The Ultimate Fighter

The Ultimate Fighter is a reality TV show where 16 contestants live together and battle each other in MMA fights.

As a reality show, it had some moments in the house. As a competition show, the fights rock. As for its influence, it changed the world of fighting.

Before the show, boxing was still on top. MMA was just a fringe sport. It had the feel of an illegal dog fight. What this show did was to demystified the world of MMA. It show these fighter as athletes rather than maniacs. It opened this world to the general public allowing more people to join.

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.

I love this show. This TV Show is a great way of showing how fighters act outside or inside the cage with real fighters and real people. I have huge respect for the mental toughness of an indivudual who might have an injury and push past it, still winning his match etc. That's one aspect of what martial arts is all about when competing. Also, another thing I like is when you see a complete tool like Chris Leben in Season 1 who always talks too much about his record and how good he is and then loses all of his fights which proves another thing that as a fighter you must also have good character or you can get swollowed up in your own bullshit. Be humble.

Most of this show is drama but some of the show has conflict when you have two guys that don't like each other and always argue (that's the most fun part). The rest is about the 16 competitors fighting tournament stlye to get to the final fight and becoming an ultimate fighter.

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.

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.