Find The Ultimate Fighter 13 Entertaining?

Season 13

If a company where to put its cash-cow into one of their shows, one would think that the show would be full of excitement that would leave people agape on the events that transpired.  But that isn’t the case in season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter featuring the UFC’s cash cow, Brock Lesnar and number 1 contender, Junior Dos Santos.  Since the show premiered on March 30, 2011, it has been nothing but stuporous action. The action and the interaction between the coach’s and their respective teams have been, to say the least, vapid. One would think with Brock Lesnar’s austere appearance and snide manners at the helm of this season, that the fans would see Brock’s diatribe about Junior or the team, but that is nowhere to be found. A conjecture as to why Brock isn’t what people thought he would be, can be attributed to his newfound perspective on life, especially after his life or death bout with Diverticulitis. It is not all on Brock Lesnar to carry the show but on Junior Dos Santos, as well. For a fighter as exciting and fierce as Junior, when he isn’t fighting, his demeanor is very relaxed.  Throughout the show, Junior is lolling through his classes and interviews, having a good time, as if he were on vacation in Hawaii.

Brock Lesnar vs. Junior Dos Santos

The mixed martial arts (MMA) community had a feeling that the UFC was taking a risk with both, Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos, as coaches in the UFC’s feeder show. The MMA community knew that Brock’s MMA experience did not warrant a coach’s spot on the show, but knew that his name recognition was the sole reason as to why. On the other hand, the MMA community did not question Junior Dos Santos MMA experience, but questioned his marketability, especially the language barrier that he is currently breaking down. Basically, it is a tale of polar opposites attracting to create a show, in which the UFC thought would generate massive ratings. In addition, the MMA community knew that Brock is not the type of person who likes being in the media, even though he performed in the WWE for many years; add Junior Dos Santos inexperience coaching in a language other than his native Brazilian Portuguese, especially in front of a camera. One has to remember; the purpose of any show is to create valuable content, and if the people don’t find the content valuable, then people will stop watching.  The main purpose of the The Ultimate Fighter is to create entertainment in the form of in-house drama, intriguing personalities and exciting fights; none of which have come to match previous seasons; thus, resulting in low ratings and viewership. 

Although the show’s premise is MMA, it does not supercede the fact that it is on TV for the entertainment value. As aforementioned, the entertainment value comes in the form of in-house drama, intriguing personalities and exciting fights. The show might have an initial spike in ratings because of Brock Lesnar’s name recognition, but once that fades away, what else is there? Content is what drives entertainment and without content, people will not invest their time and effort into it. As proven by the low ratings and viewership, the content in season 13 is not what it has been in the past Ultimate Fighters. Season 7 in the Ultimate Fighter, where Rashad “Sugar” Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson coached had name recognition within the coaches and fighters – Kimbo Slice, Roy Nelson, ex-NFL players whom contributed to great content in the forms stated earlier; and till this day is UFC’s highest rated season. A show to have high ratings and a lot of ‘eyeballs’ watching is to simply have name recognition and great content. As Bill Gates once said “Content is King.”