Confuseyus: The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale Results: Team UK Sweep, Fight Of The Year!

Confuseyus

Click the link below for results from tonight’s UFC The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale from Las Vegas.

The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale Weigh-In Results: One Fighter Misses Weight (Again) (Updated)

Click below for results from today’s Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale weigh-ins in Las Vegas. (Note: They weren’t watchable live online as UFC had promised. UFC feed issues)

Confuseyus: The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale Quick Predictions (Updated)

Confuseyus

As season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter wraps up this week, it’s time to get ready for the live Finale this Saturday night. The TUF 9 Lightweight and Welterweight Winners will be determined while the main event features an all-but-guaranteed Fight Of The Year candidate that will have potential title picture implications. Because the full card won’t be finalized until roughly Thursday I’ll only be able to do quick predictions for this one, won’t be enough time for detailed write-ups. (Note: This will be updated Thursday morning once the final matchup left to decide-the TUF 9 Welterweight Final-is set. That will be known after tonight’s [6/17] episode of TUF)
Updated 6/18 with final card.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Episode 8 Recap & Review

Each week after I’ve watched it (usually after downloading the episodes LEGALLY from iTunes) I’ll post a review & recap of each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK. Click below to read my review & recap of episode 8-be advised this contains SPOILERS if you have not yet seen the episode.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Episode 7 Recap & Review

Each week after I’ve watched it (usually after downloading the episodes LEGALLY from iTunes) I’ll post a review & recap of each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK. Click below to read my review & recap of episode 7-be advised this contains SPOILERS if you have not yet seen the episode.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Episode 6 Recap & Review

Each week after I’ve watched it (usually after downloading the episodes LEGALLY from iTunes) I’ll post a review & recap of each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK. Click below to read my review & recap of episode 6-be advised this contains SPOILERS if you have not yet seen the episode.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Episode 4 Recap & Review

Each week after I’ve watched it (usually after downloading the episodes LEGALLY from iTunes) I’ll post a review & recap of each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK. Click below to read my review & recap of episode 4-be advised this contains SPOILERS if you have not yet seen the episode.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Episode 3 Recap & Review

Each week after I’ve watched it (usually after downloading the episodes LEGALLY from iTunes) I’ll post a review & recap of each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK. Click below to read my review & recap of episode 3-be advised this contains SPOILERS if you have not yet seen the episode.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Episode 2 Recap & Review

Each week after I’ve watched it (usually after downloading the episodes LEGALLY from iTunes) I’ll post a review & recap of each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK. Click below to read my review & recap of episode 2-be advised this contains SPOILERS if you have not yet seen the episode.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Episode 1 Recap & Review

Each week after I’ve watched it (usually after downloading the episodes LEGALLY from iTunes) I’ll post a review & recap of each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK. Click below to read my review & recap of episode 1-be advised this contains SPOILERS if you have not yet seen the episode.

The Ultimate Fighter: My Thoughts On Who Should Coach Season 10 & Why

Although season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter is probably 6-7 months off and 2-3 months at least from even taping, based on what I’ve heard the format (featured weight classes) will be, when it’ll probably air, and fights coming up, plus recently re-watching season 7 I’m going to offer my thoughts on who should coach the season and why it’s in everyone’s best interest…for the show and Spike anyway. UFC too.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Meet The 32 Fighters

The list of contestants for season 9 of “The Ultimate Fighter” has just been revealed. Click the link below to see who made it:

The Ultimate Fighter: The Case For Keeping The Show Going: Part 2

Across MMA sites, blogs, and the like these last few months, there’s been one rather hot topic of debate: Is it time to cancel ‘The Ultimate Fighter”? The TV show, which just wrapped up its 8th season, helped launch the UFC into the prominent position it’s in today and helped MMA in general get more exposure. The show puts 16 fighters in a house, a la The Real World and similar, but guys aren’t voted off. They’re beaten off…at least since season 2, when it took on its current format full-time, a single-elimination tournament where 16 fight down to 1 and the last man standing gets a “6-figure UFC contract”, which apparently is 3 years at about $150,000 guaranteed, could be $300,000 if you win all the fights you should get on said deal (9). After the recent 8th season, a combination of the out-of-control pranks in the house and continually declining TV ratings on Spike further fueled thoughts that it’s time to pull the plug on TUF. I didn’t like the 8th season the most either, but I disagree. And just like the “Human Wrecking Balls” use science to show how man can destroy anything man-made, I’m going to use what I use best to make my cases in sports for my argument to keep TUF going: Stats. I’ll use TV ratings and fighter records, among other things, to make my case as to why it still works. Now, Part 2: TUF finalists still in UFC today.

