New concept boosts reality show ‘Fight Master’
By BOB EMANUEL JR. | Scripps Howard News Service
When Bellator MMA officials, Spike TV representatives and seven-time Emmy producer Bertram Van Munster (“The Amazing Race”) planned the reality competition series “Bellator MMA: Fight Master,” the challenge was to differentiate it from its long-running competitor, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s “The Ultimate Fighter,” which begins its 18th season Sept. 4.
The concept was simple. Instead of having two coaches pick their teams and decide who their fighters will face, “Fight Master” put the onus on the fighters. The 16 combatants went through preliminary fights to qualify for the cast. Then they were asked to pick one of four coaches — Joe Warren, Randy Couture, Greg Jackson or Frank Shamrock. The fighters were ranked and allowed to select their own opponents for each round.
So far, the concept has proven successful.
“Bertram, he’s the guru of reality television,” Warren said. “I tried to do my part. I went in and coached and did what I needed to do for the guys. The whole format was different. We didn’t have lots of input on the format. That was the creative side of it. But there was a lot of fun stuff that went down. I’m interested as much as everyone else in seeing what’s going to happen these next few weeks, because I haven’t seen all the episodes either.”
The show, more industrial in its appearance than TUF, places more emphasis on the competition. The frat boy party antics that are a staple of TUF haven’t been a part of “Fight Master,” which wrapped production in March. Fighters are shown discussing their careers, preparing for their opponents, training and fighting.
“That’s Bellator for you and Viacom,” said Warren, who will face Nick Kirk during Bellator’s Season Nine debut on Sept. 7.
“… They were able to come up with ‘Fight Master,’ which is a more educated fight show. It’s more about the fighting and the training instead of the drinking and the partying. We’re trying to get a guy to have an opportunity to have his own destiny in Bellator by getting a shot in the tournament.
“These 16 fighters were all hand-picked because of their discipline and their focus. I think to be able to stay in that house, they didn’t really get into any trouble or things like that. The whole format of ‘Fight Master’ is different than The ‘Ultimate Fighter.’”
Fight Master can be seen Thursdays on Spike TV. The season’s winner will be crowned Sept. 7.
