2’s Rashad Evans, who eeked out mostly decision wins over sub-Top 10 fighters (Jason Lambert excluded) before his competition increased with the likes of Tito Ortiz.
Perhaps it is fear of being labeled a favorite son of the UFC by these same critics that has led TUF 5 winner Nate Diaz to publicly ask for tougher competitors than the ones given to him thus far. Regardless, Diaz seems to have gotten what he asked for and is now scheduled to fight Kurt Pellegrino at UFC Fight Night 13.
All this criticism aside, when you consider the careers of TUF winners Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez and Joe Stevenson, the favoritism theory starts to lose momentum.
Sanchez, in particular, was thrown almost immediately to the wolves, including bouts with the anti-TUF trash talker Nick Diaz, Karo Parisyan, Joe Riggs, Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, the latter two of which are training partners, making the challenge for Sanchez all the more difficult.
Like Sanchez, Joe Stevenson has fought several veterans of the sport, including Josh Neer, Yves Edwards, Melvin Guillard, Kurt Pellegrino and B.J. Penn — opponents who together had a combined 116 fights and 29 years experience between them at the time of their respective fights.
While Forrest Griffin may have been thrown the occasional bone, he’s also faced then-top contender Tito Ortiz, a rematch with Stephan Bonnar (a bout that truly displayed just how far Griffin had come since his TUF days), rising talent Keith Jardine (who TKO’d Griffin) and finally Mauricio Rua (at the time considered to be the best light heavyweight in the world).
If anything, one could argue that the match with Rua was a UFC gift to showcase “Shogun,” not the other way around. Griffin, of course, surprised many with a third-round submission victory to earn his number one contender status.
Although I agree that the UFC has, at times, demonstrated a desire to protect their investments, TUF alum or otherwise, my argument is simple: Why shouldn’t they (to some extent)?
Since the TUF 1 Finale, the franchise has largely been touted as a driving force in bringing the sport of MMA into the mainstream. The series has allowed viewers at home to become familiar with the sport while developing a closer connection to upcoming fighters featured on the reality series.
Why not help ensure that these same fighters will continue to cater to their fan bases while developing into stronger all-around mixed martial artists?
Criticism #2: The reality series prolongs the time in between title shots, thus detracting from what really matters in the sport — who is the best in each division.
One needs only look at the career of Matt Serra to argue this case.
After winning TUF 4: “The Comeback,” Serra was given a title shot against Georges St. Pierre, which was supposed to take place at UFC 67 on February 3, 2007 — the same event that his TUF 4 185-pound counterpart, Travis Lutter, faced UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.
But an injury to GSP forced that fight to be postponed for two months. Serra was offered another fight, but he smartly opted to wait until GSP had recovered.
On April 7, 2007, Serra beat GSP at UFC 69, winning the belt. The event blew open myriad possibilities for welterweight contenders: Should the title shot go to Matt Hughes? Should GSP get an immediate rematch? What about upcoming contenders like Karo Parisyan, Koscheck, Sanchez or Fitch?
But shortly after winning the title, Serra was named as the coach of TUF 6: “Team Hughes vs. Team Serra,” which postponed the next 170-pound title shot to allow time to cast, shoot and air the season. Serra was expected to defend his title against Hughes at the first UFC pay-per-view (PPV) event following the TUF6 Finale, which was UFC 79 on December 29, 2007.
But another injury, this time to Serra, forced yet another welterweight title bout postponement (St. Pierre eventually stepped up to fight Hughes and win the interim strap).
These two untimely injuries — magnified by the timing of TUF 4 and TUF 6 — has meant that there has been only one true welterweight title bout in the UFC since GSP first defeated Matt Hughes in November 2006. That’s 15 months with just one title shot in the welterweight division.
Luckily for fans of the middleweight division in particular and the promotion in general, we won’t have to wait for a TUF series to see Champion Anderson Silva defend his belt. We’ll receive all of the benefits from a TUF season (i.e. fresh talent) and none of the drawbacks (i.e. the wait in between title shots).
However, the light heavyweight division will be held hostage at least for another five months. But history proves that it could last much longer than that.
