What to watch out for on this season of The Ultimate Fighter: LIVE

By Jacob Calbillo (Twitter / Email)

March 8, 2012 – This Friday night LIVE on FX, the UFC will usher in a new era in its production of The Ultimate Fighter. The reality series will get a fresh start in its 15^th season with a new network and the thought is that it will reinvigorate the long-running series through the use of innovative social media tactics and it’s new live production format. Zuffa hopes the clean slate will breathe life into a series that has seen its ratings fall the past few seasons.  This season, The Ultimate Fighter will feature bantamweight rivals Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber as coaches to the 32 lightweight and welterweight fighters.

The Ultimate Fighter: Live will air over 13 consecutive weeks on FX beginning with the two and a half hour premiere on Friday, March 9^th. The show will begin with 16 live fights as the 32 contestants battle for a spot in the house. The 16 winners will then be divided into two eight-man teams coached by either Cruz or Faber. From there, the show will feature live elimination fights every week. The thought is that fans will have the opportunity to vote for the match they want to see the next week via social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. At the culmination of the season, the UFC will crown its Ultimate Fighter and reward them with a six-figure UFC contract. The coaches will then face off on July 7 in Las Vegas in a rubber match for the Bantamweight Championship currently held by Cruz.

The show whose season one finale (Forrest Griffin vs. Stephen Bonnar) is credited with catalyzing the UFC and MMA in America has drawn lackluster ratings in recent seasons and seemed stale in its premise to many longtime critics. The UFC hopes the new format will reinvigorate the reality show.

Dana White recently states his excitement for the change.

“This is revolutionary television. Nobody’s ever done this before. If you love sports, you love ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ You love drama, you’re gonna love ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ You love reality shows, you’re gonna love ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ I don’t care what type of television that you’re into and you like to watch, ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ is the television show for you.”

Personally, many die-hard fans have always loved the show and look forward to it every year, regardless of format. This year is no exception but the new production and the live aspect of the show could make it something entirely different altogether. Everything is brand new again. It’s difficult to change up a formula that has been successful and was in many ways responsible for the rapid growth of the show but it’s a welcome change that indeed has fans, new and die-hard alike, excited about what’s coming.

What to watch out for on this season of The Ultimate Fighter: LIVE

Production Value – The most promising aspect of this new season is the live production.  The Ultimate Fighter: Live is the equivalent of 13 consecutive episodes of UFC Primetime or HBO’s 24/7 series. It is an exhausting request to make on your production staff but one that should pay dividends if everything goes off without a hitch.  The idea of editing together a storyline on the fly gives the fighters a chance to be represented more accurately and having to live 7 weeks longer in the house is sure to add more drama as cabin fever sets in. In that regard, look for this to be as close to “raw” as possible… something evident way back in season one with Chris Leben, Bobby Southworth, and Josh Koscheck’s unruly behavior towards one another as an example.

Social Media Integration – Fans who loves social media welcome the opportunity to voice their opinions and go about doing it anyways even without beckoning. Those types of fans should love voting for fights via social media. It adds a whole new element to the show its never had before. Integrating social media with The Ultimate Fighter is a way to keep fans tuning in for live events. Time will tell how they keep track of live voting but it should be interesting to see and something viewers will likely know by the conclusion of Friday night’s premiere episode.

Network Adjustments on FX vs. Spike – It will be interesting to see how much FX pushes the reality show and what changes they make to the day-to-day operations of the show. The series had a choke-hold on Wednesday nights but with its move to Fridays, it faces direct competition from live fights on Bellator and counter-programming from Spike, once its home and now its competitor. How will Zuffa combat this? How will the other networks combat the MMA giant that is Zuffa for MMA TV supremacy on Friday nights? The race for that first place MMA rating might prove to be the Fight of the Year if everyone brings their A-game.

All in all, surely exciting things to come as the UFC enters yet another new era in its evolution. What are your thoughts about the upcoming premiere of the Ultimate Fighter Live? Comment and let us know!