Reports are circulating in the MMA world that popular television series 'The Ultimate Fighter' could be given a change of format for the show's 21st season, which would introduce a competition between two well known fight-camps and their best UFC prospects.
For the past 20 seasons, the show has consisted of two UFC fighters acting as coaches and picking fighters from a pool of prospects who either fought their way into the house or were selected due to their MMA experience, but apparently season 21 will be dubbed "American Top Team vs The Blackzilians" and will pit the two famous fight-camps against each other, using coaches already in place.
What this means is that the reality show will see a truly tribal element, and a proper rivalry could take place. By using some of the best coaches in the World who are already in place with these teams, such as Ricardo Liborio and Henri Hooft, we would get to see how the best in the business prepare their fighters for combat. American Top Team is the camp of UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler, and other well known fighters such as Brad Pickett and Hector Lombard, while The Blackzilians are the team of Vitor Belfort, Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson, and Rashad Evans.
As both camps are regularly producing UFC title contenders, it could see a return to the early days of TUF where those who progressed through the show were genuine contenders in their divisions, as in more recent seasons only a few who have appeared on the show have enjoyed success, the notable exceptions being Kevin Gastellum and UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw.
For those who are die-hard fans of the sport, this is a mouth-watering prospect to get a look inside some of the world's best fight camps and up-and-coming fighters, and for more casual fans, it is bound to make for some stunning TV, so it's a win-win situation.
And who knows, maybe if this format is a success, we could one day see John Kavanagh coaching an SBG Ireland team against another camp. For now, let's just wait for confirmation with our fingers crossed.
via Cage Potato.
