While watching “The Ultimate Fighter” finale, a familiar feeling came
over me. It was the the feeling I had when Saturday Night Main Event
debut on NBC or when ECW finally landed its first Pay Per View. I found
myself not really rooting for the matches but for the show itself. The
UFC needed a good TUF finale and thanks to Forest Griffen and Stephan
Bonnar, they got a great one.
Bonnar and Griffen layed down a blueprint for how stars are made.
Using a combination of humor and wit, they each cut promos that were not
only entertaining but built towards their fight as well. Neither one
had to stand in the ring for a half an hour; huffing and puffing over a
rehearsed script that was written for them by some Hollywood screen
writer. They simply talked about a match that they were passionate
about while turning their own personalities up a notch.
Phase two was the actual match itself. They had been saying all along
that they were going to give the audience what they wanted. In doing
just that, they in turn gave the UFC what it needed. If you missed the
fight, just imagine Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed wrapped up into three
5 minute rounds, with the feel good ending of both men receiving a 3
year/6 figure UFC contract.
The format of the show went down exactly like I thought it would. From
interviewing Dana White a few days ago, he made it very clear that only
three fights would be airing during the telecast. With two of the three
fights ending during the first round, this left a lot of time that was
filled with recaps and highlight pieces. Before Diego Sanchez and Kenny
Florian started the first match of the night, we had to sit through a
half an hour of bed spritzing and the now famous Asparagus war of 2004.
Did the lack of an actual fight cause viewers to tune out? My theory on
that is no. The hardcore fans were going to stick with it no matter
what. The casual or new MMA fan, who watched TUF regularly, would at
the very least come back over once the actual fights started; And those
who were tuning in for the first time probably benefitted from the back
story that the recaps told. Lets face it; if a viewer does not have a
certain level of patience and attention span, they are never going to be
a fan of the sport anyways. MMA will never have a crash television feel
to it, and I thank God for that.
At the end of the show, four new MMA stars were created. Diego Sanchez
continued to dominate his way through the Middleweight field, picking up
his 4th win on the show, by stopping a bloodied Kenny Florian in the 1st
round. They really played up Diego’s hispanic heritage which may have
been an attempt to create a new “Latin Superstar.” Sanchez possesses a
cocky attitude that will either cause fans to love him or hate him.
With the proper buildup, either of those are fine in regards to making
money
Forest Griffen was portrayed as a tough, crazy, likeable good old boy.
The previous story of how he knocked an opponent out with his one good
arm after his other arm had been broken will go down as MMA legend.
Forest is a pretty hard guy not to like. He has been in the sport for
awhile, but he still has potential to grow as a fighter. Especially now
that he has the financial means to concentrate solely on training.
Griffen told his story of how he put all his belongings in storage, quit
his job as a police officer, and moved in with his coach, in his quest
to become the Ultimate Fighter.
Stephan Bonnar proved that you can sometimes get over more in defeat
than in victory. Bonnar is everything that the UFC wants in a fighter.
Educated, well spoken, exciting, cross trained. Bonnar and Griffen’s
names are going to be synonymous with each other for the time being.
Again, there is nothing wrong with that as far as making money is
concerned. The viewing public is already screaming for a rematch.
Arturo Gatti/Micky Ward and Erik Morales/Marco Antonio Barrera have
shown us the PPV potential of an exciting trilogy of fights.
With a new 8 fight contract, it looks like the UFC has its biggest plans
set aside for Rich Franklin. If Bonnar is everything the UFC wants than
Rich Franklin is their wet dream. Dana White can downplay the Sports
Entertainment influence to his product all he wants but Franklin vs. Ken
Shamrock was Pro Wrestling 101 as far as booking was concerned. As soon
as I heard the details of Franklins new contract, I knew that the people
on the inside had a pretty good idea that Rich was going over. Anything
can happen in a fight though, so wisely a lot of options were left open
pending the outcome. As it turns out, Shamrock passed the torch and
Franklin was set up as the new possible face of the Middleweight
division.
I am still up in the air about this decision. Franklin did not look to
good to me in his one Middleweight outing thus far against Jorge Rivera.
Although he won by submission in the 3rd round, it looked like cutting
to 185 lbs. made him very lethargic. He has already decisively beat the
current Middleweight champ, Evan Tanner, when both were competing in the
Light Heavyweight division so a rematch is already set in place. The
problem would be that the winner of Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell is
going to need a legit #1 contender as an opponent coming up soon.
