The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale: Has the UFC Reality Series Run Its Course?

There was once a time when the UFC was a mere fringe sports organization with little more popularity than Slamball (remember that?). A brilliant plan was devised to change the UFC's fortunes.

That plan was a reality television show known as The Ultimate Fighter.

The first season of the show aired in January 2005. Few could have imagined what the finale in April would do for the sport. The show's finalists, Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin, met in the Octagon on April 9, 2005, and delivered one of the most influential and spectacular fights in MMA history.

The UFC was put on the map and The Ultimate Fighter (or TUF for short) became an incredible vehicle for recruiting new UFC fans.

Six years later, the show has become stale and is pulling in poor ratings. The downward trend of the show has been continuing for years, even when one considers the improvements and gimmicks the UFC has added along the way (such as fighters having to fight their way onto the show, the "wild card" spot and Kimbo Slice).

Thus, it would seem that the show has finally run its course and the plug should be pulled before it actually becomes a hindrance on the brand.

However, this notion is only partially true.

The show has in large part worn out its welcome in the United States. The market there has become disinterested in the tired premise the show has to offer.

This is a fact that the coaches of the next season of TUF, Michael Bisping and Jason "Mayhem" Miller, will not be able to remedy despite their colorful personalities and Miller's mainstream popularity from another reality show, Bully Beatdown.

While TUF may be commonplace and boring within the United States, it is not so in other countries that the UFC has on its radar.

Fortunately for MMA, UFC President Dana White has this in mind.

It has recently been announced by MMAjunkie.com that the UFC is close to holding its first international TUF series. The location? The Philippines.

If this could be done, it would revitalize the show and give it a completely new importance. Instead of being the vehicle for recruiting rambunctious, possibly drunk teens and twenty-somethings, it would be the vehicle by which the UFC spread the MMA gospel around the world, while simultaneously showcasing the world's best fighters.

In the same article, White even suggested that he one day dreamed to do a "World Cup of TUF," meaning a global grand prix analogous to soccer's World Cup.

So, the reality show has run its course in one avenue, but this is not a bad thing; the UFC outgrew that avenue and now needs not just one more lane for expansion but an entire planet's worth.

Should an international TUF happen and be successful, there would be no disputing that the reality series was the greatest idea to ever be conceived in the UFC. And should there be a global grand prix, maybe the UFC will one day rival "Futbol" on the global sports stage.

Either way, an international TUF would shake the very foundations of the sports world.