How "The Ultimate Fighter" Saved the UFC

You know, he's standing like a striker. He stands like a striker. Like, so does Jorge. Masvidal. Yeah. He stands straight up. Man, his striking is really, really good. Dast. He's doing really good. His fight with me was fucking awesome. Nasty. He's so good, man. So good. So clever. So good. So funny. He's hilarious. I think he's hilarious. I really like both those guys. You know what else he is? He's fucking mean. That's a mean dude. Mm-hmm. There's something like when they asked him about the Ben Askren shot, was it necessary to punch him again on the ground? He goes, it was super necessary. Super necessary. That became like a big hashtag, super necessary. He's hilarious. Like, it's hilarious. But hey, man, he's in the fucking hurt game. You can't play your bullshit nonsense in the hurt game. And if everybody's picking a gimmick or whatever and then trying to push and everyone's trying to be Connor, why not be yourself who's fucking like, just mean. You're mean. Yeah, and super talented. So talented. Slick. So much experience. People don't know that guy knocked out Eve Edwards with a head kick and bow dog. Eve Edwards. Eve Edwards is a slick striker, especially back then. That was Eve Edwards when Eve Edwards was arguably the best 155-pounder in the world. That was after he knocked out Josh Thompson in that highlight reel where he throws that round kick off the spin. Spinning back fist, yeah. Spinning back fist, then he throws a round kick and catches him right in the net. It's still like the UFC's little clip. And it's Josh Buck and Thompson as one of the toughest guys to ever live. Another monster. Another monster. I mean, that was the last guy to knock out Nate. Before... Yeah, before... Yeah, before Masvidal had stopped him. He was the first guy to ever stop Nate. Right. You know, and Josh is as good as it gets. You know, when you see that fight, I mean, that was two guys who easily could have done the same to each other and just... Time didn't play it out that way. Eve landed the perfect shot and it was a net kick. It was just fucking spectacular. At that time, Eve was thought to be absolutely one of the very best fighters in the world and probably the best 155 pounder alive. 100%. But the UFC changed the division. They gave up the 155 division back then. I remember it. It was very disheartening. Yeah. So it was like there's so much talent in this division. But they were hemorrhaging money, man. This is all pre-Ultimate Fighter. They didn't know what they were doing. In terms of like the future, they were $44 million in debt. They were like, what are we doing? We're gonna sell this? We're gonna keep it? They just had their balls though. Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta, and Dana White, all three of them have balls. They were just like, let's just ride. Let's let it ride. They were calling Dana up going, look for a buyer. Let's find a buyer. We gotta get out of this. Like, we're not gonna lose our family's fortune. We're $44 million in the hole in this cage fighting shit. Obviously, this is too brutal for America. They're not really into it. But then they figured it out. That Ultimate Fighter show, they financed the whole show, paid for all of it. Paid for the whole thing. Paid to be on the network. And then boom, that one final fight with Forrest Griffin and Stefan Bonner. And these two crazy fucks are beating the shit out of each other. And it is a wild melee of a fight. And the viewership just keeps going up during the fight. Millions and millions of people watched during the fight, like tuned in, extra people tuned in. Because people were calling their friends like, bro, you gotta watch this shit. This is nuts. And this spec, people didn't even know what it was. Like, what is this? What do they got little gloves on? What is happening here? Well, before the Ultimate Fighter, there was fans of UFC or cage fighting or whatever. But they didn't really get to know who Chuck Liddell was that much. You didn't get to know those people. And with the Ultimate Fighter, it was, they got to know these people. There was like a thing that grew. And then you saw this insane fight. It was, couldn't have played out better. Yeah. I mean, Couldn't have played out better. God damn, they nailed it. And then boom. And that was a Craig Polygien show. He was a guy who did Survivor. Like he knew how to do those reality shows. Oh, really? Yeah. Dude, he's a G. He's one of the greats in terms of that genre. That guy knows how to make those fucking shows. That's why it was so good. You know, it didn't feel like a clunky reality show. It was a fun reality show to watch. So that all, oh, they're bringing it back, by the way. Paulo Costa and Israel Adesanya. Oh, really? Yeah. Really? Holy shit. Tell me you're not going to watch that. I'm for sure going to watch that. That fight is a wild fight, man. Yeah. You know, because I want to see Izzy and Jon Jones though. I do too. I do too. But Izzy and Costa has to happen, man.