UFC Confirms Second Season Of TUF: Brazil
Posted on 21 Jun 2012
by MMAScoops.com Staff

UFC executive Marshall Zelaznik spoke with MMAJunkie about the decision to commit to a second season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil. Here are some highlights:

About the future of the show in Brazil: "We do anticipate another season. It's certain that we'll do it. We don't have coaches identified or weight classes yet. You can expect that The Ultimate Fighter season will come back, and we'll do more tryouts. The timing of that is probably just like this season, so we'll start filming around January and be on air in March."

About Brazil: "Brazil is quickly becoming the No. 1 market for the UFC when it comes to fan support. You're talking about 10 million people watching each week. We're No. 1 in the timeslot. The AB demographic is the most upscale demographic, and we're the highest-rated reality show in Brazil (in that demographic). When you start looking at the data, you could almost lump the U.S., Canada and the U.K. together, and it wouldn't be as many fans as there are here in Brazil. The country has adopted the sport."

About the chance of US audiences seeing the international versions: "They have limited shelf space. I think next year we have five versions of The Ultimate Fighter that probably get produced. We're staffing up now. We're trying to figure out how to support all those. Will FUEL TV have the shelf space for all those? I don't know. The good news is we're working hard to get the product distributed online. We did, on average, over 100,000 views on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil online. It was a massive, massive success. People are curious. They're interested. The Brazilians are pretty amazing fighters, and people want to see them."