I look at it as a pro sports team going through it's rebuilding phase. TUF is going to bring in tons of new fans, half of which may really get what MMA is about and stick around. The more fans you have the more money you can make and pay your fighters, the more you can pay your fighters the better the fighters you can get, the better fighters you can get, the better the shows, the better the shows the more the hardcore fans will stick around. Many people are complaining that the UFC does not have the same caliber of fighters as Pride, but what they fail to see is that Fight sports are ingrained into Japanese and other Asian cultures and widely accepted, so they have a HUGE fan base to work off of just over there alone. Here in America they are always fighting against people in our society who feel they must decide what is good for all others to watch, and everything needs to be rated G and flowery and nice. So in the long term I think TUF is going to do nothing more than help the UFC get better fighters, better shows, and maybe more often.

And if you want to know if TUF is working to get fans. We have had a group of us that have been watching the UFC since the early '90s, there was about 4 of us. As time went on we built it up to about 6 or 7 guys who were into it. Since TUF season 1 we have 16+ guys who get together for the UFC events. Granted the new guys don't know what is going on and some speak out about how boring the grappling is, but they are quickly educated and if need be, shown about the finer points of the ground game. I would say out of the 16 guys, there are only 2 or 3 who just don't get it.