Although they never mention it on TV, losing on TUF DOES NOT by any means end your chances of making it to UFC. It’s common knowledge that, unless you get injured or on Dana’s bad side to the point of being kicked off the show, you’re probably gonna fight at the TUF Finale that season and, if you win or make the final fight for the season, you’re probably gonna stick around, albeit with a lesser non-guaranteed contract. Shis not only is good for the fighter,it can be good for UFC as it helps stock the divisions with prospects wile giving them more chances to fight and keeping the talent pool well-stocked with fish angling for that big bite. And some of the big names currently in UFC competed on TUF and didn’t even win. Here’s who, from each season, is still in UFC today and how they’ve fared since TUF (records do not include TUF 1 Finale performances, but they are official fights):

Season 1:
Stephan Bonnar: 5-2. Lost to Forrest Griffin in TUF 1 Finale. Promising career temporarily derailed by consecutive losses to Rashad Evans & Griffin after winning 3 straight, and testing positive for Boldenone (horse steroids) after the second Griffin fight. Returned about 11 months after the drug test and has won his last 2 fights.

Mike Swick: 7-1. Beat Alex Schoenauer at TUF 1 Finale. “Quick” has been a top performer since the Finale, his only loss being a decision to Yushin Okami, which snapped a 5-fight win streak in UFC. He’s now on a 3 fight win streak and has dropped from Middleweight to Welterweight, where he is climbing up the division ladder steadily.

Josh Koscheck: 9-3. “Kos” beat Christopher Sanford at the TUF 1 Finale then beat Pete Spratt before losing to Drew Fickett, then won 5 straight and climbed into the Top 5 Welterweight rankings before losing a fairly lopsided decision to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 74. Kos then won back-to-back fights before a convincing loss to Thiago Alves put him another step back and cost Kos a title shot. He bounced back with an absolutely brutal textbook KO of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC Fights For The Troops, a quick bounceback amidst a rumored contract dispute that threatened to get him dropped by UFC. The matter is unresolved but many expect Kos to be sticking around.

Kenny Florian: 9-1. “KenFlo” has become another TUF success story. He lost his Finale fight to Sanchez, then won 3 straight to earn a title shot, facing Sean Sherk for the then-vacant UFC Lightweight Championship. Florian came up short and lost, but has since won 6 straight and, assuming current champion BJ Penn loses to GSP at UFC 94 in a Welterweight Title fight, will get another LW Title shot. If Penn wins the WW Title, KenFlo will be in limbo again through no fault of his own. He’s also found a side career hosting the ESPN online video series “MMA Live”.

Nate Quarry: 4-2. Quarry won his finale fight and would win 2 more and earn a UFC Middleweight Title shot. In that fight, he lasted 2 1/2 minutes before champ Rich Franklin KO’d him. He then KO’d Pete Sell before the fight that made him famous-Kalib Starnes. Starnes apparently was injured early on and ran more than fought, so Quarry taunted Starnes the whole fight, scenes that would be immortalized in video clips & GIF animations that remain popular and funny to this date. You could say it made Quarry an internet superstar. He won but at UFC 91 was submitted by jiu-jitsu machine Demian Maia.

Chris Leben: 7-4. “The Crippler” won his Finale fight then won 4 in a row before running into some really good Brazillian air guitarist named Anderson Silva. He’s gone 3-3 since but a positive steroids test has put his once-promising career on hold until at least late next year. He remains an enigma.

Season 2:
Luke Cummo: 3-3. He became one of my first favorite fighters by essentially being the first “geek” to fight on TUF as the last guy picked on TUF 2. He rode the underdog wave to the Finale, where he came up short against winner Joe Stevenson. He’s struggled at times, including the Finale his UFC mark is only 3-4, which usually doesn’t cut it. His future is up in the air and he is, along with Leben, potentially one of very few holdovers who don’t parlay TUF success into UFC success.

Marcus Davis: 7-1. Lost at the TUF 2 Finale then left UFC for a while before returning at the Ortiz-Shamrock 3 special event. He came back riding a 5-fight win streak that ultimately became 10 before he lost to Swick. He bounced back with a win in his next fight. Now fights almost exclusively on UFC events in England, where his nickname “The Irish Hand Grenade” gets him feature status (He’s actually American-born and raised).

