Let's call Dana White's Contender Series what it is: Ultimate Fighter 2.0

[brackis1]

I am just curious how many of these names do you recognize? be honest

lol @ the notion the UFC needed the Contender Series to discover Greg Hardy or the sister of their best female fighter...

 

[null]

The joke will be on you when they bring TUF back for another season!

 

[TCE]

lol they didn't "come from the show"
They came from a background of training and should have been in the UFC.

lol wut?
Many of the best cards I've actually seen are/were fightnights.
Last night you got a bunch of finishes by UFC-caliber guys against nobodies. Except unlike the Fight Nights, the UFC got to avoid paying any real money and gets to let Dana rant like he is giving out flowers on The Bachelor.

lol @ the notion the UFC needed the Contender Series to discover Greg Hardy or the sister of their best female fighter...

All I can see here is a bunch of whining and bitching.

 

[brackis1]

All I can see here is a bunch of whining and bitching.

Am I supposed to feel bad about that? No shit I'm whining and bitching. It's almost as if I don't like it and am expressing that opinion...

 

[TCE]

Am I supposed to feel bad about that? No shit I'm whining and bitching. It's almost as if I don't like it and am expressing that opinion...

Well, cool.

Don't watch it.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

lol @ the notion the UFC needed the Contender Series to discover Greg Hardy or the sister of their best female fighter...

No they didn't but my points is this definitely seems the way moving forward for UFC scouting talent. Best get used to it imo

I just got on board with season three figured i am better off getting to know the fighters now instead of not knowing who any of them are.

There has been tons of talent that came from TUF but to me this better better i can do without out the drama in the house..

this is a much faster path for the fighters. imo

 

[Magnum1978]

As long as its just another way of figuring out who really 'wants to be a fucking fighter', then yeah

 

[brackis1]

Well, cool.

Don't watch it.

Maybe one day you'll wake up in your bed, look out at the sky and realize "wow people have opinions about things they care about and voice ideas to see if others agree and might want the same"

 

[TCE]

Maybe one day you'll wake up in your bed, look out at the sky and realize "wow people have opinions about things they care about and voice ideas to see if others agree and might want the same"

You obviously don't "care about" the Contender Series, so why the hell watch it?

You haven't "voiced" any ideas to what you think could improve the show, you've just gone on a constant bitchfest on why you don't like it, which no one agrees with you, by the way.

Judging by your post, you only watch main card UFC fights. Anything below that is "crap".

 

[TCE]

Main commonalities:
-Iffy talent pool: Most real contenders are snapped up on real contracts immediately unless extremely green and/or being used for squash matches (ala Greg Hardy). Like the Ultimate Fighter the odds of a real title holder coming thru the series is slim and the majority of them have no business ever fighting on a real UFC card.

Fighters have to start somewhere, and this Contender Series is bringing in the best from regional shows (like LFA), former champions at that to fight for a contract for the UFC. Sure, some get snapped up quickly for short notice fights, but this is where they can prove they belong.

-Early midweek broadcasts to avoid live sports competition for ratings.

And this is bad how? It's not suppose to compete with other sports for ratings, it's not a fucking PPV. It's for hardcore fans interested in seeing some good scraps early in the week between eager competitors leaving their all in the cage for a contract.

-Low production budget and off-strip Vegas film set

See above, it's not a PPV or fight night, it's 5 fights held in a small venue viewed live by their families, friends and coaches.

-Huge focus on Dana as some sort of fight-emperor who gets to scream and yap about how impressed he was or not, his power, and him "making" these fighters (as if they wouldn't have been scouted or signed otherwise)

He's the president of the UFC. He decides who gets the contract, plus it's his show! Hence the name. High focus will be on him, as well as the fight.

-Story and drama focuses more on family life and the feast v. famine of "making the UFC" rather than belt contention.

"Belt contention" before they even enter the UFC? Yeah, let's hold off on that. We are getting a preview of their life and lifestyle, before they enter the biggest fight of their life to get into the UFC.

-Little to no budget/payout to fighters: these fights get put on cable/premium cable but the guys aren't actually on UFC contracts, earning basically nothing (probably losing money after expenses).