This is somewhat ironic, considering the middleweight division is thin and Silva has already beaten most of the true contenders other than Dan Henderson. If anything, the middleweights could benefit from the wait associated with a TUF season to develop new contenders — certainly more so than the stacked light heavyweight division.
Perhaps that is the one major drawback this upcoming season. And one that the organization could have avoided as to potentially not make the same mistake more than once.
What’s even more ironic is — despite dedicating four of the seven seasons to the middleweights (more than any other division) — how it can remain the thinnest in the UFC. Only time will tell if the division can grow in depth, as the light heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions have.
That time hopefully begins on April 2.
39 Comments »
this is the last person I wanted to see Rampage fight
i gotta agree about both the points you put as a criticism. This will be Rampage’s first fight in 10-11 months. If it wasn’t for the depth of the LHW division this would be totally inexcusable.
And you can use Bisping as a case in point for the favortism arguement. The guy is a can. Now he’s talking about having good enough skills to beat Anderson Silva. He got whooped by Hammill and anyone that saw that fight knows it. He couldn’t even finish Sinosic in the 1st round.
IMO the only fighter from TUF that deserves what he has is Forrest, so with that i am looking forward to the fight against Rampage.
Just to say, I started watching UFC with TUF 1, but I quickly started researching MMA, watching PRIDE and became quite knowledgeable on the sport.
Remember though, Rampage also had a messed up hand that required surgery, same with Forrest and his shoulder. So there recovery time is this show.
Wasn’t Rampage going to have to take alot of time off anyways? His hand was giving him alot of troubkle from what i understand.
Well another thing about TUF is you got guys fighting out of there weight class to be on the show and then they get on the show and once the show is over they go to their original weight which isnt fair at all, considering the UFC wanted you to fight in the division that you signed up for on the show.
But I think middleweight is already getting a boost in its talent, Kampmann coming back along with Tanner, Henderson dropping down and possibly Silva. Then you got Okami,Marquardt,Franklin,Cote,Leites,Leben just got a new contract, Bisping moving down, Almeida returing, Terrell if he gets healthy, Macdonald(still not sure yet), Quarry, Demian Maia, Ed Herman
As TUF 7 casts for 185’s the heavyweight division is falling down hill
Since when has Ninja been in the UFC? I thought it was Shogun?
Whatever MW ends up winning,…he better be good. MW needs a NEW “celebrity” or “fan favorite” to root for!
I 100% agree. Rampage would probably have fought 2 fights by the time he fights forest. Complete bs.
yeah I agree with much of this article. Good job. I CANT stand how people like Bispign are treated. I have stated in the past and will again now that TUF 3 was TAILOR made for him because the UFC planned on moving into the UK.
Everyone knows the 205 talent on the show….think about…
Josh Haynes(who is now a WW in smaller shows that still doesnt produce)
Ross Pointon(same as Josh Haynes,WW) they brought him to show simply because he was from the UK. Yeah he moved UP to 205, BECAUSE THERE WERE NO FIGHTER TO EVEN FACE BISPING
Jesse Forbes(20 year old with no experience)
Tait Fletcher - Has no business in the game, nor does he want to, no fights since the show
You know that Hammill at the time would of thrown Bisping around and probably won TUF 3….btu how could they market him?? He has the personality of a wet paper bag.
And finally when Hammil got to fight Bisping, he was raped over in the UK by the UFC’s own judges. The UFC had to have it go in Bisping’s favor….How could they market their TUF star, when a nobody came over to his house and beat him up
I mix the Brazilian fighters up all the time too. Mauricio is “Shogun” and Maurilo is “Ninja”
The best way to do TUF is like season 4 where they are just insured a title fight because it doesn’t lock anyone up - they just fight whoever the champ is at that time.