Keith Jardine: 5-3. “The Dean Of Mean” won his TUF 2 Finale fight and has stuck around by proving, win or lose, that he is one tough SOB. Wins against Forrest Griffin and Wilson Gouveia were bookended by losses to Stephan Bonnar and Houston Alexander. He then shocked the workd and made a name for himself by beating Chuck Liddell by decision, then was quickly KO’d by Wanderlei Silva. He bounced back from that loss to take a split deicsion win against Brandon Vera. Jardine has almost become a “gatekeeper”, he takes 2 steps towards a title shot then 1 step back. Nevertheless he’s always a threat and puts on a good hard fight everytime.

Season 3:
Ed Herman: 3-3. Lost in the TUF 3 Final to Kendall Grove but impressed Dana White enough to earn his own contract. He then lost his next fight but bounced back with 3 straight wins. 2 straight losses since have knocked him down a couple notches though.

Matt Hamill: 4-2. Hamill quickly garnered a lot of attention on TUF 3 because of his quest to become the first deaf fighter in UFC.  He wasn’t able to make it through the whole show due to injuries, but returned at the Finale and won. He won his next 2 before alternating wins & losses, although many feel he got robbed by hometown bias in losing a decision to Michael Bisping in Bisping’s native England, the general consensus was had this fight been in the US, Hamill would’ve won. He won his next fight then took a tough loss to Rich Franklin, but bounced back with a win against Reese Andy at UFC 92. Hamill tries hard to improve every fight, and his dedication, heart, and effos in both the cage and in post-fight interviews have made him a fan favorite and a wonderful inspirational story. He even has a movie coming next year based on his life and career so far (he likely will not star in it).

Season 4:
Rich Clementi: 5-2. Lost at TUF 4 Finale, then went 1-1 before winning 6 straight between UFC & indies. Lost his last fight to Gray Maynard. Drew controversy for a heated fight against Melvin Guillard, which Clementi won then made an obscene gesture post-fight.

Pete Sell: 2-4. Overall record includes a pre-TUF 4 win, a loss at the TUF 4 Finale, 3 straight losses after that (but a win in an Indy), then finally a UFC win at UFC 90, his first win in nearly 2 years. Started his career 6-0 but hasn’t been the same since.

Patrick Cote: 5-5. Overall record includes 3 pre-TUF 4 losses, a TUF 4 Finale loss, then 5 straight wins and a UFC Middleweight Title shot that he ultimately lost due to a freak injury. He will be out until at least mid-2009.

Chris Lytle: 5-8. Overall record includes a 2-4 pre-TUF 4 mark, a TUF 4 Finale loss, and a 3-3 mark since. Seems stuck in mid-card but, more often than not, wins one of the nightly event bonuses.

Season 5:
Gray Maynard: 4-0. Went to a No Contest at the TUF 5 Finale when he & Rob Emerson went to a very bizarre Double KO. Has been slowly but steadliy climbing the Lightweight ladder and was an assistant coach on TUF 7.

Matt Wiman: 4-2. Went 0-1 before TUF 5, lost at the TUF 5 Finale, then won 4 straight before dropping a decision to Jim Miller at FFTT.

Joe Lauzon: 3-1. Earned his spot on TUF 5 and shocked the MMA world by beating Jens Pulver in just 47 seconds at UFC 63 in a fight Pulver was supposed to win easily and convincingly. J-Lau came up short on TUF but won at the Finale then won 2 more before losing to Kenny Florian at UFN 13. He would bounce back with a win at UFN 15 and remains one of the top Lightweight up-and-comers in UFC.

Rob Emerson: 2-0. Went to the above-mentioned No Contest with Maynard, 2-0 since. Has had unspecified legal problems between fights but made an impact in his last fight, KO’ing fellow TUF 5 alum Manny Gamburyan in just 12 seconds.

Corey Hill: 1-2. Among the only fighter not to fight in the Finale. Considered a Lightweight freak of nature because he’s 6′4″ and fights at 155. Promising UFC career has been derailed due to a major injury suffered at FFTT, he fractured his right shin throwing a kick and underwent emergency surgery. It’s expected to be 12-18 months before he can fight again. His team, Gracie Tampa, has setup a “Get Well Fund” to help cover non-medical expenses for HIll and his family.

