In all honesty, and don't let your personal bias or love of the sport hinder your decision, but the fights on TUF are just...BAD, feel me?
The striking is sloppy, the footwork is sloppy, you hear coaches yelling "He's gassed!" 15 seconds in to 1st round, wtf...
A lot of the time the fights look less than amateur.
UP AND COMERS!!! these guys are not the best in the world. if you have not caught on,zuffa is trying to bring in new talent to get better and compete
Free would mean my time would also be given back to me. I would gladly pay if they fights were better (esp. that shitty fight between tait and josh).
This is just the process for weeding out the larrys and getting the best guys TTT.
Most of the semi and final fights should be exciting.
I think you're missing the point -- they aren't even advertised as the "best the sport has to offer" -- these are guys who have gone unnoticed and have not been given the opportunity to be in the big show and the elimination process combined with the boot-camp style (at least for Tito's team) training regimen gives them that opportunity to join the elite that make it into the Pay-per-view. But in some cases, these guys are the real deal (e.g. Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin, Bonnar, Bisping...)
It's like watching a minor league baseball game -- there are a few potential stars there but some guys are just below average.
Regardless, the formula clearly works, the audience clearly loves it and the show has taken the entire sport and the UFC to a whole new level in terms of business success and marketing.
I doesn't matter if their up and comers or not. It just looks like they can't frickin perform come fight time. I'm not expecting them to perform like top tier fighters but the fights have just been bad, even for up and comer status.
Personally i don't get why they sign up for TUF. I mean seriously, many of them are not ready for UFC competition, and if i were them i wouldn't want to throw myself into the deep end if i wasn't prepared.
the only real deal coming out of TUF so far is Diego Sanchez. Overall very underwhelming fights.
Maybe you have a point if you think that this season has had a few subpar fights and fighters, but not all 3 seasons. The season one guys in particular fought pretty well on the show and continue to fight well in the UFC.
6 weeks in the house kills their cycle.
There have definately been guys on there that deserved to be in the UFC. To be honest i think the UFC picks 50/50 people with good talent and people with a good personality (obviously they'd prefer both).
I still think a lot of the guys on TUF are guys that are great prospects but IMO don't have a chance at the title until a few years from now. Look at Cummo for example, what an awesome prospect, but he's got little or no wrestling and is a beginner in BJJ as well. Now if he gets thrown in against UFC level opponents to soon it's just gonna put unnecessary losses on his record (luckily though it seems as if UFC understands this too and has given him fights he could handle up until now). Same thing kinda goes for Koscheck, awesome athlete in one aspect of the game but needs a few years to get better in the other ranges before he's a real threat.
I think it's a good point that TUF is trying to get exposure for the sport. On the same note, what's better than making joe schmo think he can make a 6 figure contract while soaking up the spotlight. Producers aren't stupid, they know what you want to see before you even know you're going to see it. In this case, what the average person wants to see is someone like them, getting the chance to be a superstar. Of course they can't compromise the entire series by having all shitty fighters, they just add a couple to keep the dream alive (ie. kristian)
They are up and comers dude...34 year old up and ocmers, but still.
Lol, every season, the first fights people are usually mismatched, then semi-finals and finals they improve. And there are plenty of people from all 3 seasons that were good enough to get in with or without TUF.
its all about the people who fight in the finale, and there is some good talent there.