This is the question posed by Steve Cofield at Yahoo! Sports:

How much damage does a fight like Matt Mitrione versus Scott Junk do with a casual fan who's giving the sport a try for the first time? They beat the snot out of each other and took massive shots, but they were exhausted three minutes into the fight. Maybe that's why the Kimbo fight was on Episode three, this way Spike/UFC could avoid a massive audience of new fans seeing the embarrassing lack of conditioning on display.

While clearly I've had issues with some of Cofields work in the past I am completely on board with him in wondering what the impact of the show on casual minds is at this point. While I still enjoy the show it certainly isn't because the fights are great or really for any reason other than I'm a man who enjoys a little "junk food TV" now and then. Hardcore fans like those that write for and read this site are able to discern between the legitimate high level competition in the UFC and the worse-than-awful mess that have been the TUF fights this season. However, the casual observer is going to tune in to watch the show and see a fight like Mitrione vs. Junk and then see the UFC President lauding it as a tremendous war and possibly leave with the impression that this is what those in charge of the sport view as the pinnacle of competition.

Really, the most damaging thing about last night's episode is White's behavior. He seems so desperate to see two guys throwing haymakers and eating clean shots that the context in which it happens becomes unimportant. Griffin/Bonnar was a watershed moment for the sport, it represented two truly skilled fighters who were fighting to achieve a place in the biggest promotion in the world. Sure it was sloppy, but it had drama and it had meaning. A fight like we got last night was not the mark of two fighters who were so desperate to achieve their dreams that they were abandoning reasonable technique in favor of "going to war" it was simply two fighters who were desperate due to limited skillsets and poor physical conditioning.

While we as hardcore fans can understand that this fight was nearly as bad as it gets in MMA, the casual fan is only going to see Dana White gushing over two men winging arm punches in between long periods of sucking all the air out of the room and wonder if this is truly as good as it gets.