Of course most of the guys are so green they’d usually get killed so maybe they should just get an insured fight with a top 10 named opponent or something.
good catch “the legend”. and mania, next time, please feel free to give bisbing an article backhand and dont sugar coat it. no one will disagree with anything negative said about that prick. the hammil fight is still the worst judging in the history of the sport. seriously.
why does anyone want to watch bisping fight captain miserable? the most excitement that could possibly come from that match up would be hearing that it won’t happen.
i agree with alot of what has been said above. however, to think that someone who makes the ufc based on a tv show is going to be able to go straight into the ufc and compete, especially now that it has become so popular and saught after, is unrealistic. but they should be making up the undercard non-televised bouts.
what irks me is that certain fighters, like jorge gurgel, leben, burkman, and many others are excused from losing and having boring fights. while other fighters like jeff joslin, john alessio etc disapear without the same opportunity.
[quote comment=”321705″]yeah I agree with much of this article. Good job. I CANT stand how people like Bispign are treated. I have stated in the past and will again now that TUF 3 was TAILOR made for him because the UFC planned on moving into the UK.
Everyone knows the 205 talent on the show….think about…
Josh Haynes(who is now a WW in smaller shows that still doesnt produce)
Ross Pointon(same as Josh Haynes,WW) they brought him to show simply because he was from the UK. Yeah he moved UP to 205, BECAUSE THERE WERE NO FIGHTER TO EVEN FACE BISPING
[/quote]
josh haynes is fighting for Xtreme Cotour in the IFL now that benji radich is out indefinately with an injury.
[quote comment=”321691″]I 100% agree. Rampage would probably have fought 2 fights by the time he fights forest. Complete bs.[/quote]
as others have said, no that isn’t true. he was going to be out for a while anyway because he had to have surgery done to his hand.
[quote comment=”321711″]The best way to do TUF is like season 4 where they are just insured a title fight because it doesn’t lock anyone up - they just fight whoever the champ is at that time.
Of course most of the guys are so green they’d usually get killed so maybe they should just get an insured fight with a top 10 named opponent or something.[/quote]
Or use a rotating system of coaches. That’s probably to the benefit of the fighters anyways.
Personally I am only a fan of the show because it gives me something to watch for a while each week as opposed to having to wait until a PPV event. But I think it wreaks havoc on the divisions. I would rather the ufc only sign whoever wins the show, with the exception of a fight like forrest and stephan’s where it’s obvious you can give a contract to both. He did that with ed herman too. They should not get a title shot and a title holder and the number 1 contender should not be the coaches. I do not like waiting for so long before title fights. It leads to crappy fight cards and slows down the progression of things so much it’s not even worth keeping up with, and let’s face it, the career of a fighter is short, these guys’ clocks are ticking and I’m not just talking about the ones that are older ala chuck, etc. If the show keeps up the way it is even the younger fighters will have remarkably less fights before they retire. It’s causing more room for speculation and arguments than for fighters to fight in there prime.
With that said, I really hope that TUF 7 is going to be as good as I think it can be, because both forrest and rampage are fun to watch, are great fighters, and hopefully they brought in some actual talent, not scrubs that they can use just to fill an undercard or to feed to someone else.
I definitely spelled “there” where it clearly should have been “their.” Damn that college degree, it done did me no good.
Neither Forrest or Rampage are doing to want to bring this fight to the ground. I give Forrest the win. He has something about him that not many fighters bring. Rampage is awesome too. Should be fireworks. Does anybody know any spoilers for this season?
Criticism #2 is a big one in my book. I was pissed when they announced Serra and Hughes would coach a season, and only after that would they fight for the title. The fact that they’d do it again in their other most stacked division, with Forrest Griffin getting, in my opinion, a very undeserved title shot, is more than enough to ensure that I won’t be watching this season. I’ve watched every season of TUF to this point, and there might actually be a couple things I’d like to see this season, especially with Rampage as one of the coaches, but I refuse to encourage this kind of incompetence. They cannot delay things like this, Forrest is not the guy who deserves a title shot, not even close, and the whole thing just pisses me off so much.
tuf coaches should be good fighters who hate each other (bj - pulver) or (ortiz-shamrock) definitely not champions
On the other hand… 3 LHW have recently dropped down to MW (Wandi, Hendo and Bisbing)… I think there is room for some movement there over the next few months… I know I’d like to see Wandi Vs either Silva or Hendo. But i think Wandi should get a warm up match at MW before any title shots, especially after losing to Chuck…
[quote comment=”321734″]good catch “the legend”. and mania, next time, please feel free to give bisbing an article backhand and dont sugar coat it. no one will disagree with anything negative said about that prick. the hammil fight is still the worst judging in the history of the sport. seriously.[/quote]
Oh so it was Bisbing who judged the bout??
