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Opinion & Analysis
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Staff Editorials
PELKEY COLUMN: Ranking the TUF non-winners
By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist
Mar 18, 2008, 20:58
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Forgive me for piggy-backing, but after reading fellow Torch scribe Jed
Goodman's column ranking the TUF winners, I couldn't help but think
about the non-winners (or losers for all you "half empties" out there).
Plus, everybody loves a list, so let's get to ranking! These rankings
are not based on how good of a fighter I think they are, but on how
well they've parlayed their stint on The Ultimate Fighter into personal
gain, inside and out of the Octagon.
10. Luke Cummo- Ok, so I know no one will agree with me on this one,
but he's a guilty pleasure. The weird, nerdy guy who drinks his own
urine grew on me throughout season 2. I know he'll never be
championship material, but he's the underdog you just love to root for,
and he's rapidly improving with every fight. He suffered a minor
setback to Luigi Fioravanti in his last fight, but his exciting style,
quirky personality and affiliation with Matt Serra will keep him on UFC
fight cards for a long time to come.
9. Josh Burkman- Unfortunately for Burkman, he may have reached his
ceiling in the UFC. I think the thin welterweight division in the WEC
would be a perfect spot for him to end up. He's very tough, and a very
good wrestler, but he just can't seem to beat the top guys when the
spotlight is on. The fact that he's headlined a UFN (where he lost a
close decision to Mike Swick) and been on a televised PPV fight (again
a decision loss, this time to Karo Parisyan) keeps him firmly on this
list, as do his victories over Josh Neer and Drew Fickett. However, if
he ever wants to be higher (on my irrelevant list) he needs to start
winning the big fights and/or move on to WEC.
8. Mike Swick- If I had compiled this list about a year and a half ago,
Swick likely would've found himself a good bit higher. He opened his
UFC career with several quick, decisive victories, garnering him
significant popularity. After a career highpoint in his victory over
David Loiseau, he ran into the brick wall known as Yushin Okami. Don't
get me wrong, there's no shame in losing to Okami, but between rounds
Swick could be heard almost crying about how strong Okami was. He had
basically admitted defeat during the fight. That's a no no in my book.
He made the decision to move down to welterweight soon after, and has
since gotten back on track with a victory over Josh Burkman. Time will
tell if the drop in weight classes was the right move, but for now
Swick holds on to the number eight spot.
7. Marcus Davis- I have to admit, I'm a big Marcus Davis fan. After
losing to Melvin Guillard at the Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale, Davis went
back to the minors to pick up some wins and work on his game. It paid
off. Since returning to the UFC bulked up and much more well-rounded,
Davis has torn through all six of his opponents (and his last 11
overall), and established himself as one of the top ten fighters in the
most loaded division in MMA. We'll get to really see what he's made of
when he fights his toughest competition to date against Mike Swick at
UFC 85 in London. If he keeps winning the stiffer tests, he could be
positioning himself for a title shot by the end of next year.
6. Nate Quarry- Nate Quarry is another guy who would be higher on this
list a couple years ago. He was actually the first TUF alum to receive
a title shot when he faced Rich Franklin at UFC 56 back in late 2005.
Clearly it was too soon, as Quarry was brutally KO'd in the first
round. The fall injured his neck and kept him out of action for almost
two years. He made a dramatic return in a great fight against Pete Sell
at UFN 11 back in September, KO'ing Sell in the third round. Due to his
popularity and story, and the utter lack of depth in the middleweight,
its not unreasonable to think Quarry could only be two or three more
victories away from another title shot. After the way Franklin treated
him though, I'm not sure he'd want any part of Anderson Silva
5. Josh Koscheck- After a career defining win against rival Diego
Sanchez, Koscheck had his five fight winning streak ended by Georges
St. Pierre. Despite that loss, he's probably still third on the waiting
list for a welterweight title shot behind Jon Fitch and Karo Parisyan.
It's unfortunate that he fights in the stacked welterweight division,
because despite being at the top of his weight class, it might be two
years before he gets his shot at the title. His victories over Diego
Sanchez, Jeff Joslin, and Dave Menne, along with his willingness to
embrace the "heel" role put him this high on the list.
4. Chris Leben- Much to the dismay of Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben comes
in at number four, one spot higher than Kos. Don't get me wrong, he's
not anywhere near a title shot, even in the razor thin middleweight
division. That's what happens when the current champ has already
dissected you with razor sharp brutality. However, Leben's exciting
style and (now) endearing out-spokenness, land him this high on the
list. Win or lose, Leben always puts on a show, and it doesn't hurt
that he wins more than he loses. He'll always have a spot on the UFC
roster.
3. Stephan Bonnar- Well, Bonnar has certainly had some ups and downs in
his UFC career, or more accurately, one big up and one big down. He
started his career off with a bang, being one half of the fight that
started the UFC explosion with Forrest Griffin. Despite losing, his
performance earned him a six figure contract along with Griffin. He
seemed primed to be one of the new stars of the UFC boom era.
Unfortunately for him, he failed a drug test, testing positive for
steroids following his second fight with Forrest Griffin at UFC 62.
It'll be a slow climb back to where he once was, but he still has some
lasting good-will with UFC fans from his many good fights in the
Octagon. People will always remember his first fight with Griffin, and
that will serve him well going forward.
2. Keith Jardine- Jardine has by far the two biggest wins of anyone on
this list with victories over TUF poster-boy Forrest Griffin and UFC
icon Chuck Liddell. Unfortunately, those two fights were sandwiched
around a stunning KO loss to then-unknown Houston Alexander. That's the
only thing standing in the way of him and a title shot. As it is, he's
been passed by Griffin in the pecking order after Griffin's amazing
victory over "Shogun" Rua, and he's also probably behind his teammate
Rashad Evans. All is well though, because I'm guessing if you had told
Keith Jardine three years ago that he would hold a victory over Chuck
Liddell and be near the top of the heap in the UFC light-heavyweight
division, he would've taken that in a heartbeat.
1. Kenny Florian- KenFlo tops this list for a number of reasons. He's
one of only three TUF alums to have received a title shot (remember I
don't count season 4). Not only that, but after losing a hard fought,
but not-so-close decision to Sean Sherk, he's made his way back up to
the top of his division. He improves with every fight, and is next
scheduled to take on Joe Lauzon in the main event of UFN 13 on April
2nd. If he wins that, and BJ Penn is able to hold off Sherk (a big if,
I understand) he could be next in line for another title shot. Add to
that the fact that he seems to have taken Randy Couture's place as the
active fighter who they'll bring in to do guest commentary (and he's
quite good at it), and Kenny Florian tops my silly, irrelevant rankings
of the top non-winners of The Ultimate Fighter reality show.
How'd I do? Did I leave someone off or have someone too high? Well let
me know, for goodness sake. Feedback is my friend. You can either
correct me at matt6buckeye@hotmail.com or get some discussion going on
the boards. Either way works for me.
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