The Ultimate Fighter to move to Tuesdays
After the struggles of The Ultimate Fighter during it’s current Friday timeslot, FX has decided that the upcoming season needed a change of scenery.
TUF 17, which will be held down by coaches Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, will move to Tuesday nights when the new season debuts on January 22. The change was reported on MMA Fighting after a UFC 360 magazine advertisement showcased the upcoming change with a tagline that reads “Tuesdays just got TUF.”
The change is very much welcome considering the current Friday schedule hasn’t helped secure he 18-34 demographic that the show has long coveted. Both this season, headed up by coaches Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin, and last season, featuring coaches Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz, has struggled mightily to pull in the ratings that previous seasons have had. The initial thought was a change in format would help. But last season’s live format didn’t boost viewership.
With a season featuring Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, the fact that they won’t bump heads with Bellator when it moves to Spike TV nor an audience that usually doesn’t spend Friday night in front of the TV, it is expected that the upcoming season of TUF will bounce back mightily.
