"The Ultimate Fighter" Season 13 Episode 2 Ratings Lower Than Season 1

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 13 is now two episodes in, and the news honestly isn’t looking nearly as good as I’m sure everyone was hoping. Even with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and knockout machine Junior dos Santos squaring off as coaches, TUF 13’s debut wasn’t the runaway success many were predicting. Now the ratings for episode 2 are in, and there can be no doubt: it’s not looking good. TUF 13 Episode 2 actually lost viewers. Here are all the details.

We head to MMA Mania for the official scoop. According to their report, the second episode of TUF 13 averaged 1.2 million viewers, down from last week’s debut of 1.5 million viewers.

There are already some interesting theories popping up about why “TUF 13” continues to fizzle and not pop. Most of them I’ve covered already in various pieces, but I think there’s one obvious reason that should be addressed.

Simply put: the first two fights of the season were rather boring.

Now, I’m not saying they were bad. I’ve seen some atrocious fights during TUF’s long history, and those two fights were decidedly average. It’s one of those “what did you expect?” things. The main appeal of this show is that it takes a bunch of rookies and tries to mold them into UFC stars. Rookies make mistakes, and only the best rookies put on amazing fights when they’re still so new to the sport. And to be bluntly honest, those kinds of rookies are becoming increasingly rare, at least for TUF, because those kinds of rookies usually do enough to earn a direct shot in the UFC outright.

So I’m not without sympathy to the fighters of TUF 13. We’re only two fights in, meaning we’ve only begun to see the benefits these fighters have of training with the UFC’s best and their coaching staff. If we go in expecting a UFC-quality fight each and every time, then of course we’re going to be disappointed and of course we may not tune in next week.

But here’s some more blunt honesty: no matter what the reason, boring fights don’t make for good television.

Do I blame the fighters for the poor fight quality of these past two episodes? I honestly don’t. But do I blame the fans for not caring as much and even tuning out because of it? I don’t do that either.

Also, another reason for the decline in ratings may have something to do with the fact that there’s not that much drama this early in the season. These first few episodes lay the groundwork for the type of reality TV drama that is TUF’s trademark, so of course the first few episodes will be a little bland.

In the end, I’m still plenty interested in the thirteenth season of “The Ultimate Fighter”. I’m interested in the fighters, interested in the coaches, interested in everything. The fight quality may not be up to par just yet, but there’s a chance that it will improve, perhaps even improve drastically. I’ve watched this show for a long time… it deserves the benefit of the doubt.

And what about you, fans and friends? Any thoughts on TUF 13’s decline in ratings?