So other than Kevin Ferguson, there are some other famous competitors on the show, in the form of four former NFL players: Marcus Jones (UNC/Bucs), Matt Mitrione (Purdue/Giants), Brendan Schaub (Colorado/Bills), and Wes Shivers (Mississippi St/Falcons). Rex Richards (Texas Tech/Colts) injured himself otherwise there would be five. However, the average age of these four guys is 31. Seems a little late in life to be changing gears like this. Hopefully with the rise in popularity of the UFC, we'll start to see high level athletes dedicating themselves to MMA right out of high school, rather than looking at it as a backup career.
I think this season is going to be absolutely terrible. I think they should get away from America for a season or two. Maybe hit Brazil for one season and Japan for another?
SpikeTV has a contract with the UFC to do up to season 12. After that they will probably do something else. Until then, stunts and gimmicks are what is going to keep this thing going. They could definitely do a "Japan vs. Brazil" type season, but I think we might see a female version of the show sooner than that.
Does the contract say that they have to do American fighters? It is getting old and teh talent level has severely dropped. However, I think Ryan Bader has a bright future in front of him if he is brought along correctly.
The biggest issue is that top young talent is opting to not do the ultimate fighter. They can make more money being big fish in small ponds until the UFC offers them a 3 fight contract and then if they do well they'll get better pay. Whereas the TUF winners are locked in to 3 yr contracts for 6 fights and are not paid that well and the non-winners are in bad contracts too.
