UFC Considering U.K. Edition of “The Ultimate Fighter”

Dana White: UFC Considering U.K. Edition of “The Ultimate Fighter”

The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s popular reality series that airs on Spike TV, may have a future season that focuses solely on fighters from the United Kingdom, according to UFC president Dana White.

The UFC’s head honcho made a quick reference to the possible format during Saturday’s post-event press conference for UFC 70, which took place at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England. It was the first event in the U.K. in more than five years.

Michael Bisping, who defeated Elvis Sinosic during one of the night’s main-card fights, got his UFC start on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter and actually won the light-heavyweight division of the show. Ross Pointon, also from England, was also on the show — though he brought a much less decorated resume to the season.

The two Brits had to travel to the United States for the show’s taping, but a future season may actually come right to the U.K.
According to White:

I’m talking with David Clarke about TUF U.K. right now. I’ve been talking to him all night about it. Hear that David Clarke? Let’s close this deal and quit screwing around.

Clark is Channel Editor for Bravo, which broadcasts UFC programming in the U.K.

As most American viewers will remember from The Ultimate Fighter 3, Bisping and Pointon were often subtitled when speaking on the show, and the difficulty that their American castmates had in understanding them became a running joke throughout the season.

Although a U.K. version of the show would surely get traction with the overseas audience, casual American fans may tune out if they have trouble understanding the cast — which is unfortunate, of course.

Additionally, with the declining ratings for the current fifth season, that barrier will have to be a real consideration as the UFC moves forward on the idea.

If the UFC did, in fact, create a U.K. version of the show, it’d come no sooner than next year. Currently, The Ultimate Fighter 6 is set to begin taping next month with a debut episode airing in September. Current UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra and former champ Matt Hughes will serve as coaches for the 16 lightweight hopefuls.

Sign Ross Pointon up as a coach-JK

As soon as I saw the headline I was like "Crap! We'll have to do a lot of subtitle reading to understand these guys."