Look, I’ve been banging on the drum saying that The Ultimate Fighter is a dead concept for years now. I really mean that, all the way back to The Ultimate Fighter 8 or so I was a proponent of the series simply going away, but the UFC has continued to push it throughout the years and on different networks. Now we have The Ultimate Fighter 18 on Fox Sports 1 and its struggles are well-noted. This season was supposed to be a knockout blow for them, as it features Ronda Rousey, who is arguably their biggest star, yet the ratings have been low all-around for the show.
You could say that it is having it on a new network that people are simply not tuning into, stacked onto the fact that the concept is tired and fans are disinterested in The Ultimate Fighter, but no matter what, something is wrong. The ratings are in for this week and they quite simply suck. Episode 3 of this season pulled in a paltry 639,000 viewers, which is down from the first week’s 762,000 and last week’s 870,000. UFC and Fox Sports have been holding the line saying that this was expected with Fox Sports 1 being a new network and all.