This wasn't my favorite episode, but I did think it was good.
Deviating from the proven format is what we lost out on, but they did it for two important reasons.
First, this particular set of eliminations matters, a lot. It adds significant credibility to these two captains' games. Without today's episode, we'd question whether they got a free ride. Now it's the opposite. This deserved more than a flippant ending to an episode. Giving it the same time an elimination usually gets would have been a disservice to such a crucial part of the story.
Second, I don't think fans quite understand how important the UFC is to The Challenge now. In commercial real estate, the only reason a gourmet boutique restaurant can exist in a cool mall or shopping district is an anchor tenant, like a grocery store or a big corporate business. That anchor tenant's incredibly long, expensive lease is how those districts get built, and it subsidizes the leases of the smaller tenants around it. The UFC is the anchor tenant of Paramount+. We, as The Challenge, owe our new roof to Paramount+, and Paramount+ owes more of its terminal value to the UFC deal than to anything else. Shoehorning in a collaboration, especially one that played out nearly perfectly, is worth it for the longevity of the show. Complaining about this would be like telling your favorite NFL team to get rid of the brand sponsorships and then complain when tickets become 5X more expensive. This is business. Business is how you don’t become MTV. Everyone should be taking notes. I know I am. 📝