Despite seven years and 14 seasons, the latest installment of "The Ultimate Fighter" is entering uncharted territory.
As the first-ever real-time season of the reality/competition show, "TUF: Live" will include some noticeable changes when it makes its FX debut on Friday (9 p.m. ET/PT).
MMAjunkie.com (
http://www.mmajunkie.com) spoke to UFC president Dana White about some of the new features that viewers will see this season.
Most obvious, there's the new naming format. With a move from Spike TV to FX, UFC officials are ditching the old numbering scheme for a new one. Rather than "TUF 15," the new season is dubbed "TUF: Live" (and a season later this year will be named "TUF: Live 2").
The show also features its first lighter-weight coaches with UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, who will see the 32 UFC hopefuls whittled down to an official cast of 16 during Friday's two-and-a-half-hour season debut. The season opener includes all 16 elimination-round fights aired live (except on the West Coast). The shows then move to a 10 p.m. ET/PT time slot in subsequent one-hour episodes, which also will include at least one live tournament fight per show.
Friday's debut is one of the UFC's most ambitious ventures. Officials from the UFC and the FOX-owned FX will cram 16 bouts into a 150-minute runtime. Even with the two-round exhibition fights (rather than the UFC's standard three rounds), it's easy to see that a few extra-long fights could push the debut past its allotted time.
No worries, White said.
"The thing I love about being with FOX, I'm with a real network now," he told MMAjunkie.com. "No digs at my old network, but these guys are sports. These guys do sports. My old network didn't do sports. They're not a sports network.
"It's so different being with these guys. The other day, when we were doing [UFC on FX 2] in Australia, we were 30 minutes fat. We were 30 minutes heavy in that show, and (Joseph) Benavidez saved our ass. He went in there and finished that fight quick, and then the last fight we went 10 minutes over. But we were 30 minutes heavy in that fight. But that's the great thing about being a sport network and guys who understand sports. They don't give a [expletive] if you go over. I mean, they don't want us 30 minutes over, but if you go 10 or 12 or 15 minutes over, it's no problem."
Other "TUF: Live" format details include:
[*] The fighters are already aware of their matchups for Friday's opener (however, they won't be released publicly). The matchups also will be announced for the following week's episode so UFC officials have a full week to publicize the fight and the fighters.
Although officials initially suggested that fans may get to vote to determine the matchups, that no longer will be the case, White said.
[*] Despite the live fights, there will be no fight broadcasters. UFC commentator Jon Anik will serve as a weekly host with White and will introduce that week's episode. However, once it's fight time, the sounds of the gym and the fight will take over the show while void of commentary.
[*] White will be involved in every episode. That means for UFC on FUEL TV 2 in Sweden, he'll be in Las Vegas for "TUF: Live" on Friday, hop on a jet that night, land in Stockholm, watch the fights, and then be back on the plane to Vegas five hours later.
[*] The fighters will, in fact, be cut off from the outside world for 13 weeks rather than the usual six. He said the usual restrictions (no phones, computers, personal calls, outside trips, etc.) will remain in place.
[*] The show editing will now be done on site. The editing of the show used to be outsourced, but with the need to package the show quickly and include footage that's sometimes just hours old, everything has moved to Las Vegas.
[*] The fighters will have no access to social media while on the show. While it would have marketing/promotional benefits, White convinced fellow co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta to nix any of the fighters' Twitter and Facebook use this season. However, White said he'll evaluate this season and may reconsider it for "TUF: Live 2."
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