A Closer Look at The Ultimate Fighter

By Robert Bonardi

The Ultimate Fighter, if you follow the UFC or MMA at all really, you know about the reality show that is often credited with saving the UFC. As famous as the concept is there is something you have to consider, the fights on the show are not the same as fights on an actual UFC event and I’m going to tell you a few reasons why…

Obviously it is the chance of a lifetime for many fighters, so if they have a chance in hell of being able to go and tryout they go. People have quit jobs, cancelled fights in smaller promotions, crossed oceans, been away from their families and friends and upended every aspect of their life for the chance to compete…for free mind you. This is both good and bad for the overall show. You will see almost all of the high end fighters in a given weight class.

However, it also draws talent from other weight classes as well both north and south. That can sometimes lead to a fighter shooting themselves in the foot, being so desperate for a chance at the UFC that they will fight out of their real weight class. This can lead to hindered performance, loss to a fighter they should never have been fighting to begin with or even worse a failure to make weight.

Even more of an impact however is the team dynamic. Only the fighter goes into the cage at fight time but it is very much a team effort. There is the relationship with the coaching staff as well as the other fighters. If any aspect of the team dynamic is off it can have a big impact on the overall performance at fight time. That does not mean that the coaching staff on The Ultimate Fighter is of lower skill compared to the coaches a given fighter has access to normally, only that the fit between fighter and coach is not so good as usual. Even if the fit between fighter and coach on the show is great, they have an unreasonably short time in order to create the bond of trust that is required and to really learn each other well enough to work as a team. It is actually a very similar situation to what fighters for USA Boxing face when they go to the Olympic games.

What this basically means is you really should not judge fighters or coaches based on what you see during the show. Matchups on the show can happen again at an event and go very differently. Come to think of it, you should not judge anyone based on what you see on a reality TV show.