UFC's 'The Ultimate Fighter Finale': Is It Time to Showcase the Lighterweights?

After much debate, discussion and disarray, we're set for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, and considering the official season finale is this Saturday, when Team Dos Santos' Ramsey Nijem faces Team Lesnar's Tony Ferguson for the all-important spot in the UFC Welterweight division and the title of the fifth-ever Ultimate Fighter winner at 170 pounds, now is clearly appearing to be a good time to talk about the first all-Lighterweight season of the popular reality TV series.

We could try for months upon months to try and determine if Michael "The Count" Bisping will create more of a mob against him by antagonizing Jason "Mayhem" Miller, or if it will be Mayhem himself that finally finds a line not worth crossing in making Bisping's life all sixes and no sevens—in other words, a miserably annoying six weeks.

The story of this 14th season, however, will not entirely be the debut of Jason Miller's UFC comeback or Michael Bisping's ability to finally get over the hump and earn the title shot he's been chasing since the drop to Middleweight after his loss to Rashad Evans.

The story does have something to do with December 3, the night that Bisping and Miller clash in the Octagon with possible Middleweight title contention in the balance, but the story here is about the Lighterweights themselves.

Now to address the question of whether now is the time to showcase the Lighterweights:

It most definitely is time to showcase them for all they're worth, and believe me when I say that they are the hottest commodities in MMA right now as far as exciting talent is concerned, so of course they're worth a fortune and then some, but then again, was there ever really a time in MMA where promoters that did contain a 145-lb. Featherweight division and 135-lb. Bantamweight division but had no real need to showcase it?

You can look outside of the UFC and the Zuffa banner for examples of organizations that capitalize on their Lighterweights, some of which have gone the extra mile and contained a division of 125-pounders.

The bottom line here is that the Lighterweights need their moment to be seen and remembered by the masses, and it should start with TUF 14 if the UFC wants to prove that last year's merger with the WEC was all boom and no bust.

Unquestionably, these Lighterweight bouts that have picked up intrigue as of the past couple of years or so are what happens when one of the best kept secrets in any organization is known to the world, eventually causing everyone to want their slice of the action.

Some, myself included, have gone on to say that the Lighterweights were necessary for the UFC because of how hard they go in the cage fight in and fight out, and the same would exist in a number of Ultimate Fighter seasons if the UFC has enough confidence in them to give it a shot.

Not only would the action be off the hook, even in the fights that go to decision, but we all know also that the UFC needs to do these seasons of TUF, regardless of what weight class is showcased, so that the divisions can have some fresh faces and also so that the divisions can actually be stacked (hence, TUF has had five seasons involving Welterweights including this season, as well as five seasons involving Middleweights, only three involving Light Heavyweights, two involving Heavyweights and four involving Lightweights).

For the Bantamweights and Featherweights to survive as a UFC weight division, the brand itself needs to commit to doing as many seasons as they can involving these lighter classes.

All the motivation is there to keep this ball rolling, and all Dana White and Company need to do is recognize what we already know:

Recognize that we're enjoying Dominick Cruz, we're enjoying Urijah Faber, we're enjoying Jose Aldo, We're enjoying the Scott Jorgensens, the Demetrious Johnsons, the likes of Miguel Torres and Chad Mendes, we're enjoying Joseph Benavidez and Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto, Eddie Wineland, Mark Hominick, Mike Brown, Leonard Garcia, Chan Sung Jung and basically, everybody that the UFC's Lighterweight divisions hold for now, but we're doing it for a reason.

We're doing it because we know that if we don't capitalize on what these lighter dudes have accomplished and could accomplish in the future, we're going to ultimately lose two of the most exciting divisions in Mixed Martial Arts.

Respect Michael "Mayday" McDonald and Renan "Barao" Pegado, respect Erik Koch and guys like Dustin Poirier, recognize them as the breakout fighters and the ambassadors of the Lighterweights future, but understand one thing:

It will take more than Barao and Mayday to keep Bantamweight MMA alive, and for that matter, it'll also take more that "The New Breed" and "Dustin The Diamond" to keep Featherweight MMA alive once the champs and current respective upper echelons have no choice but to call it a career.