TUF fighters fought for free. These fighters aren't. They're getting win and show money, plus - it's not like they had a gun to their head to sign the contract. They're chasing a dream. Once signed, their salary goes up.

-End of episode drama: TUF always finished with a fight or an announcement, The Contender Series devalues whether someone wins or loses and instead makes it build up to the "big decision" by Dana. Almost Bachelor-esque, except with a fat billionaire trying to sign young talent to low-income contracts and instead of dates, we got some fights.

Like I said above, it's Dana's show - hence the name. He pays them out of his own pocket, not the UFC's.

This show is fantastic, and they're scouting new talent left and right from it.

 

[brackis1]

Fighters have to start somewhere, and this Contender Series is bringing in the best from regional shows (like LFA), former champions at that to fight for a contract for the UFC. Sure, some get snapped up quickly for short notice fights, but this is where they can prove they belong.



And this is bad how? It's not suppose to compete with other sports for ratings, it's not a fucking PPV. It's for hardcore fans interested in seeing some good scraps early in the week between eager competitors leaving their all in the cage for a contract.



See above, it's not a PPV or fight night, it's 5 fights held in a small venue viewed live by their families, friends and coaches.



He's the president of the UFC. He decides who gets the contract, plus it's his show! Hence the name. High focus will be on him, as well as the fight.



"Belt contention" before they even enter the UFC? Yeah, let's hold off on that. We are getting a preview of their life and lifestyle, before they enter the biggest fight of their life to get into the UFC.



TUF fighters fought for free. These fighters aren't. They're getting win and show money, plus - it's not like they had a gun to their head to sign the contract. They're chasing a dream. Once signed, their salary goes up.



Like I said above, it's Dana's show - hence the name. He pays them out of his own pocket, not the UFC's.

This show is fantastic, and they're scouting new talent left and right from it.

lol hold up.... did you really just claim Dana "pays them out of his pocket" and that this isn't a giant wage-supression scam by the UFC to control fighters and shoot low level content? Holy moly, do you send letters to Santa still too?

Not all the points I made are bad/complaints; I'm pointing out how it fills a programming slot to promote the UFC in what used to be the TUF method. Some things about TUF sucked ass and were unfair to fighters, and some things were good.

I don't hate lower level MMA. Quite the opposite. Good lower MMA is pitting top prospects against aged vets in 5 round minor league title fights to build experience, or better yet, actually paying prospects and shooting real UFC cards with real budgets, not made-for-TV toying with their careers.

 

[cheesus]

Do you want to be a fucking contender ?

 

[modulus]

Dana blessed our bum lives with the fights. Give the boss his due.

Meh, the UFC was around before Dana took over and started his camera campaign.

 

[brackis1]

Re-upping this thread now that they're doing a "Brasil" version. So yeah, pretty much exactly like TUF if you're making multiple different series to get UFC content/shows filmed with the lowest pay guys (both cans and underpaid prospects)

 

[stipeszn]

This thread is a massive fail. Is Ts really complaining about free fights during the middle of the week where the fighters are dam near forced to be exciting if they want a job.

It's really just begging fighters to make a tribute to the Just Bleed God, except in this case the JBG is fat dana

 

[Squidward_T]

https://gph.is/g/EJgnb1o

 

[TGArthur]

More like TUF -3.0. I don't think I've seen any championship level quality fighters come out of that series yet.

 

[TCE]

More like TUF -3.0. I don't think I've seen any championship level quality fighters come out of that series yet.

Geoff Neal is on a 7 fight win streak and just finished Mike Perry the other week, something Luque, etc. couldn't do.

He will be a top contender this time next year.

 

[TGArthur]

Geoff Neal is on a 7 fight win streak and just finished Mike Perry the other week, something Luque, etc. couldn't do.

He will be a top contender this time next year.

Yea he might be in title contention soon. He is doing well. I still believe Johnny Walker can get there. I'm assuming he went in underestimating his opponent last fight.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Geoff Neal is on a 7 fight win streak and just finished Mike Perry the other week, something Luque, etc. couldn't do.

He will be a top contender this time next year.

Also Edmen Shahbazyan has title potential I think. Plus there's already quite a few ranked fighters from the show in Marina Rodriguez, Johnny Walker, Ian Heinisch, Maycee Barber, Alex Perez and Rogerio Bonterin.