Unimpressive TUF Showing Redeemed in UFC

[neandertal]

I was pretty impressed by Cruickshank on TUF.
Always looked like he had the potential.

 

[OveratedCan]

Shoutout to Dennis Bermudez. Was good but not overly impressive in TUF (very few stood out in that season).

Now he's looking like a killer.

That was a brilliant season,both in talent and fight quality

 

[Jblizzle]

Good call.

I thought he'd get a few fights (being in a shallow division and all) but end up 1-2 or 0-3 or something like that.

Instead he's had a decent career.

Yea even with me knowing HW was/is shallow I didn't expect him to get UFC fights to be honest, he acted like a nut case and I didn't think he looked like a UFC caliber fighter on the show plus he was 0-0 as a pro fighter. Back then I was pretty sure we would have forgotten about Mitrione by now

That was a brilliant season,both in talent and fight quality

I was thinking the same thing when I read that post

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

Losing TUF > winning TUF*

*there are a couple of notable exceptions

 

[OveratedCan]

I was thinking the same thing when I read that post

Maybe he meant that all the fighters were pretty darn good so that there wasnt one clearly superior fighter?

 

[DeusExMachida]

Michael Johnson.

I was impressed with nothing about this guy during his time on the show. His striking has improved dramatically, and he's become far more aggressive.

I was really underwhelmed by him even though he made the finals. I was sure he'd bum out after a couple UFC fights.

 

[Vagitarian]

That was a brilliant season,both in talent and fight quality

Wow thats embarassing. :redface:

Im not very familiar with TUF and confused the seasons. For some reason I kept thinking he and Brandao were on a different season.

 

[613]

I thought Diaz got his ass handed to him by manny but then the injury happened and boy did those guys go in different directions

Nate hasn't had that much better of a career since TUF

 

[Gio]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Leben, he lost twice on the show, people forgot he lost to a one dimensional Kos in the house and got stoppped by Kenflo who's a natural WW back then.

But he turned it around in the UFC going 5-0 in his start, fought great fights/highlights and ultimately making history as top 5 most strikes landed in the UFC

 

[Private Whatley]

This is who I thought this thread was about.

TUF has uncovered some diamonds in the rough for sure, but it's main purpose (besides fucking up the title picture) still seems to be to build recognition for a chosen ringer at the expense of "entertaining" journeymen and cans.

There have definitely been some seasons with clear ringers i.e. Bisping in Season 3, Mac Danzig in Season 6, CB Dollaway in Season 7 and Big Country in Season 10. Every once in a while, you'll get a true underdog story (i.e. Amir in Season 7) and/or some unpolished diamonds in the rough (Rashad and more recently, Kelvin Gastelum). There are dudes who look like world beaters on the show who flop horribly on the grand stage and then there are dudes like Matt Brown who gradually put it all together and turn into bona fide killers. And then you'll have guys like Jon Fitch, Frankie Edgar, Benson Henderson and Jon Jones who try out but don't make the final cut. That's why no matter how stale the format gets, I still enjoy watching. You never know who might show up.

 

[BigGucciSosa]

this is why its best to judge fighters AFTER TUF, alot of them improve big time.

 

[iThrillhouse]

LOL at Kelvin having an unimpressive TUF run

dude was a complete unknown that subbed Jones BFFL, knocked out a huge MW in collin hart in a firefight, then subbed a guy that was pegged to fight Hall in the finals