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INGLEWOOD, CA – DECEMBER 29: Michael Chiesa reacts to defeating Carlos Condit during a Welterweight bout during the UFC 232 event inside The Forum on December 29, 2018 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Michael Chiesa<\/a> revealed why he believes\u00a0The Ultimate Fighter\u00a0still serves a purpose in MMA. Chiesa said the reality show still has a crucial role for the UFC and MMA as a whole. He pointed to the condensed schedule and living arrangements as factors that prepare fighters for the professional level.<\/p>\n Chiesa\u2019s comments carry strong weight, as he competed on and won season 15 of\u00a0The Ultimate Fighter<\/a>. That season in particular was difficult due to the fights airing live rather than being taped during the show. As a result, the fighters\u2019 mental toughness was put to the test.<\/p>\n Since the emergence of\u00a0Dana White<\/a>\u2018s\u00a0Contender Series, there has been a shift. Previously, some of the sport\u2019s biggest stars came from\u00a0The Ultimate Fighter. Several TUF winners, including Forrest Griffin<\/a>, Rashad Evans<\/a>, Robert Whittaker<\/a>, and Julianna Pena, eventually became UFC champions.<\/p>\n \u2018Maverick\u2019 still believes\u00a0The Ultimate Fighter is valuable for the UFC and can develop new stars for the promotion. Chiesa also pinpointed one aspect the reality show offers fighters that cannot be acquired through a fight on the Contender Series.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Michael Chiesa Reveals Why\u00a0The Ultimate Fighter\u00a0Still Stands Out<\/p>\n Michael Chiesa revealed that the overall experience of being a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter<\/a> better prepares fighters. While on the show, fighters train, cut weight, and compete on relatively short notice. Additionally, the fighters also live in the same house as the opposing team.<\/p>\n \u201cI think The Ultimate Fighter is crucial. It\u2019s on-the-job learning experience that grooms you for what\u2019s to come off the show, and I think that\u2019s important. Look at how many world champions have come off the show and look how well they\u2019ve handled themselves in front of cameras, and they\u2019ve gotten themselves in positions of being analysts and commentators and things like that,\u201d Chiesa exclusively told Heavy Sports<\/a> via The Game Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of that could be attributed to that experience of just having cameras in your face nonstop, conducting interviews. Things of that sort. It\u2019s like college for mixed martial arts.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the emergence of the\u00a0Contender Series<\/a>, fighters can capitalize on the TUF format and showcase their personalities.<\/p>\n Chiesa Reflects on His Own Experience as a Contestant<\/p>\n Chiesa also reflected on his own experience as a \u2018TUF\u2019 contestant. \u2018Maverick\u2019 competed on season as a lightweight and submitted Al Iaquinta in the finale to win the season.<\/p>\n Chiesa described the mental and physical toll he went through during his experience on season 15.<\/p>\n \u201cOur [season] was a lot different because we were on a live season. Once the season was done, it was like 21 weeks of just nonstop training hard. Thank God I was 23, 24 years old because I wouldn\u2019t have been able to grind as hard as I did for that amount of time at 38 years old,\u201d Chiesa exclusively told Heavy Sports via\u00a0The Game Plan.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no problem saying this. You take any season of\u00a0The Ultimate Fighter, that tournament format, that bracket, and you do that same tournament 10 times over. You\u2019re not going to get the same winner every time, but at least for me, that one time it happened that I was the one that won.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGiancarlo Aulino<\/a> Giancarlo Aulino is sports writer who covers UFC for Heavy.com. He began writing for Heavy in 2025 after providing MMA coverage for Sportskeeda. Giancarlo is an experienced journalist and interviewer, having covered soccer clubs Toronto FC and Inter Toronto FC as a full-season reporter, and also producing sports coverage for Toronto radio station VIBE 105.5FM.
\n More about Giancarlo Aulino<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty INGLEWOOD, CA – DECEMBER 29: Michael Chiesa reacts to defeating Carlos Condit during a Welterweight bout during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":["post-880149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}