Manny Gamburyan: 2-1. Many feel he got unfairly screwed out of the TUF 5 championship due to a freak injury suffered in the final against Nate Diaz that has left many clamoring for a rematch. It has yet to happen. Gamburyan won his next 2 fights before Emerson KO’d him. A tenacious fighter who has another claim to fame-his cousin is fellow UFC fighter Karo Parisyan.

Cole Miller: 2-1. Won his TUF 5 Finale fight and is 2-1 since. A BJJ fighter who is already a solid trainer on the side at the still-young age of only 24. Like Gamburyan, MMA runs in his family-Cole’s cousin Micah fights in WEC.

Season 6:
Matt Arroyo: 0-1. Won at the TUF 6 Finale then lost to Matt Brown at the TUF 7 Finale for the 2nd time in his career.

Ben Saunders: 2-0. Won his TUF 6 Finale fight and remains unbeaten in his career, 6-0 since his first 2 fights were Draws.

George Sotiropoulos: 1-0. Won his TUF 6 Finale fight then beat Roman Mitchiyan at UFN 13. A scheduled fight with Karo Parisyan was called off due to an injury. He will return February 7.

Roman Mitchiyan: 0-1. Won his TUF 6 Finale fight after not getting to fight on the show due to injury. Then lost to Sotiropolous.

Season 7:
C.B. Dollaway: 2-0. Lost to Amir Sadollah in the TUF 7 final, but has stuck around and bounced back from the 2 controversial losses with 2 straight wins. Strong wrestling background makes him a top prospect in the Middleweight division.

Matthew Riddle: Won his TUF 7 Finale fight, but next fight, to have been at UFC 91, was called off due to injury. An early ‘09 return is expected.

Dan Cramer: Forced off TUF 7 Finale due to injury. Returns at UFC 94.

Tim Credeur: 2-0. Forced off TUF 7 Finale due to using a prescription drug that is medically necessary but banned by the NSAC. Not disciplined because of his honesty and not fighting after disclosing this.

Matt Brown: 1-1. won at the TUF 7 Finale, then lost a very controversial split decision to Dong Hyun Kim, many felt Brown won. Bounced back with a win next time out at UFC 91 on short notice as an injury replacement for Riddle.

Cale Yarbrough: 0-1. See Tim Credeur, this was to have been this fight. It was later rescheduled, Yarbrough was TKO’d. FYI: No relation to the NASCAR driver of the same name (but maybe slightly different last name spelling).

Overall, guys who get to come back after their Finales are a cumulative 106-55 in UFC to date, with a handful of title shots between them while a couple, most notably Cote, have won titles in other promotions. And if we include season 8, an average of 4 guys get to stick around, and with a couple exceptions they do well enough to stick around while, on average, one from each season becomes a breakout star and cracks the top tire of his respective division. And the titles show they have success elsewhere too-Bobby Southworth, a contestant on season 1, is another great example-he went on to win the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship and held it for quite a while before recently dropping it to former UFC bad boy Renato Sobral. Further proof that if you can win at the TUF Finale, and some cases even if you lose, you’ve got a great career ahead of you if you keep doing what you did before and do it well.

Next time: The TUF TV and independent effects.

The Ultimate Fighter: The Case For Keeping The Show Going-Part 1

Across MMA sites, blogs, and the like these last few months, there’s been one rather hot topic of debate: Is it time to cancel ‘The Ultimate Fighter”? The TV show, which just wrapped up its 8th season, helped launch the UFC into the prominent position it’s in today and helped MMA in general get more exposure. The show puts 16 fighters in a house, a la The Real World and similar, but guys aren’t voted off. They’re beaten off…at least since season 2, when it took on its current format full-time, a single-elimination tournament where 16 fight down to 1 and the last man standing gets a “6-figure UFC contract”, which apparently is 3 years at about $150,000 guaranteed, could be $300,000 if you win all the fights you should get on said deal (9). After the recent 8th season, a combination of the out-of-control pranks in the house and continually declining TV ratings on Spike further fueled thoughts that it’s time to pull the plug on TUF. I didn’t like the 8th season the most either, but I disagree. And just like the “Human Wrecking Balls” use science to show how man can destroy anything man-made, I’m going to use what I use best to make my cases in sports for my argument to keep TUF going: Stats. I’ll use TV ratings and fighter records, among other things, to make my case as to why it still works. Today, Part 1: The Winners And Why Winning Is Good For Your Career.

