Defending The Ultimate Fighter

I came late to the Ultimate Fighter scene. Season Seven was the first season that I watched all the way through, and I have since gone back to re-watch every season I missed. With Season Nine right around the corner, the criticism aimed at the show has been louder than the hype for the show itself.

A lot of this criticism is warranted. I certainly don't want to see the sport that I love degenerate into a show about bodily fluids and drunken destruction.

These problems seem especially acute because MMA still feels fragile, and is still trying to establish itself as a legitimate sport. Any actions that are counterproductive to this goal, or that paint fighters in a less-than-professional light, should be and usually are criticized.

However, the Ultimate Fighter does provide something essential to the sport, and something that no other promotion outside of the UFC can offer; it helps us decide who to root for.

Mixed Martial Arts faces the same problem that most non-team sports face, in that the competitors do not always resonate with fans the same way that city-based teams do.

A basketball fan growing up in Phoenix will usually become a Suns fan, based on nothing other than geography. But what happens when you're watching a fight between a fighter from Brazil and a fighter from Alabama?

TUF gives fans the opportunity to familiarize themselves with fighters, to build a bond with them, and to pick a favorite. As I said before, I went back to watch the first six seasons of TUF, and watching them with preconceived notions of the contestants gave me an interesting perspective. It also changed my opinions of some current fighters.

Nathan Quarry was someone that I had seen fight several times, but had never made a  lasting impression on me. Seeing his personality on TUF, however, immediately made him someone that I took notice of in the future.

Likewise, Jorge Gurgel was a fighter I had little interest in, until I watched his professionalism and cognisance of his role as an MMA ambassador in Season 2. I now follow both of these fighters much more closely.

This is what TUF does. Hardcore fans might know about every fighter on a card, but for the casual fans (the one that TUF is aimed at,) a big card might only feature two or three names that they are familiar with.

That number is usually doubled if the fan has watched TUF. The show helps bring fans closer to fighters, and as a result brings fans closer to the sport itself.

Does this benefit completely excuse all of the behavioral mishaps on the show?

No. I'm not arguing that the show is perfect, or that there are no aspects of it that need tweaking. I am arguing that the show still has value, and that the absence of it would hurt the UFC, more so than the immature antics on it hurt the company now.