When it was announced that Brock Lesnar was going to coach season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter, many speculated that the show would be a home run, as far as ratings were concerned.
That has been far from the case. When season 13 of TUF debuted on March 30 it drew a household rating of 1.0, the lowest rating for a debut episode since the show's inception.
UFC president Dana White was correct when he took to the Underground Forum and said that garnering 1.5 million viewers for TUF does not make the show a failure. However, it does show that the public's interest in the show may be waning.
If the UFC's biggest pay-per-view star, Brock Lesnar can't be counted on for a surefire ratings win, who can?
The answer to that question may very well be the fighter the UFC signed on Friday, Jason "Mayhem" Miller.
Miller is not a highly ranked fighter, currently sitting as the No. 40 middleweight on the Fight Matrix rankings, but he is a tireless self-promoter and trash talker. He also has experience in reality television as the host of MTV2's Bully Beatdown.
Miller, much like Lesnar, is a polarizing figure inside the world of mixed martial arts. He has the ability to get under the skin of fans and foes alike while still having a large following of fans that adore his antics.
When news broke that Miller was signed to the UFC, speculation began that he would be a coach on an upcoming season of TUF opposite Michael Bisping.
That speculation was helped by the fact that Miller had recently tweeted White asking for the job, "@DanaWhite Chael can't make it to the party? I'd happily be the American Hero. Put me on TUF, watch the ratings explode."
There's no doubt that Dana White is a smart business man and with Miller now in the UFC fold, he has a fighter whose personality is perfect for reality television. It would not be a surprise to see Miller named as one of the coaches for the next season of TUF.
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