The Ultimate Fighter goes into its fifteenth season this March, changing channels and formats for the first time since its inception on Spike TV in January of 2005. TUF is being rebranded The Ultimate Fighter LIVE (on FX), and will run for eleven weeks on FX on Friday nights at 9pm ET, starting March 9th, 2012. As far as I know, eleven weeks is longer than the show has run in the past, so I'm not sure if the same house rules will apply for the competing fighters (no TV, no phone, no internet, no visitors, must stay on property). Each episode will feature footage from in-house and training from the week prior and will lead into a live fight for the last third of the one-hour show. Additionally, the eleven week run will coincide with the training camps of the coaches, ensuring that they are ready to fight each other on the TUF LIVE Finale at the end of the show's run (June 1st), and footage of their training will be interlaced with the traditional series. The first iteration of the new format will feature UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz coaching a team of lightweights and welterweights vs. his longtime rival Urijah Faber, against whom he has a 1-1 fight record. Their second meeting was a closely contested bout in which Cruz claimed a split decision victory, one that has stuck in the craw of Faber. TUF is currently the longest running "sports reality" show on television and has averaged two seasons per annum since 2005.
Seems like Big Brother: UFC is the next step, with live streaming video from the house and the training center.
Is there still undiscovered talent at 155-lbs. and 170-lbs.? Seems like they've dragged that net over and over and over. Flyweights might've been more fun if only for the novelty of the new division--not to mention the title being available. On the upside, Faber & Cruz hate each other, and it will be interesting to see both of these typically laid-back guys having to deal for two and a half months.
