The Ultimate Fighter

I'm no big fan of the UFC(Ultimate fighting championship), and I only heard about the UFC when it became Spike TV's only truly original money train. I gotta admit, I only started watching TUF on season 7 when they started having their contestants actually fight for a place on the show, and I saw an add for a local gym using one of the contestants(who actually made it to the final bout). I did get hooked, because this reality show didn't have the audience choose a weekly loser or have the other contestant vote him off, they had to duke it out to prove they still belonged in the house. Some who did lose on the show still impressed someone because I see them in opening bouts for other UFC events, so I guess some prove their mettle in somewhat less publicized ways than the big names and over all winner(s) of the show. Of course I watch the show of the fights outside the octagon and inside the house. Do you really think these fighters can leave their competitiveness in the gym? Some guys have to stay macho 24/7, and those that try the hardest usually lose the worst in the octagon, and those that just think of it as a sport and respect it as such, get a whole lot farther. As with any sport(and reality show that feeds on it) you get the guys who are always out to prove something and the guys that need help more than to prove themselves. But hey, it still makes for good TV, right? I still root for the fighters from my home town, the scapegoats, the losing team, or the guy who gets on to the show by default. They all have a chance, but as stated in comments before: the committed, trainable, and trained always win.

This has to be the best way that UFC can introduce its fans to its new fighters. You get to know the fighters way more then you ever would be able to do so in the past and actually care if they win or not when they actually start competing on UFC events. I see Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Mike Swick, Nate Quarry, Josh Koscheck and Kenny Florian from season 1 all having good to great UFC careers. Season 2 has some good prospects too with Joe Stevenson, Luke Cummo, Melvin Guillard, Josh Burkman, Sammy Morgan, Jorge Gurgel, Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, and also Brad Imes if he gets more experience.

Also a great way for helping get attention to the veteran UFC fighters who work as the coaches on the show.

It's hard to believe that the first season of the ultimate fighter came out in 2005, and here I am in 2010 looking back on it. And when considering that it has only been five years, it is amazing to think about how much the UFC and the sport of MMA has grown.

The history of this show is well documented by now. The UFC was losing money, there was no mma on cable television, and the UFC was worried about being pulled from PPV (again). It's also been said that the UFC funded the show with their own money and sold it to Spike TV. Considering the show's backstory, few would have thought that it would have caught on with the public, and helped make the UFC what it is today.

When reviewing the first season, the first thing that comes to mind is all the great fighters on Team Couture and Team Liddell. The season included UFC stars: Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Mike Swick, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian, and Chris Leben. The season also included many classic battles, including the fight that was voted as the best UFC fight of all time in a UFC poll.

If you are a fan of the UFC, or MMA in general, be sure to check out the Ultimate Fighter, where you will see future stars of the game compete for a contract into the UFC.

I've watched many seasons of this show, and it was great. Good action, up and coming fighters were fun to watch. They're not always that polished as fighters, nor as good as the veteran pros on the UFC PPVs, but entertaining none the less.

Sadly, the horrible camera work on the current season has made the show unwatchable. Constant zoom in, zoom out, pan around, wobbly hand-held cam makes this worse than watching an badly shot home video. Such a shame, I won't be watching it anymore.

Shaky cam is so 10 years ago, get a cameraman who can hold the camera steady at a constant zoom. Not someone's relative who just got a camcorder for their birthday or something.

And that most DEFINITELY includes myself! Now I do not have to wait 2 months to pay $30 to see a cool ufc fight because at 10:00 PM every Monday night now,I can see one at the end of this very interesting documentary.Plus,we now have a close-up look at the training that these MMA guys go through.We see the certain work out methods of how one individual loses at least 20 pounds in less than 24 hours (very grueling indeed); I mean...WOW,and I thought my old school tae kwon do training was difficult.Also,the tension between the different trainees can be sometimes just freakin hilarious (like watching the WWF you know).

But like I said,it's a very interesting show and I will never miss one episode if I can help it.I just hope the show lasts a long time.