The UFC officially announced this week that Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira and Frank Mir would be coaching teams on the eighth season of the Ultimate Fighter reality series. Many bloggers are up in arms over the selections for various reasons that range from tying up another title picture to explaining that the show is near death as far as appeal to MMA fans. The ratings would certainly indicate a drop-off of the show’s popularity over the years, and the coaching selection will tie up the Heavyweight title for a lengthy amount of time while the UFC tries to figure out who will move into the contention spot. What’s the problem with The Ultimate Fighter and with the news that “Big Nog” and Mir will battle it out for the title?
To answer the question, let me reference a couple of opinions from Fightlinker and Bloody Elbow and weigh in my own opinion. Fightlinker had this to say:
Let’s get something straight: a fight between Frank Mir and Big Nog is barely interesting enough to carry a PPV on its own, let alone an entire season of TUF. As for the argument that TUF exposure is a great way for Nog to become popular, that’s ass backwards thinking. Sticking a relatively unknown guy on TUF is just going to result in less people giving a shit about it. And it’s not like Nog just needs a showcase for his shining personality. The guy looks / acts like a big lumbering Frankenstein. For all the excitement he creates in the ring, he’s duller than matte paint in real life.
And don’t even get me fucking started on Frank Mir … Frank Mir, who everyone continues to say is “back.” This, despite the fact that UFC virgin Brock Lesnar nearly smashed his face through the canvas. Despite the fact that his only ‘convincing’ recent win was against a kickboxer who tried to out-sub him. I know MMA fans have the memory of sea amoebae, but was it really that long ago that a Krispy Kreme sponsored Mir waddled into the octagon to get easily annihilated by Brandon Vera?
I would definitely agree that Nogueira vs. Mir isn’t a main event that can carry a pay-per-view for the simple fact that Nogueira is fairly unknown to the casual fanbase and Mir is on the return track back to the title. I will say that I was one of those people on board to seeing Nogueira gets some exposure to boost his draw, but in thinking about it over the past couple of months and with the recent TUF season’s lackluster ratings and overall dullness, exposure for Nogueira probably wouldn’t be significant.
Bloody Elbow’s Luke Thomas had this to add:
For the record, I think this season is terrible and that's with two coaches who are good on camera, legitimate MMA stars and generally amiable and funny guys. If this format can't even work with them at the helm, I seriously doubt Mir and Nogueira is going to be any better (or even as good).
Look, the show - in its current format - has jumped the shark. I think there are a host of reasons for this, but part of it is that the talent well has run dry. If the UFC were able to space seasons further apart, they might be able to draw on more mature and developed talent. But they're running this machine into the ground and I don't think they've been able to cull the kind of talent they need consistently to make the show interesting.
In fact, the coaches' celebrity status used to be an ancillary benefit. TUF was originally and almost exclusively about the developing fighters. And when the show first started, there were a lot of up-and-comers to choose from. But between the pacing of the seasons and the growth of MMA leading to other organizations snatching up talent, there just isn't that much left to go around. Mir and Nogueira, despite being two of my favorite fighters, aren't going to change that dynamic.
Luke makes a good point that the talent outside of the UFC that they are able to pull from has decreased substantially. I’ve thought about this myself, and it seems that ProElite and some of the promotions overseas are grabbing up some of that talent. The ongoing debate on what fighters should get from their contracts and the restrictions in the Zuffa contracts probably doesn’t help, and it could be a small deterrent as well.
One reason I believe the series has lulled in excitement is due to the coaches really not having a beef with each other. While the comedy of both coaches is a pleasant relief from the dull tension that sometimes plagues the series, it isn’t a Tito vs. Shamrock angry tension that created some of the higher ratings for the series. Right now however, I don’t believe a heated rivalry between coaches would help the show at all.
In the end, a combination of both opinions is probably the biggest reason why this next season won’t do much better. Nogueira’s personality isn’t exactly flowing with exuberance, and putting Mir and Nogueira together will probably be less eventful than this season. Add in the fact that fighter talent has dropped off outside the UFC due to other promotions signing them to contracts, it just doesn’t bode well for the show.
In my opinion, The Ultimate Fighter is just a lame duck. I’ve watched it for multiple seasons and have usually been excited to see the fights during the next week’s show, but as of late, I could care less what really has been happening on the show. Some people may live for drama that involves a can of chew and lime juice, but who really gives a shit? I think Dana White’s new format ideas need to come sooner rather than later.