Jeff Cain of MMAWeekly reports that the WEC is still looking at doing a reality TV show in the future and 2010 could possibly be the year.
MMAWeekly.com first broke the news that World Extreme Cagefighting was planning a reality show loosely based on the UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter” in November 2008. It’s been 14 months, but the organization still plans on making the reality show a reality.
“From the beginning (a reality show) was something always in our plans,” said WEC vice president Peter Dropick in that 2008 interview. “Versus, we’re in discussions with Versus. We’re looking right now at trying to figure out what we’re going to do exactly.
“We’ve got a lot of ideas. We want to find ways similar to the UFC to showcase our fighters on a more consistent basis,” he added. “I don’t know if we’ll do exactly what the UFC did with ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ but we do have plans for a reality show of some nature.”
At the WEC 46 post-fight press conference, WEC General Manager Reed Harris confirmed that a reality show is still in the plans.
“We’ve made some progress. We’ve had a number of meetings and obviously talked to Versus, which is the home of the WEC,” said Harris. “At this point there’s nothing concrete, but we’re still working towards that.”
Payout Perspective:
The idea of a WEC reality TV show is intriguing. However, the WEC really needs to be creative, because copying the Ultimate Fighter format would be a mistake; not only is the TUF format played out, but it’s clearly a UFC show. If the WEC wants to continue to differentiate itself from the UFC and step out from underneath that shadow, it must find its own path to success.
More than anything else, what the WEC needs right now are fighters that generate interest. Beyond Faber there really isn’t anyone that pulls fight fans to the promotion. So, how can they create that interest? One idea might be for the organization to base the reality show on the daily life of one of their fighters. What might it do for the profile of Miguel Torres or Brian Bowles (or Jose Aldo if he were to improve his English) to have them showcased in this manner? The challenge is introducing enough typical reality drama to interest the fans and make them want to come back.
The WEC could also spin the show from a completely different angle and use it as a way to show fans how an MMA promotion is run. The idea being that you take Dana White’s vlog model and make it a weekly 30 minute show.
I think it would be interesting if WEC/Versus used the format of the Tapout series as a way to develop talent while building interest in the promotion’s established stars.
Here’s the pitch: 2 unsigned prospects. Pair them with 2 established WEC stars (or fighters the company would like to push). Have them train together at the established fighters gym. At the end of the season, have the WEC fighters fight each other and have the corresponding propects fight each other. You could turn a 10 week training camp into as many episodes, or condense the 10 week camp into 5 episodes.
This, of course, would build up to a live event. You could possibly pair fighters and prospects based on nationality (e.g. Faber v Aldo).
I think the WEC should copy the TUF format or at least model after it. It is the perfect way to continue to build new stars and promote future pay per view events. I don’t think the fans care if the UFC and WEC become more and more similar. They just want to see great fights and get to know the fighters personally.