Franklin is the only fighter under contract that remotely fits that
mold. Maybe Dana has something up his sleeve.
Shamrock was in great shape coming into the fight, but despite Joe Rogan
shilling the fact that the 2005 version of Ken was better than the
fighter he was 11 years ago, everyone kind of knew different. I wish
the slip never happened but in a stretching it sort of way, it does give
Ken an excuse if he chooses to return. I would actually like to see
Shamrock used in a different way. A coach for the 2nd season of TUF is
a good fit.
Thinking out of the box, I would love to see him take over the role as
an on air commissioner. Dana White is doing a good job but I wish he
would do so more behind the scenes. There is just something unsettling
to me about Dana constantly on screen, explaining the ins and outs of
the sport to a new audience. It’s not that I buy into the theory that
you have to have been a Pro Fighter to know shit about the sport; I just
think Ken would be excellent in that role.
So now that the first season of TUF is over, where does that leave
things in regards to the UFC and Spike TV? A season 2 has been
confirmed, featuring Heavyweights and Welterweight, but that is some
time away. Could the UFC pull off a “Tuesday Night Fights” type of
show? I think they could but it would not be the best option at this
time. You got to remember, every show is not going to have a
Griffen/Bonnar type fight.
If I woke up with the decision making shoes on, I would go the route of
a two hour block consisting of a 1 hour UFC news magazine type show that
would feature profiles, PPV hype, and one or two hand selected fights
per week that could be taped during a small house show type deal. Every
month, they could rent out a small venue, tape about 12 to 15 fights and
pick out the most exciting ones to air. Save the big name fighters for
the PPVs and just concentrate on developing unknown talent. Even with
cable TV, I still see the UFC being a PPV driven business for now.
The second hour would be TUF Season 2. How many personalities were
created during the last 3 months? Sanchez, Griffen, Bonnar, Quarry,
Leben, Koscheck, Hogar, Southworth, Swick. I can still think of three
fights that would draw PPV buys from this group; Bonnar vs. Griffen
part 2, Leben vs. Koscheck part 2, and Sanchez vs. Quarry.
Between these two shows, MMA fans would see around 8 to 10 fights a
month on free TV, and around 10 new marketable fighters will have been
created throughout the year. That is about 9 more than the WWE created
last year. If the UFC can promote wisely and spend less than they make,
they can end up being a strong sports entertainment alternative.
Hopefully, TUF turned a lot of Pro Wrestling fans on to the sport of
Mixed Martial Arts. That was one of the main reasons why I wanted to
cover the show for the Observer. I am just like many of the readers
here. I have been a hardcore fan of Pro Wrestling for 23 years. I have
also been a fan of MMA since UFC 1, eleven years ago.
Without chiming in to the debate of whether or not Pro Wrestling and
MMA belong under the same umbrella of coverage, I will say this. Over
the past 3 months, “The Ultimate Fighter” has brought back many emotions
that Pro Wrestling has long since killed off for me. I found myself
actually caring about wins and losses. I anxiously awaited matches all
week long. Pay Per Views and big events meant something again. There
were bad guys who I wanted to see get what was coming to them, and good
guys who I cheered for in their triumph. I had made a statement a few
months back that I still believe today. I would love to see more
elements of MMA in Pro Wrestling and vice versa.
Final Farewell (for now)
I would like to thank Dave Meltzer for giving me the opportunity to
write for his audience over the last 3 months, Bryan Alverez for his
coverage in Figure 4 Weekly, David Schwarz and Spike TV for opening many
doors for me, and Brika Reese for her support.
I would like to thank Josh Rafferty, Alex Schoenauer, Chris Leben, Kenny
Florian, and Dana White for giving me their time which allowed me to
write a second interview article every week.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who read my two articles every
week and took the time to email me with questions and feedback. Out of
respect, I tried my hardest to respond back to each and every one of
you. If I did not get the chance, I apologize.
Covering “The Ultimate Fighter” has given me a new found respect for
those journalist who put in tons of time and effort in order to give the
reader something entertaining to read throughout the week. An article
that might take you 15 minutes to read, probably took the writer three
to four hours to complete. This is mostly done out of nothing more than
a love for the sport so remember to take it easy on these guys.
I am going to take some time off, but I plan to return for the next TUF
season and for any other UFC show that Spike TV might produce. That is
of course, if Dave will have me back. I can still be reached at
Milloff1@webtv.net if you have any questions concerning MMA that you
think I may be able to help you with. I thank you all, and will
hopefully see you soon.
Source: WrestlingObserver.com
