TUF 24 Finale Preview
As much as the UFC has been criticised in the last few years for their many issues they remain one of the most creative sports leagues in the world.
The Ultimate Fighter was an innovative idea when the first season was created as reality TV had yet to truly make an impact and the UFC as on top of the trend.
They made a unique show with a real reward as aspiring fighters were allowed to participate in order to earn a contract with the promotion.
That show brought more fans to the promotion as fans were drawn into the lives of these fighters and were interested in how they could get to the UFC.
It was one of the major reasons why the UFC became the leader in the fastest growing sport in the world.
It was such an innovative idea but the question quickly became how long they could keep it up.
Surely only a few seasons would need to go by before that process became less interesting and stopped bringing the fans that it did.
There is only so long that an audience can watch the same story over and over again before it gets old.
This is where the UFC has really shown their abilities to market though as they have kept the show alive for 24 straight seasons providing interesting concepts for the same show.
They have focused on different weight classes throughout the seasons and introduced different coaches with varying levels of hate towards each other.
They even started a brand new division on the show naming the first strawweight champion after the show.
They have had great seasons almost every year keeping the show running and continuing to bring in new talent to the league.
Their latest show took things to a new level though as the 24th season of The Ultimate Fighter featured the best fighters the show has ever seen.
This season the UFC brought together champions from around the world in an attempt to find someone that could challenge the pound for pound best fighter in the world.
The Ultimate Fighter 24 was a tournament of flyweight champions from promotions around the world with the winner of the tournament getting a shot against Demetrious Johnson at the TUF Finale.
There were former UFC fighters who had reached the top of another promotion and young fighters who were rising through the ranks in small regional promotions.
Some fighters used this opportunity to get back into the UFC and immediately into the title hunt.
For others, it was the next step in their careers as they were hoping to find their way to the biggest promotion and right into a title fight.
The UFC was just looking for someone to challenge Johnson after he has run through everyone in the division.
The tournament was a good one as a lot of great fights as it was clear that these fighters were the best of the best.
When the tournament came down to it the end of the tournament saw two fighters from very different walks of life face off.
There was Shooto Japan champion Hiromasa Ogikubo, an unknown Japanese fighter who struggled with language barriers throughout the show and had that quiet confidence that fighters from his home country are known for.
On the other side was former UFC fighter and Titan FC champion Tim Elliott who had done and seen it all in the sport including success and failure in the top promotion in the world as he was looking to get back to the UFC and win that title that he never could get in his first stint in the promotion.
Both fighters had an impressive time on the show and when they met in the final show it was the most experienced Elliott who took home the win.
Elliott fought a tough battle but did just enough to take the tournament finals and earn his spot in the Flyweight title fight.
Now will be his toughest task as Johnson has never been beaten as a Flyweight and is considered one of the best fighters in the world.
For Elliott, he truly believes he is good enough to take that title and do what nobody thinks can happen.
His experience will be a boost but his first attempt to get a title in the UFC did not work out as he was inconsistent in the division and eventually was cut after three straight losses.
Most will hope that he found something while with Titan FC and can bring it to the big show because if he doesn’t it is going to be a long fight of being picked apart by the champion.
The UFC continued to refresh their reality show concept making it fresh and upping the stakes but the end of this season may change a lot about how the show is perceived.
If Elliott wins it continues to be a great platform to introduce new fighters or give past fighters a chance.
If Elliott gets picked apart the UFC is running out of gimmicks to keep the show relevant despite their interesting concept this time around.
The Sport Addiction 