My thoughts on Ultimate Fighter 7

Mr. White, please hold up your fingers to indicate how many minutes it took you to come up with the “twist” for this season of The Ultimate Fighter?

Two! That’s what I thought! For me personally, this episode was a total letdown.

Why do I watch The Ultimate Fighter? I watch it for the drama. I’m not afraid to admit it. Why not? That’s what the fucking show is for! Without the drama, it’s just a collection of sub-par MMA fights to painfully generic rockrap. I can’t help but feel that people who make comments like “god I hate the drama, just show more fights!” are mostly idiots who want a pat on the back from their fellow MMA fans for being “hardcore.”

Of course, not all people who think that are idiots.

What I mean is, TUF is a reality TV show. It’s a fact. The primary focus IS NOT the actual combat between the athletes. You can tell that (or at least you could in previous seasons) by the simple fact that fights got about ten percent airtime out of the whole show. The point of TUF (besides lining Zuffa’s pockets) is to provide entertainment by showing the drama and the behind-the-scenes action on what it’s like to be an up and coming fighter forced into a unique living and training situation. Of course fights are included, and while the athletes will be focusing on their fights, the audience is focused on the athletes.

So to start a season with highlights from an elimination tournament was a great way to lose the casual fan, if you ask me. I’m not a casual fan, and part of me enjoyed the show, but it elicited no emotional response… I didn’t give a shit about any of the fighters because I don’t know them yet. They are just a collection of arrogant twats with average MMA skills.

If you aren’t interested in reality show drama, you probably shouldn’t watch TUF, it’s a simple as that. Or if you do watch it, don’t complain that there wasn’t enough fight footage. It’s like going to Germany and complaining about all the Germans.

I personally hope that the season starts delivering, with drunk idiots smashing stuff, random household objects being thrown in pools, bodily functions being performed in new and unique ways, and pumped-up idiots threatening to headbutt each other’s ears off. I also hope that there are some more twists to the show that are actually good.

I’ve definitely got Fightlinker‘s back in this situation. They weren’t too pleased with the debut either.