The Ultimate Fighter is once again giong on the move. The UFC's star-making reality show will be moved from FX to Fox Sports One (as expected) for season 18 in the fall, and the show will also have a new day and timeslot: Wednesday night as opposed to Tuesday night, while also moving back an hour from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
This will be the third timeslot in four seasons for TUF after its first two seasons took place at 10:00 PM on Fridays on FX before moving to 9:00 PM on FX on Tuesdays for the season that just concluded on Friday.
The first two seasons on FX (15 and 16) drew the worst ratings in the history of the show, before season 17 brought ratings back to where they were when the show was on Spike for years. The coaches for season 18 will be UFC womens bantamweight champion (and a woman who is one of the UFC's main draws already) Ronda Rousey, and Cat Zingano, who made a name for herself on Saturday night with an exciting win over former Rousey challenger Miesha Tate. Season 18 will premiere on September 4th, and for the first time, women will not only be featured as coaches but also as competitors.
TUF is going to be part of a Wednesday fight block on Fox Sports One, with UFC Fight Night events (also shfiting over from FX as well as Fuel) likely serving as a lead-in to TUF in the fall, and perhaps UFC Tonight moving over from Fuel and being scheduled after TUF. It's a bit disheartening to see the show move once again after it gained momentum this past season, but it isn't surprising by any means, considering this move seemed to be in the cards once the Fox Sports One launch was announced and TUF will be one of the original programming cornerstones of FS1.
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About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.