Overview - The Ultimate Fighter

Overview

The Ultimate Fighter is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen seasons on Spike TV. The show features professional MMA fighters living together in Las Vegas, Nevada, and follows them as they train and compete against each other for a prized six-figure contract with the UFC. The series debuted on January 17, 2005.

Seasons

• Name: Specials

  Episode: 60

  Date first aired: 2010-06-16

• Name: Season 1

  Episode: 16

  The debut season of The Ultimate Fighter premiered on January 17, 2005. Sixteen mixed martial arts fighters were invited to participate in the show where they would reside together and train in two separate teams coached by UFC Light Heavyweight fighters Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. The teams would compete in physical challenges, segments hosted by singer Willa Ford, to determine which team would have the right to pair one of their own fighters against an opponent of their choice in the same weight class, with the loser being eliminated. The finale was broadcast live on April 9, 2005, where the two finalists in each weight class faced off for a contract with the UFC. It was the first ever live UFC broadcast on non-pay-per-view television, and it drew a very impressive 1.9 overall rating. The series was also broadcast in the UK in the spring of 2005 on Bravo. A 5-disc DVD set of "The Ultimate Fighter" was released on November 1, 2005.

  Date first aired: 2005-01-17

• Name: Season 2

  Episode: 14

  The Ultimate Fighter 2 was the second season of the mixed martial arts reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. The season featured a heavyweight and a welterweight division, with 9 fighters initially in each division. The UFC coaches for this season were welterweight and middleweight champions Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin. Season 1 coach and former UFC champion Randy Couture hosted and designed the team challenge segments, which if won would allow the winning team to pair a fighter from their team against another in elimination matches. The finale aired on November 5, 2005, and it set a ratings record for the UFC with a 2.0 overall rating. Although released on DVD in 2005, it has been set for re-release on September 18, 2007. Season 2 is also the only season to date where all fights that took place are considered as professional MMA bouts by Nevada State Athletic Commission.

  Date first aired: 2005-08-22

• Name: Season 3

  Episode: 14

  The Ultimate Fighter 3 was the third season of the mixed martial arts reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. It premiered on April 6, 2006, immediately after the conclusion of Ultimate Fight Night 4. The season featured sixteen fighters with still-feuding former champion Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock as coaches. The finale aired on June 24, 2006 and tied the UFC's all-time record with a 2.0 overall rating. There were several rule changes from the previous Ultimate Fighter seasons. There were to be no team challenges. All fighters would have to win a preliminary match before advancing to the semi-finals—which in practice started the single-elimination tournament at the beginning of the series instead of near the end. The first preliminary match was set by the team who won a coin toss. All subsequent first-round match-ups were set by the team that won the previous match. Each fight was set for two rounds instead of the normal three. If there was a draw after two rounds, the match would go to a final, five-minute tiebreaker round. In such a case, the judges' final decision on the match would be based solely on the third round. Coaches were allowed to bring two other assistant coaches to assist with training, whereas in previous seasons, assistant trainers hired by the UFC worked for both camps.

  Date first aired: 2006-04-06

• Name: Season 4

  Episode: 14

  The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback is the fourth season of the mixed martial arts reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. It premiered on August 17, 2006, immediately after the conclusion of UFC Fight Night 6. The finale was aired on November 11, 2006. This series featured a change from the usual Ultimate Fighter format. Instead of UFC hopefuls, the cast was composed of fighters that had fought in the UFC but had yet to win a UFC title. The winners in the middleweight and welterweight divisions earned a UFC title shot in their division and a $100,000 purse, along with a $100,000 sponsorship deal with Xyience. Instead of coaches, prominent trainers and UFC fighters acted as advisors. Randy Couture, Georges St. Pierre, Marc Laimon, the grappling instructor from seasons 1 and 2, and Mark DellaGrotte, Kenny Florian's kickboxing trainer, were the advisors. The cast still lived in seclusion in the Las Vegas house. The rules were the same as in The Ultimate Fighter 3, where preliminary round matches were two rounds with a sudden victory round in case of a tie, and all fighters had to win a preliminary match before advancing to the semi-final round. The team that had won the last match decided the next match, with a coin toss deciding which team set the first matchup.

  Date first aired: 2006-08-17

• Name: Season 5

  Episode: 14

  The Ultimate Fighter 5 was the fifth season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. As with the show's usual format, sixteen prospective mixed martial arts fighters were secluded in a house near Las Vegas, Nevada and trained together while participating in a single-elimination tournament, with the winner being awarded a six-figure UFC contract. This season featured only one weight class, lightweights and the fighters were divided into two teams; one coached by former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver and the other by former UFC Welterweight Champion and former lightweight champion B.J. Penn. The season was well-known among fans for the large number of fighters kicked off of the show. The two coaches, along with the finalists of the tournament, fought at The Ultimate Finale, a televised MMA fight card that aired live at the completion of the series. The series premiered on April 5, 2007 on Spike TV in the United States and Canada at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT and concluded on June 23. Filming began in mid-January 2007.

  Date first aired: 2007-04-05

• Name: Season 6

  Episode: 14

  The Ultimate Fighter 6: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra is the sixth season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter, and premiered on September 19, 2007 on Spike TV, after UFC Fight Night 11. This season features only welterweight fighters. The teams are coached by former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra and former welterweight champion Matt Hughes. The coaches were to fight for the Welterweight title after the completion of the show, on December 29 at UFC 79:Nemesis from the Mandalay Bay Events Center. however due to an injury sustained by Serra, Hughes faced top contender Georges St. Pierre on the 29th, with St. Pierre defeating Hughes by submission in the second round and going on to challenge Serra for the undisputed welterweight title at a later date. Both coaches are participating in a series of TUF for the second time. Hughes was a coach on series 2 and Serra won the welterweight division on series 4, thus earning the opportunity to face Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69. Unlike in previous seasons, the winner of a match does not determine which team picks the next match. The teams alternate picking matches in the first round, regardless of results, and the team that has the most wins picks the fights for the quarterfinals.

  Date first aired: 2007-09-19

• Name: Season 7

  Episode: 14

  The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest was the seventh season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter, and premiered on April 2, 2008 on Spike TV, after UFC Fight Night 13. Unlike several other seasons which focused on two weight classes, season 7 featured only Middleweight fighters. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson starred as a coach, opposite light heavyweight #1 contender Forrest Griffin, who coached the opposing team. The two fighters fought for the UFC light heavyweight title after the completion of the series at UFC 86 at which time Griffin won becoming the new Light Heavyweight Champion. In a change from previous seasons, season 7 began with 32 fighters arriving at the UFC training center instead of the usual 16. UFC president Dana White told the fighters that over the previous six seasons, he had become fed up with contestants not training and competing as hard as they could, or complaining about various issues on the show. His solution was for the fighters to earn their way into the house by winning a fight before the show even started. The first two episodes were a compilation of the entry fights.

  Date first aired: 2008-04-02

• Name: Season 8

  Episode: 14

  The eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter features Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Minotauro Nogeira and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir as coaches to 16 fighters competing for the chance to show they belong in the Octagon.

  Date first aired: 2008-09-17