Outside of title shots and super-fights and bus attacks and brawls, there’s another little controversy in the UFC this year: whether or not The Ultimate Fighter, the reality show once credited with saving the promotion, should stick around.
Should I stay or should I go?
If you say that you are mine
I’ll be here ’til the end of time
So you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?
— Should I Stay Our Should I Go, The Clash
Moncton, NB — Over the weekend, the UFC will return to action, touching down in Moncton, New Brunswick for the first time. Not surprisingly, the card is peppered with a number of Ultimate Fighter veterans. After all, with so many seasons of the MMA reality show (the current season is its twenty-eighth, discounting international editions), a TUF veteran or two is bound to pop up on any given card. UFC Moncton, therefore, is no exception.
Artem Lobov was on the show. Court McGee won it. Nordine Taleb appeared on the series twice. Sarah Moras appeared on the first edition of the show to feature women. Ed Herman was a finalist way back at The Ultimate Fighter 3. And Michael Johnson doggedly pursued an opportunity on TUF, trying out time and again.
We spoke to those latter two fighters, Herman and Johnson, during the UFC Moncton media day, and asked for their take on the future of the series. And what we got was two very different answers. With one common complaint between them: the quality of fighters appearing on the series these days.
Johnson (18-13), part of UFC Moncton’s co-main event, appeared on The Ultimate Fighter Season 12. That was back in 2010, the season coached by Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck. That’s only half the story, however. Johnson doggedly pursued an opportunity on the show, hounding the UFC by trying out again and again. ‘The Menace’ had auditioned for season eight, in 2008, and continued to audition for subsequent seasons. “I hounded them,” he admitted to Cageside Press during Fight Week in Moncton. “Tried out three times, so my consistency and persistence paid off.”
And today, he’s certainly in favor of the franchise staying around a bit longer.
“Yeah I really do think it should keep going,” he told us. He does have one suggestion, however. “I definitely think they need to change the people they’re putting on the show. I think a lot of people are going on there just for being on [it for] the fame, being on TV rather than being fighters and wanting to get into the UFC.”
“Other than that,” Johnson continued, “it’s a great platform for young fighters to get noticed and get put in the UFC. You’ve got the publicity, you’re on TV once a week for six weeks or so. You can build up fame and fans and then get in the UFC. I’ve always thought that was kind of the easiest way, instead of fighting and maybe getting a call.”
Fair point. Both middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and current number one contender Kelvin Gastelum are products of the series. Women’s strawweight champ Rose Namajunas is as well. As is men’s bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw. The show has produced any number of stars throughout the years, from Forrest Griffin to Michael Bisping.
Ed Herman, also appearing on the UFC Moncton main card, was a finalist in the show’s third season. He lost to Kendall Grove at the finale, but was picked up by the UFC regardless. That was back in 2006, under coaches Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. Herman has been with the promotion ever since.
Yet despite his success on the show, when asked whether the series still has a place in the MMA landscape, Herman replied saying “I really don’t think it does.”
“I know they’re talking about ending it,” he noted. “Some of these last shows, I was kind of disappointed with some of the quality of people they brought in there.” That sentiment echoed the comments of Johnson, so ‘Short Fuse’ is not alone on that point.
“With the Contender [Series] now, it kind of takes the place of that a little bit,” Herman explained. “Dana White’s show, all the great feeder shows they have out there are picking up these guys. So I think it’s harder for them to find quality guys to be on The Ultimate Fighter.”
That’s an interesting point as well. The best fighters in the regional scene are more often than not signed direct to the UFC these days, or alternately, to the Contender Series for a crack at the UFC. Gone are the times when top talent was funneled through the reality series.
“I hate to see it end, because it’s been going for so long, it’s a great thing, it’s a great opportunity for young fighters to get their name out there,” Herman concluded, “but things come to an end.”
Whether The Ultimate Fighter does come to an end remains to be seen — but both the audience and fighters themselves are, for now, split on what should become of it.
