It is difficult to gauge public interest in a TV program without getting a number of different people and personalities to watch and give their opinions on a particular show and get them to lend insight into their thoughts. In order to get a clearer understanding of the different views of TV fans I enlisted the help of some local friends to watch the show and give me their opinions of the show. All viewers were between 21-30, well between the target demographic of the UFC and were willing guinea pigs. A total of four people watched the show together on Spike TV including myself. I didn’t say much during the whole broadcast, but when the show was over, I asked each of them a series of questions including whether they liked the program or not, who their favorite personality was from the program, and so on and so forth. The enlisted help included one fan of the MMA, and two non fans of the sport. Here are the opinions of all the people who watched the show at my house on Monday but first off a short introduction of the three guinea pigs.

Jason, 30, Die Hard fan of MMA

Jason is a die hard fan of the sport and follows it religiously; including all PPV programs of Pride, UFC, KOTC and anything else he can get his hands on, as well as following it on a regular basis on the MMA websites including mma.tv AKA the underground, and mmaringreport.com.

Ron, 24 Non Fan of MMA
Ron is a non fan but has heard of the UFC before and recalls watching Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock duel back in the old UFC’s. He does not watch the UFC or Pride PPV’s unless it is spoon fed to him I.E. everyone has it on and he has no choice but to watch, but will watch it with some enthusiasm. He has heard of the names Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell but didn’t know what their records were, or that they had fought each other in the past. Ronald is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Bob , 24 Complete MMA non fan
Bob, a complete non fan has watched only a few previous editions of the UFC including in the olden days of Gracie and Shamrock and only came to follow his good friend Ron because he had nothing better to do. He does not follow the sport of MMA in any way shape or form and does not practice any sort of martial art.

MMARR: What did you think of the show overall?

Jason: Overall I thought it was pretty good, a little bit cheesy and a little bit cheap in a few spots but for the most part pretty well done.

Ron: I thought it was alright, a little cheesy, a little over dramatized.

Bob: That was pretty good actually, I am not a huge UFC or MMA fan of any kind but I quite enjoyed the show.

MMARR: Who is your favorite personality if any?

Jason: I have seen Diego Sanchez fight before and I am a fan of his fighting so far I would have to say him

Ron: I don’t know anybody. I have got to know them better.

Bob: I am not really familiar with any of the guys cause I have not watched any of these shows in a long time, but I like that Chris Leben, he is a little bit of a trash talker but he totally backs it up, he is a bit of an ass kicker that guy.

MMARR: Do you like Reality TV in General?

Jason: Actually I watch a fair bit of Reality TV I have to admit.

Ron: I watch a little bit every once and a while.

Bob: No, not particularly no.

MMARR: Do you want to watch the next episode.

Jason: Can’t wait.

Ron: Yeah but I want to watch the second episode of anything if I have watched the first one.

Bob: Yeah I will definitely watch the next one.

MMARR: On a scale of 1-10, rate how entertaining you thought the show was.

Jason: I am a big fight fan so I pretty much eat up every minute that I can, for me being a fight fan it was basically a 9.5.

Ron: Probably 8

Bob: I give it a solid 8.

MMARR: Based on what you saw today would you by a $29.99 dollar UFC pay per view?

Jason: I buy every PPV of the UFC.

Ron: Probably not. Not for $29.99

Bob: No.

It was interesting to get the feedback from the non fans especially because they are the market that the UFC is obviously reaching out for at this point. It is also interesting to see that neither non fan was interested in paying for a PPV at this point even though they enjoyed the show and said they would be interested in continuing to watch the program for free. We will keep in touch with them and see if their opinions change as the show progresses.

Arnold Lim will bring us a breakdown and look at every episode of "The Ultimate FIghter", from the view of a MMA journalist, fan and non fan of the sport. look for his column on the show every tuesday morning, the morning after every episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" Also look for our "Ultimate Fighter" pickem contest in our forum HERE.. All you have to do is pick the top 2 fighters in each weight class, the person who gets closest to getting it right will win UFC gear as well as a pair of MMA fighting gloves, courtesy of Shoot fight gear.

This was Arnold "The Sushiboy" Lim
Any questions or comments? Reach the Sushiboy at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it