Each season of TUF has had 1 or 2 winners, the number determined by if a season has 1 or 2 different weight classes. Seasons 1-3 & 8 have had 2 weight classes, seasons 4-7 had 1.  The winners by season:
Season 1-Diego Sanchez (Middleweight), Forrest Griffin (Light Heavyweight)
Season 2-Joe Stevenson (Welterweight), Rashad Evans (Heavyweight)
Season 3-Kendall Grove (Middleweight), Michael Bisping (Light Heavyweight)
Season 4-Matt Serra (Welterweight), Travis Lutter (Middleweight)*
Season 5-Nathan (Nate) Diaz (Lightweight)
Season 6-Mac Danzig (Welterweight)
Season 7-Amir Sadollah (Middleweight)
Season 8-Efrain Escudero (Lightweight), Ryan Bader (Light Heavyweight)
*-Season 4 guaranteed the winners a UFC title shot instead of a 6-figure contract.

Now let’s look at how each winner has fared since winning:
Diego Sanchez: 7-2. Won his first 5 fights before losing 2 straight, setting back his hopes of a title fight. Has won his last 2 fights and is working his way back into contention. Dropped to Welterweight after winning TUF and is now dropping to Lightweight.

Forrest Griffin: 6-3. Completed an improbable rise to the top by winning the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in July 2008, becoming the first TUF champion to do so. But he failed in his first defense, losing the belt to season 2 winner Rashad Evans on 12/27/08. It snapped a 3-fight winning streak.

Joe Stevenson: 5-3. Didn’t get off to the best start, losing his first post-TUF fight. He then bounced back and won 4 straight, dropping to Lightweight along the way and earning a title shot, facing BJ Penn for the Interim UFC Lightweight Championship in January 2008. He came up short and has gone 1-1 since then. He’ll face another stiff test soon at UFC 95-Sanchez.

Rashad Evans: 7-0-1. He first started out as a Heavyweight, but he was a small one so he cut to Light Heavyweight and his career began taking off. He did struggle to decision wins in his first 2 fights, but then in his next 2 fights the wrestling standout began turning the corner, scoring a KO win over Jason Lamber then a brutal head kick KO against Sean Salmon that sent everyone a message: Evans was on the rise and he was improving with every fight. Then came the big test: Tito Ortiz. It was a close fight until Ortiz grabbed the cage late in the fight to avoid being taken down and was  penalized 1 point. It helped Rashad more than anything, what would’ve been his first career loss instead became a Draw as a result. Evans then took a split decision over TUF 3 winner Michael Bisping and then, the punch that changed it all-September 6, 2008 vs. Chuck Liddell. at 1:51 of round 2 both threw hard punches at the same time. Chuck’s missed. Rashad’s didn’t. It hit perfectly and Rashad had did the seemingly unthinkable-he had KO’d Chuck Liddell and made the world take notice. And earn a title shot against then-champ Forrest Griffin. And finally, 12/27/08, Rashad reached the top, TKOing Forrest in the 3rd round and becoming the 2nd TUF winner to win a UFC title, becoming the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. And the scary thing? It seems he just keeps improving every fight. There may be no limit on how high he can go.

Michael Bisping: 6-1. The first fighter from England to win TUF immediately became the poster boy for UFC’s European expansion. His British upbringing and equally cocky personality quickly made him a heel on the US shore, but a 3-fight winning streak just-as-quickly moved him up the ranks. After his first career loss against Rashad Evans he decided to drop down to Middleweight, where he now has another 3-fight win streak that has been parlayed into a spot as a coach on the upcoming season 9 of TUF…and potentially a summer ‘09 main event against Rich Franklin or Dan Henderson.

Kendall Grove: 3-2. He was considered an unusual specimen in UFC because he was a Middleweight and an unusually tall one at that at 6′6″. He got off to a 2-0 start but hen 2 straight losses but his UFC career in danger and nearly branded him as the first TUF champion to fail to live up to expectations. But he bounced back with a rather convincing split decision win against the late Evan Tanner at the TUF 7 Finale that will have Grove remembered more as Tanner’s final opponent before his tragic death a few months later. Grove is now in the final year of his contract, and at this point nothing is guaranteed unless he can keep winning.

