OKTAGON MMA commentator Bryan Lacey has revealed why OKTAGON Challenge is different to The Ultimate Fighter.
The European promotion brings its MMA reality TV show to the UK and Ireland for the first time in September. Two teams, England and Ireland, will be coached by some of the best the British Isles has to offer. Team England will see Brad Pickett and Akonne Wanliss coach their fellow countrymen. Meanwhile, Shem Rock and Paddy Holohan will mentor their Irish fighters.
On the season, Lacey said: “A lot of people will know the format as in ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, they’ll see it like that. They will see two sets of teams, four guys in each team, they’ve gotta fight each other, they live together, all that is fairly familiar.
“But, the cherry on top that brings some beautiful, insane madness to this show is the ‘challenge’ section. We have got some epic challenges that we put these eight guys in and I’ve gotta give credit to all these guys and the coaches as well, they made this season.
“It was England vs Ireland so the rivalry was there right from the start. Literally, the first day on set the rivalry was on. They just delivered a fantastic show. There’s moments that straight away jumped in my mind that I cannot wait to see how they look on TV.
“Some of the challenges, the size and the scale of the challenges we put them in, the way we stretch them outside their comfort zone, how they reacted with each other, the banter, the fights [and] the almost fights that weren’t supposed to be allowed.
“I cannot wait for people to see this. It’s gonna run from September all the way into the November 4th AO Arena Manchester event.”
OKTAGON Commentator Bryan Lacey on Why TUF Has Gone Stale
The Ultimate Fighter returned in 2021 following a three-year absence. And despite having superstar coaches such as Conor McGregor, the series has failed to capture the imagination of fans as it did previously.
The early seasons of the reality show produced legendary MMA personalities such as Chris Leben, Diego Sanchez, and Michael Bisping.
Nowadays, these personalities are few and far between. Lacey gave his reasons as to why this might have been.
He said: “It’s shifted from it being about the fighters to being about the coaches and I think that’s the difference.
“If you jump back to the first season where you’ve Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin and you’ve got all the names that were in and about that, there was more about the fighters and I think it [TUF] is kinda missing that again.”
Bryan Lacey Full Exclusive Interview
You can watch the full interview with Lacey below:
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Featured image credits to Bryan Lacey