I love Forrest, but he is not ready for Rampage. I think they should have given him at least 1 more tough fight after the shogun win before feeding him to Rampage. The UFC is just looking at Forrest vs. Rampage as a huge moneymaker, but I feel bad for Forrest, he is going to get beat up really bad by Rampage. Forrest isnt into a fight until he gets hit, well with the power Rampage has in Both hands, Forrest wont be able to get hit….If Rampage connects its Nighty night Forrest.
Run Forrest Run!
Mania, Great analysis of the whole TUF show.
[quote comment=”322267″]On the other hand… 3 LHW have recently dropped down to MW (Wandi, Hendo and Bisbing)… I think there is room for some movement there over the next few months… I know I’d like to see Wandi Vs either Silva or Hendo. But i think Wandi should get a warm up match at MW before any title shots, especially after losing to Chuck…[/quote]
Ok… I take it back… Just the 2 now…
This sucks forrest griffin sucks he got lucky with shogun it doesnt prove anything about him he got lucky hopefully he dosent
cry like a little girl again when he loses
I’ve been watching since Dan Severn fought Royce Gracie. Me not knowing what I’m talking about is more a symptom of being a dumbass than a newb.
Who else in the LHW division deserves that title shot more than Forrest? Wandy and Shogun are both 0-1 in UFC. Liddell still needs at least one more good win after dropping consecutive fights to Rampage and Jardine. Jardine would be in there without that KO loss to Houston. You can make a strong argument for Machida, and I have to think he gets the Forrest-Rampage winner, assuming he kicks Tito’s ass. And as for Forrest’s win over Shogun, it was about 75-25 Forrest before getting the choke, not a split decision with questionable judging. In a division as stacked as LHW there will never be a clear-cut No. 1 contender. The UFC picked a very worthy candidate, and the fact that he can sell fights is just a bonus.
[quote comment=”321597″]And you can use Bisping as a case in point for the favortism arguement. The guy is a can. Now he’s talking about having good enough skills to beat Anderson Silva. He got whooped by Hammill and anyone that saw that fight knows it. He couldn’t even finish Sinosic in the 1st round.[/quote]
RIDICULOUS.
Yes, I believe Hamill won that fight. Yes, Bisping has been spoonfed many opponants. But Bisping’s weakest area has always been his wrestling, and he at the very least put some of that doubt (of being able to fight a wrestler successfully) to rest with those last two fights. Bisping shows a solid gas tank, a good BJJ game, and a strong ability to get back to his feet.
While I do think that Bisping lost both fights to Hamill and Rashad, he by no means looked bad doing it, especially considering how much smaller he is than Hamill.
Rashad is a Top 10 Fighter, no matter what those dumb rankings say. Replace Arona with Rashad. Arona hasn’t done anything in 2 years and you can’t hang on to a Top 10 ranking with a 1-1 record over the past 2 years, not while guys like Rashad are going 5-0, over fighters like Bisping and Lambert.
People trash Hamill all of the time-at least up to his Bisping fight-but I’ve been beside him from the start. Ortiz saw something in him and had the experience of training with him to back up his opinion that Hamill would one day be a Champion. I saw it too, not in his TUF fight, but in his other fights where he was being fed “cans” (if you consider a NCAA National Champion a “can”). In the Bisping fight I saw more of the same from Hamill. He’s got great wrestling, hits hard, and can take a shot. He applies constant pressure and shows no fear. He is also very strong.
Despite facing two guys who’s strengths are his weakness, and two guys who are really really good fighters, despite being smaller, Bisping held his own and walked out of the ring with little more than a scratch. To call him a joke is a joke. To call him a can is absurd.