Matt Serra: 1-1. By winning TUF 4, this former UFC fighter got a second chance in the form of a title shot at UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. Nobody gave Serra even a puncher’s chance against “Rush”, but Serra would stun the world by beating GSP to become the new champion. Unfortunately for Serra, serious back problems would sideline him for a long time, long enough to force UFC to create an Interim Welterweight Championship, which GSP would beat former champion Matt Hughes for. Serra then recovered enough to face GSP to unify the titles in GSP’s backyard-Montreal. This made Serra the Vince McMahon to GSP’s Bret Hart. GSP did Canada proud by beating Serra to become the undisputed champion. Serra is expected to get at least one more fight in UFC, expected to be a much-anticipated grudge match against fellow TUF 6 coach and hated rival Hughes.

Travis Lutter: 0-2. Initially out of UFC after one fight (a loss), he got a second chnace by winning TUF 4 at Middleweight. But he instantly tainted his win and perhaps TUF’s credibility by missing weight for his fight against UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. The fight went on but it was non-title. Lutter then was presumed to be out of UFC again but was brought back in April ‘08 to face Rich Franklin and was TKO’d in round 2. It’s now presumed Lutter is gone from UFC for good.

Nathan (Nate) Diaz: 4-0. The TUF 5 winner quickly became equally notorious for being the younger brother of former UFC fighter/hothead Nick Diaz and for being a cocky SOB while proudly “representing the 2-0-9″ (2-0-9 is the area code of Diaz’s hometown, Stockton, California), not to mention many viewed his TUF 5 win as tainted because his opponent, Manny Gamburyan, had to quit in round 2 due to an injury in a fight many thought Gamburyan was winning. Diaz then won his next 3 fights by submission before Josh Neer took him to a split decision. He still is well on his way to the top of the Lightweight division, but has easily his stiffest test just ahead of him-the Energizer Bunny of the UFC Lightweight division, Clay Guida. Should Diaz beat Guida a title shot could be in store, although there still will be those who won’t fully accept him as TUF winner until he legit beats Gamburyan.

Mac Danzig: 1-1. Perhaps the heaviest favorite ever in the history of TUF, Danzig was a very seasoned veteran before coming on TUF, amassing a 16-4-1 record before the show. Most of those fights came in smaller promotions before his last UFC fight, a KO loss to Top 5 Lightweight Hayato Sakurai at PRIDE 33. But Danzig is starting to have some problems after breezing through TUF, almost getting taken to the distance by Mark Bocek and dropping a unanimous decision to Clay Guida. But being the pro (and, on the side, PETA poster boy) he is, Danzig says he’ll bounce back from that loss and there is little doubt he will.

Amir Sadollah: No record. Came from out of nowhere to beat C.B. Dollaway-TWICE-to win TUF 7, but not without controversy. It’s felt that Dollaway didn’t tap to submission holds but the refs saw and thought he did (usually a fighter doesn’t give up until they tap 3-4 times, Dollaway didn’t tap that many times), but it’s moot now. His UFC debut planned for UFC 91 had to be put on hold due to a leg infection that required him to be hospitalized. He has since recovered and will now debut in early ‘09.

So let’s add it up so far: These past winners are a combined 40-15-1 with a combined 3 title reigns between them. That’s 30% of TUF winners becoming UFC Champions so far, excluding Sadollah. Pretty convincing, eh?

Next time: TUF finalists still in UFC.

“Get Well” Fund Created For UFC Fighter

More following-up from the events at UFC: Fight For The Troops and a very generous touch of gloves to the BloodyElbow site (bloodyelbow.com) for posting this:

TUF veteran Corey Hill snapped his leg at the “Fights for the Troops” event last week. The injury was horrific and will require Hill to lay off from fighting for 12 to 18 months. That’s a long time to go between paychecks.

Presumably the UFC’s health insurance is paying for his surgery and rehab, but Corey has a family to support. So his team mates at Gracie Tampa have started a get well fund to help out:

Please help Corey get through his leg surgery and recovery. All donations are greatly appreciated and will help Corey with his medical bills and provide for his wife and three children through this holiday season.

Do what you can.

UPDATE: For those who don’t feel professional athletes merit assistance, lets remember that Corey gets paid $8000 per fight (plus $8000 win bonus) and only fought three times this year, going 1-2. That’s $32,000 gross, not net. After he pays his trainers, fees, etc, I’d be surprised if he brought home $25,000.

He won’t be working in the UFC next year and I doubt his job prospects are particularly good until he recovers from having his shin bone snapped in half. These guys fight for our entertainment. Have some MMA community spirit.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/12/16/694642/fund-raiser-for-injured-uf

I made a donation before posting this, not much but $5-10 can make a difference and when lots of people do this it can add up quickly. I encourage everyone to do the same.