This will be part of an ongoing attempt to watch the watchdog. The MMA internet is filled with what are almost entirely uninformed opinions and bad journalism. We will shine a bright light of shame on the worst offenders here. Do better MMA web. Do better. Don’t make Eddie Goldman cry.

One of many pro wrestling websites to make the perilous leap to MMA coverage is 411mania.com. Recently John Curry, a man who will soon take the novel step of removing his carcass from the couch to step on the mat with his heros like Jens Pulver and Jorge Gurgel, said TUF has actually hurt fighters who appeared on the show. This ought to be good.

One of the biggest factors in the growth of the UFC and MMA as a sport rather than simple entertainment has to be attributed to the success of UFC’s hit series on Spike TV, The Ultimate Fighter.

Actually, no one says this. The Ultimate Fighter is widely credited with turning the UFC from a money pit into a company worth $1 billion. IF anything, the reality show has been criticized for focussing on spectacle and distracting from sport. So besides starting out with an entirely flawed and asinine premise, I’d say you’re doing well here!

While there have been some success stories to come out of the series, many of the fighters who have participated and even some who have won have been unable to deal with the pressure of their newfound fame and have often fared worse for being on the show than they were before. Many of these fighters are no longer even fighting with the UFC.

Well, with the exception of the guys from TUF 4, none of them were fighting in the UFC prior to TUF. So that’s kind of a lateral move. What’s interesting to note is that the show wasn’t intended to make everyone a UFC star. It was supposed to make two names for the UFC to promote: the winners. Zuffa has actually done much better than expected when it comes to making TUF contestants cogs in their well-oiled machine.

In order to make a more coherent argument let’s look at each and every one of the fighters who have participated on the show and see how they have done since.

I look forward to coherence. It will be a welcome change.

This week we will look at Seasons 1-3

Snipped a list of TUF fighters with predictably poor analysis of whether they have had any significant wins since the show.

Not exactly the best place to start for my argument but I will. This season has probably gone on to become more successful than any of the seasons since.

Probably gone on? Way to take a strong stand. That is probably a pretty chickenshit way to express your opinion. Man up.

Forrest Griffin will be fighting for the title against Rampage Jackson, Mike Swick is gaining momentum, Diego Sanchez is trying to regain his stride towards a championship, the same for Josh Koscheck, and Kenny Florian should receive a shot at the Sherk/Penn winner if he defeats Huerta.

Wow, that has really derailed the careers of these KOTC stars!

There are a few, at least at the moment, midlevel guys such as Chris Leben who could become a pink slip casualty at any time with a loss,

Chris Leben, like EVERYONE else under UFC contract, can be pink slipped with a loss. This is literally true of everyone. It is in the standard UFC contract. Chris Leben has been a tremendous success in the UFC.

Some of these fighters on this list who I have not mentioned still fight, some for the IFL, WEC and other organizations, however have not made an impact in their respective companies.

This is just ignorant. Bobby Southworth was the StrikeForce champion and made a living fighting. Alex Schoenauer is a prominent IFL fighter who got a win over respected vet Allan Goes and fought Vladimir Matyushenko for the LHW title.

The rest of the fighters are back to their day jobs.

This is what happens to fighters who aren’t great. This is what happens to athletes in any sport who aren’t great. It’s not an appropriate criticism of the show. Sam Hoger got five shots in the UFC. He lsot four times. He should be back at his day job. Snip list of Season 2 fighters except one.

16. Rashad Evans
a. Current Record: 11-0-1
b. Fights for: UFC
c. Last Fight: Win vs. Michael Bisping
d. Notable wins since TUF2: Michael Bisping, Sean Salmon (the guy who “beat” Kimbo), Stephen Bonnar, fought to a draw with Tito Ortiz.

Sean Salmon was the guy who beat Kimbo eh? Nice quality control here. Please note that beating Bo Cantrell is also considered “significant.

This is where the Ultimate Fighter begins to show how it can actually be detrimental to fighters who chose to participate on the show.

Really? How so? Who seemed destined for stardom only to have it all explode in their face thanks to the high profile opportunity with the world’s top promotion?

The vast majority of these fighters had more expected of them based on the success of the first season’s fighters.

By whom? Many of the guys on TUF 1 were well known rising stars on the independent scene.

Of the twenty fighters who were on this show Joe Stevenson, Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, Mike Whitehead, Jorge Gurgel are the only fighters who have achieved real success. Marcus Davis is included in this group of people although he left the UFC and was invited back and is now moving up into the top ten middleweights in the world.

So you will admit the UFC found seven fighters in Season Two. Seven! In a show stocked with guys chosen partially by SPIKE TV for their entertainment value and look! That’s amazing success. In the world of combat sports, 7/20 is a wonderful success rate. Out of all the people that start training MMA do you think anywhere close to 7/20 of them will make it in the UFC? And you aren’t even including guys like Luke Cummo and Melvin Guillard who have found regular work and been able to make fighting a full time job. It should also be noted that Marcus Davis fights at 170.

Jorge Gurgel, while an excellent fighter, could be on the pink slip list as well if he does not continue to win.

Again, everyone is one loss short of a pink slip. And Jorge Gurgel is a horrible fighter. He’s been tooled every time he stepped up to even mediocre competition. Here’s an example of a guy who has benefited immensely from TUF. Do you think he gets all these opportunities without his TUF star turn?

This is the beginning of the coaches feuds taking front stage over the fighters themselves.

Leading to the best PPV buyrate and television rating of all time. But those are just details I guess.

Of the fighters who participated on season 3 of TUF, only four of them have legitimate careers in the UFC, Matt Hamill, Mike Bisping, Ed Herman, and Kendal Groves. This does not state that they have championship level careers, as Herman and Groves walk a fine line of being pink slipped, Groves especially.

Not to belabor a point: Everyone can go at anytime. In the new UFC, if you lose a boring fight you will be gone. It’s that simple.

The UFC does not want a champion with a .500 record or anywhere near it.

12 of these fighters have no careers and often fight in small venues if any at all. I say 12 because I include that pussy Kalib Starnes in here.

Zing.

At least he was released from “the most oppressive contract” to pursue higher things as I am certain all of the other companies are clamoring for him after the Quarry fight.

Well, the contract is pretty oppressive. As we’ve discussed, it allows the company to release you on a whim. The fighter, of course, doesn’t have the same freedoms.

The issue with this season was the ego of Ken Shamrock and the feud with Tito Ortiz. This was the only focus of the season, and as a result the quality of fighters was not important.

I disagree. This season had lots of stuff to focus on, including the sport’s first deaf star, TEAM DAGGER, and Ed Herman’s seething rage.

Unfortunately, only time will tell on the four fighters who have gone on, but I see two of them out of the UFC by the end of the year. As long as TUF focuses on the coaches more than the fighters this will be a continual pattern as we will see in the coming seasons.

No mention of the fact that the UFC’s top star in the UK, the man who is helping open up Europe to the promotion, came from this show? What you’ve done in this article is make the opposite point you intended to make. Each season so far of TUF has been wildly successful. They’ve found guys to fill in the undercards of their ever increasing number of fight cards and also found legitimate stars who can main event television cards and even PPV. Although the ratings continue to slide, it’s fair to say that the show has been a tremendous success. There are plenty of things to criticize Zuffa for. This isn’t one of them.