Michael Chiesa is the latest fighter to earn the distinction of winning The Ultimate Fighter. But is it honestly much of a distinction anymore?
After 15 seasons and 22 different “Ultimate Fighters,” popular opinion seems to be that the long-running reality TV competition is no longer of great interest or delivering the way it did in previous years. It’s hard to argue otherwise.
The show was groundbreaking when the initial season aired in January 2005, with numerous members of the inaugural cast going on to have lengthy, successful careers in the UFC.
Forrest Griffin won the light heavyweight championship, and Kenny Florian fought for a title on three separate occasions, while Josh Koscheck and Diego Sanchez each challenged for gold once, and Chris Leben has been a mainstay in the middleweight division since his time as the ‘Original Bad Boy’ of The Ultimate Fighter.
The second and third seasons also produced a solid crop of talent, including Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, and Melvin Guillard.
After a collection of veterans populated the house in Season 4, and lightweights like Nate Diaz, Joe Lauzon, and Gray Maynard filled out teams captained by BJ Penn and Jens Pulver for Season 5, the show has experienced a dramatic downturn in the level of talent taking part in the battle to earn the six-figure UFC contract.
Over the last 10 seasons, not a single title contender has emerged from the 160 or so individuals who have called Las Vegas their temporary home. That may be a little unfair, as the contestants from seasons 14 and 15 haven’t had much of a chance to try and climb the rankings as of yet, but there are only a handful of fighters from those two groups who look capable of remaining on the roster long-term.
What accentuates the point even more are the struggles of previous winners.
Several previous winners have been released by the organisation, and that’s not even including Season 4 middleweight winner Travis Lutter. Efrain Escudero, Kendall Grove, and Joe Stevenson have all been shown the door, though Escudero returned as a late replacement last December.
In addition to the winners who have been bounced, several of their contemporaries have struggled since earning the once-meaningful moniker as well.
Mac Danzig has battled injuries and inconsistency since emerging victorious on Season 6. Same goes for Season 7 winner Amir Sadollah. Ryan Bader, Ross Pearson, and Roy Nelson have all had reasonable amounts of success since their victories, but they’ve become the exception, not the rule.
James Wilks quietly retired a few weeks back as a result of various injuries. The Brit was just 1-2 after beating DaMarques Johnson to give Michael Bisping’s team the clean sweep during Season 9.
The last five winners – one each from Seasons 11, 12 and 13, plus two from Season 14 – are a combined 1-4 over recent fights; John Dodson is the only one of the group to get a victory.
It paints a grim picture for Chiesa, who will have lofty expectations because of the cachet that winning the show still seems to carry with casual observers. Unfortunately, it’s an unfair weight to burden the most recent winner with at this stage of his career.
The days of TUF winners being title contenders ended a long time ago.
Nate Diaz is probably the last winner who has a chance to challenge for a title, and he struggled at points after winning Season 5 before starting the nice little run he’s enjoying right now.
Recently, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter ends up becoming a fixture in the middle of their respective division that gets an additional push because of their time on the show, justified or not.
Where early seasons drew from a deep pool of talented fighters competing outside of the organisation, those wells have been tapped for some time. Now, the UFC just goes out and signs the best available talent, bypassing TUF completely, leaving the show to be stocked with solid but unspectacular regional talents.
Though some cast members end up showing potential, the vast majority are fighters who will end up being “one and done” in the UFC, which makes you wonder why the organisation is keeping the program around at this point.
The ratings for this past season were the worst they’ve ever been, and the new night and channel in the States can’t be entirely to blame.
The show has become stale, even with the move to a live format this year. With so many events, it’s hard to get people interested in “exhibition” bouts week after week, especially when the expectation is that the eventual winner won’t end up being much more than a mid-card performer in the future.
Saturday’s victory was a good one for Michael Chiesa, and he shows signs of promise, but earning the title of “The Ultimate Fighter” doesn’t carry much value anymore.
It honestly hasn’t in quite some time.
E. Spencer Kyte is the author of Keyboard Kimura, the MMA blog of Vancouver’s leading newspaper, The Province. Follow him on Twitter (@spencerkyte), or Facebook.
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