The Ultimate Flogging A Dead Horse

[wandshogun09]

Only just realised the latest season of TUF is currently going on. Mad how it used to be appointment viewing and now I don’t think anyone watches it. Not even the new fans. I never see anyone talking about it on social media and that’s probably why I never realise it’s even on until a few episodes in. Been the same for years now and I’m not really sure why they still bother with it. Especially since DWCS started up and that seems to be where most of the new fighters on the roster come from anyway. What’s TUF even for in 2026? I think old school fans who watched TUF at its peak are old enough now that they’re mostly over the ‘back at the house’ immaturity. But if it’s just the fights you’re interested in, we don’t need TUF for that. There’s never been a higher volume of fights to watch. And again, DWCS does what TUF used to do anyway, but with the added bonus of not tying up two fighters for two months or whatever and delaying their eventual fight. 

With that said, it doesn’t help TUF that the coaches now fairly often seem to be two guys who aren’t even gonna fight each other at the end of the season. In many cases they’re not even in the same weight class and in recent years they’re actually retired fighters. Where’s the interest there? All the best seasons had some kind of grudge or rivalry between the coaches like Tito vs Ken, Penn vs Pulver, Serra vs Hughes, Rampage vs Rashad etc. Or at least there was interest in seeing them fight like Couture vs Liddell in season one or the Brock vs JDS fight that never ended up happening. 

This current season has Cormier and Bisping coaching.

Looking it up, the previous one had Cormier and Chael Sonnen. It’s like they can only get their absolute bootlicking company men to even do it anymore 🤣 

Looking through the list of seasons on Wikipedia just now, I was trying to remember the last TUF I actually watched and I think it’s either the McGregor vs Faber one or the Jedrzejczyk vs Gadelha one. So 2015 or 2016. A fucking decade. I knew I checked out a while ago but I didn’t realise it’d been that long. And looking at the ones after that, I don’t think I ever even saw a clip of the seasons like Cejudo/Benavidez, Gaethje/Alvarez and so on. I didn’t even remember Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum coaching against each other at all. Just dead as fuck. Why do they persist with it? Nobody’s watching.

So yeah, not even sure what this thread is. Relive the glory years, favourite/forgotten cast members, someone on the show you thought would have success but amounted to sod all? I don’t think TUF can work anymore. It had its time. But I can’t deny, I do miss the best years of the show. There were some low points but the first 10 seasons were pretty much the sweet spot for me. And in the days before you could binge watch an entire series of something on Netflix or whatever, I have fond memories of me and my brother tuning in to TUF on Bravo religiously every week. 

[jimufctna24]

I was probably most interested in TUF around early 2006 during the TUF 3 edition. By that point I had access to all the episodes on only a few days delay (as Wand mentioned, Bravo showed it). I was also a lurker on MMA forums daily, so I could follow all the rumours leading up to the show. I remember Keith Hackney was rumoured to be a contestant. 

I was really interested in TUF 10 in 2009 too. I recall coming home from my college course and immediately downloading each episode the day after it was shown in the US. I also recall Wes Sims trolled the MMA Forum with fake spoilers for that edition, claiming Kimbo had been knocked out by another contestant by the house's swimming pool (or something along those lines). 

The Smashes edition in 2012 was the last series I enjoyed. I gave up on it during the Jones vs Sonnen edition in 2013, which bored me to tears. By that point, the series had become stale in general and my interested in it vanished as a result. I haven't followed any editions since. 

[Egg Shen]

This might be the only time that i've not actually watched it from the start (before losing interest). I might give it a go, but before you know it the Finale will come along and i'll be 6 episodes behind. 

For the last 10 seasons or so i've complained that they put way too much emphasise on the actual fights and focus on drama free training, a show where a fight goes the distance leaves about 20 minutes of actual TV time, it just isn't enough to create any real engagement. The show needs to lean into the reality aspect of the show and fill the house with booze and hookers, lets jazz the the muthafucker up. People used to complain that the drama portrayed the sport in a bad light and made the fighters look like drunken louts, but fuck it, bring that back, the sport is bulletproof at this point.

[Dai]

My TUF memories of the last decade plus has just been Ebb saying in the thread, "Is anyone watching this?", to which no one, or maybe one other person, was. 

Looking at the list, the Rousey/Tate season was the last one I watched. It was a belter too. How lucky were they that Zingano got injured, as the Tate trolling and heat with Ronda was gold. Good cast, too, and I'm sure there was a good weight cut episode, which I always enjoyed on a TUF. Have Ronda and Tate ever made up? Guess they have both moved on alot now, so wonder if its actually happened.

Despite how great this season was, it looks like my TUF viewing went cold turkey after this one. Have no recollection of anything after the Ronda season.

 

The season before that was a good cast too, on the Jones/Sonnen season. Don't think Sonnen really trolled or made Jones look stupid on this season, which was a bit of a shame. But this season had Uriah Hall spinning kicking people into the next dimension, and he came out of it with insane hype. Gastelum was also a great story on this one.

Going further back, you had four seasons of gold, one after another:

Henderson vs Bisping (US vs UK)

Rampage vs Rashad

Chuck vs Tito

GSP vs Koshceck

 

The Rampage/Rashad one was the best ever for me. The greatest coach clashes, which were 100% real and not hammed up, the Kimbo redemption, Titties, McSweeney, Nelson, lots of giant ex NFL guys which were unique. An amazing season.

 

The GSP/Koshcheck one was class too, just because of how much a bellend Kosh was, and how much it backed up what a man GSP was.

 

The Cruz/Faber season was class too, but I think it really suffered with a format change. The fights were live, but I think it made the episodes seem really long or plodding. Or maybe because it was live fights, it meant that the fighters were in the house for an insane amount of time, which lead to worse fights or less house action. Can't remember but there was something badly done in this season, which is a shame as there was loads of good fighters in this one.

Edited July 2 by Dai