The Ultimate Fighter has proven to be a (mostly) successful concept. We all watch as fighters enter a house to live, train and fight with each other for several weeks before one of them is determined to be the best of the bunch – the ultimate fighter. It is a show with a lot of highs and lows; from the terrible sixteenth season all the way to the original Ultimate Fighter series. It has also provided us with a lot of fighters such as Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Nate Diaz, TJ Dillashaw, and more.
While a successful concept, it has been duplicated many times by different companies and duplicated for different markets by the UFC with varying results. For example: TUF: Brazil, has been largely successful, and entertaining, whereas TUF: China was very…uh…yeah, let’s not talk about TUF: China. In terms of different companies, Bellator had the ‘Fight Master’ series which was a ‘different’ take on the Ultimate Fighter format, and just sucked. Joe Riggs (who has been around forever) won, and never fought for Bellator again. In fact, more people knew he shot himself in the hand than won Bellator Fight Master (I’m sorry Diesel, but it’s true).
Anyway, there was one show that followed the Ultimate Fighter concept, and is returning for a second season. ‘Al Batal’ is a reality show which pits fighters from the Middle East against each other for the top crown, along with exposure to a much wider audience. This season, they boast that it is ‘tougher’, and will be totally revamped with new coaches, format, and higher production values. This season pits Team Elbe against Team Baghdad, and a teaser was released on Youtube recently:
