During the UFC 311 broadcast, the first announcement was made for the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees.
Craig Piligian was announced to be entering the Contributor Wing for his role in producing The Ultimate Fighter.
Premiering in 2025, the first few seasons of TUF are incredibly important chapters in the history of the promotion.
The debut season in many ways is the moment where the UFC either pulled themselves out of a hole or sunk below being salvageable after they invested large amount of money in one last roll of the dice with the hopes of getting MMA onto free TV via a reality show format.
Without that season, the classic cast and the incredible finale between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, who knows where the sport of mixed martial arts would be in 2025.
Piligian served as the executive producer of the show with several other major reality TV projects being linked to his name.
He is credited with creating American Chopper and Dirty Jobs alongside winning an Emmy for his role as a co-producer on Survivor.
Piligian joins the Contributor Wing alongside seven other names which are as follows:
Charles "Mask" Lewis - Founder of Tapout
Jeff Blatnick - Commentator and UFC commissioner
Bob Meyrowitz - UFC co-creator who sold the promotion to Zuffa in 2001
Joe Silva - UFC matchmaker from 1997-2018
Bruce Connal - UFC TV producer from 1997-2018
Art Davie - UFC co-creator, co-owner and matchmaker
Marc Ratner - Former Executive Director for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, current Vice President of Regulatory Affairs of UFC
“Craig Piligian is one of the most influential and respected executives in the history of television,” UFC CEO Dana White said in a press release. “Craig was instrumental in shaping The Ultimate Fighter into one of the most important unscripted television shows in sports and helping make UFC a global phenomenon. It will be an honour to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer.”
Watch the full video of the announcement below: