One of the things that the UFC has been talking about in 2020 is the return of The Ultimate Fighter. Dana White has been saying for months that the promotion’s reality show would be making a return at some point in 2020.
At one point, it appeared that Paulo Costa and Israel Adesanya would be opposing coaches. However, the UFC 253 headliners will not be on the show. The UFC was hoping to begin production earlier in the year, but the pandemic through everything off.
Now, we finally have a timeline for the return of the show. Dana White announced that after the UFC‘s next run on Fight Island, the promotion will begin filming The Ultimate Fighter. Based on the timeline, that would start the show up in late October/early November.
The UFC’s Ultimate Show
For those who don’t know, the UFC wouldn’t be where they are today without the Ultimate Fighter. The Ultimate Fighter was big gamble for the UFC back in 2005. It was looked at as the last effort to turn the UFC around after the promotion was losing money.
The show was a success, but the finale featuring Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar really took things to another level. The UFC saw massive viewership jumps in the middle of the main event. The rest is history as they say.
The show had 27 successful seasons before they paused production back in 2018. Dana White said the UFC has been looking for the show to come back, but they didn’t have the timing on it. Now, we know the show is going to come back, likely early in 2021.
It will be interesting to see who the UFC decides to go with as coaches. Usually they pick opposing coaches that have bad blood or a title fight tied to them. The last coaches on the show were Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic.
The Ultimate Fighter has turned out some incredible fighters and champions over the years. Guys like Kamaru Usman, Nate Diaz, Tony Ferguson, Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans, TJ Dillashaw and many more all came through the TUF house.