Mark my words, Bisping is and will continue to be a contender.
[quote comment=”321928″]Neither Forrest or Rampage are doing to want to bring this fight to the ground. I give Forrest the win. He has something about him that not many fighters bring. Rampage is awesome too. Should be fireworks. Does anybody know any spoilers for this season?[/quote]
If they did, and they posted them on this site, and the comment didn’t get moderated, they would shortly find out that they somehow got a computer virus on thier computer…
Why would you want to know what happens before watching the show? What fun is that? You probably don’t order the PPV’s in that case and are just used to knowing who wins before actually watching it. Quick Question: If you’re a football fan, do you record the super bowl, and then turn on the tv and watch Sportscenter to find out who won the game, and then watch the super bowl? I don’t understand why someone would want to know the outcome before watching, it makes zero sense. Unless they just want to be that a$$hole that ruins it for everyone else. Some people that were neglected as children often like to ruin things for others…
[quote post=”5044″]Who else in the LHW division deserves that title shot more than Forrest? [/quote]
Machida, Keith Jardine, and Thiago Silva. NONE of which are marketable. Therefore, Forrest gets the title shot.
[quote post=”5044″]Mark my words, Bisping is and will continue to be a contender. [/quote]
Bisping may contend to make the Top 5 of the MW division, but he will never hold the belt in my opinion. Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson are both on another planet when compared to Bisping. By the time those two are old and retired, there will be some new WELL ROUNDED fighter in the division that would hold the belt.
With all of the new additions to the MW division and considering that Bisping is fighting Charles McCarthy, even with a win, Bisping would be lucky to be ranked #10 in the division.
People are definitely too hard on the guys from TUF. Everyone treats them like they’ve gotten something handed to them, which isn’t the case at all. This show is smart in so many ways, both business wise and talent wise. The one thing I disagree with is holding up divisions because the champion is a coach on the show. In my opinion, the show would be just as entertaining if the coaches were Bonnar and Griffin or other non-champion contenders.
“Still others point to TUF 2’s Rashad Evans, who eeked out mostly decision wins over sub-Top 10 fighters (Jason Lambert excluded) before his competition increased with the likes of Tito Ortiz.”
Adam, don’t forget about Rashad’s devastating knockout of Sean Salmon.
[quote comment=”322577″]”Still others point to TUF 2’s Rashad Evans, who eeked out mostly decision wins over sub-Top 10 fighters (Jason Lambert excluded) before his competition increased with the likes of Tito Ortiz.”
Adam, don’t forget about Rashad’s devastating knockout of Sean Salmon.[/quote]
Not that Salmon was a top 10 fighter, but….
[quote comment=”322578″][quote comment=”322577″]”Still others point to TUF 2’s Rashad Evans, who eeked out mostly decision wins over sub-Top 10 fighters (Jason Lambert excluded) before his competition increased with the likes of Tito Ortiz.”
Adam, don’t forget about Rashad’s devastating knockout of Sean Salmon.[/quote]
Not that Salmon was a top 10 fighter, but….[/quote]
Flaadog,
I agree, it was a great KO of Salmon, and likely the most exciting conclusion of any Evans fight. I wasn’t trying to say that I necessarily agree with either Criticism #1 or Criticism #2; just pointing out that these criticisms do exist.
Roger.
So I don’t normally get surprised with anything said on these threads, because there are just so many people with differing views, but I really am surprised that some people don’t think forrest deserves a title shot, at least as much as several others in the division. There may not be a top contender, but he dominated shogun, he got caught against jardine, and in my opinion won a close fight with tito, who has gotten 2 title shots in recent history. I definitely think he is deserving, more so than chuck or machida, you can make a case for jardine, and I think they are pretty even as far as deserving a shot, and in that case you just pick one and the other one gets the next shot provided he doesn’t lose. I mean they both suffered devastating knockouts and both beat top fighters. How do you choose? You could say jardine because he knocked out forrest, but you could say forrest because he beat the top fighter he fought much more decisively than jardine beat his. It’s half way one dozen or the other, but in any case he is deserving.