Will the next season of TUF move to Wednesday nights? Although initial reports indicated that the series which will feature coaches Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones next season will move to Wednesday, FX officials are denying the claim.
Via MMA Fighting:
“FX has not announced the official date or night that the next installment of TUF will air, however, it is highly unlikely it will air Wednesday nights,” wrote Dominic Pagone, the Vice President of Media Relations of FX in a message to MMAFighting.com. “The official announcement will be coming in the next two or three weeks.”
Before its move to FX, Spike TV ran TUF on Wednesday nights where ratings ranged over 1 million viewers. However, moving to Fridays on FX has seen all-time lows for the series with averages well under 1 million viewers.
Payout Perspective:
It will be interesting to see what becomes of TUF’s time and day slot for what the UFC and Fox hopes is a return to Spike TV rating averages with Jones and Sonnen as coaches. With Bellator moving to Spike TV in January, it’s anticipated to move to Thursday nights to bolster a lineup with TNA Wrestling. MMA Junkie reports the company has reserved Thursday, January 10th for its first show on Spike. However, according to MMA Fighting, Bellator has left Wednesday nights open as well.
We could see a ratings war between the UFC and Bellator as the two could go head to head which would be interesting but may not be the best for MMA fans.
I remember Dana White swearing up and down about strikeforce and look how that turned out. Anything that happens where Dan White is involved is never a sure thing.
Ooooooh. Who got the muscle?