The long-running “Ultimate Fighter” reality show returned for the
first time in three years, and on Saturday two winners were crowned
from the latest iteration of the series at UFC on ESPN 30.
Bryan
Battle submitted Gilbert
Urbina to win the “TUF 29” crown at middleweight, while
Ricky
Turcios earned a spirited split decision over Brady
Hiestand to earn a UFC contract at bantamweight. According to
UFC president Dana White, “TUF 29” was a success on ESPN+
throughout the course of the season.
“It did really well for us,” White said at the UFC on ESPN 30
post-fight press conference. “It killed it as far as viewership
goes. (ESPN is) really happy. We’re really happy. Yeah, I love the
show. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The show will
probably never go away – while I’m here anyway. It works.”
Due to the show’s three-year hiatus along with the introduction of
Dana White’s Contender Series, it seemed like a possibility that
“TUF” had finally run its course. Instead, it appears that the
reality series will remain an annual supplier of talent to the UFC
roster.
“We’re doing one a year,” White said. “Now that this one is over,
we’ll start figuring out what’s next. We never really figure out
the coaches until literally two weeks before the show is getting
ready to get started. We’ll see what the landscape looks like at
the time we starting doing it again and what the weight classes are
and we’ll start figuring it out.”