Planet Tapout 6.26.07: Ranking the TUF Fighters Seasons 4 & 5!

Posted by Lotfi Sariahmed on 06.26.2007

With season five of The Ultimate Fighter officially in the books, Lotfi Sariahmed wraps up his ranking the TUF fighters series with seasons four and five! Who's a stud? Who's a solid fighter? All that plus miscellaneous musings in the latest edition of Planet Tapout!

Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to welcome you back to Planet Tapout here on 411mania.com. I am your gracious tour guide Lotfi Sariahmed. We're coming off a big weekend of fights including the STRIKEFORCE and UFC cards. No mailbag this week but as always you could send me your love, hate, ridicule or otherwise to [e-mail] . So lets get into this week's topic and continue with part two of our ranking the TUF Fighter series. If you missed part one of the TUF series make sure you check that out. This week I'll take a look at the fighters from seasons four and five of The Ultimate Fighter. Here's a quick reminder as to how this works. I look at some of the more notable fighters from each season and place them into three categories, studs, solid fighters or other fighters of note. With that said lets get started.


How do you think he feels about being on the show?

Studs
None.
Season four of The Ultimate Fighter was deemed as The Comeback. How could any of the fighters be considered studs?

Solid Fighters
Matt Serra—Anytime someone asks why the UFC continues to churn out these seasons of the show, all you have to do is point to Serra. His story and personality make him marketing gold for the UFC. He used the reality show to help him eventually win the welterweight title beating Georges St. Pierre. Now you may have your own feelings about his win over St. Pierre. You could say St. Pierre wasn't ready or what have you. But Serra took advantage of the opportunity and deserves to have the belt. But now his first title defense might be even more important than his fight with St. Pierre. He might lose to Matt Hughes his next fight, but he at least needs to put on a great fight.

Din Thomas—"Dinyero" was one of those fighters on the show that never should have left the UFC to begin with. After putting on a strong showing on the reality show, Thomas dropped down to lightweight and been ripping through opponents ever since. He beat Rich Clementi on the Finale then followed up with wins over Clay Guida and most recently Jeremy Stephens at UFC 71. His next fight should be on a televised card and don't be surprised if you see Thomas in a big lightweight fight by the middle of 2008.

Travis Lutter—I know. I know. He failed to make weight for his title fight against Anderson Silva and basically ruined his chances to make any big impact in the UFC. But he did something to Anderson Silva no one else has to this point. He put Silva on his back and made him look vulnerable. If he hadn't been so drained from trying to make weight that knows what could have happened. I hope Lutter gets another chance in the UFC. But if he doesn't, Lutter will make an impact in another fight promotion.

Other Fighters of Note
Scott Smith and Pete Sell—Each solid fighters in their own right who will be forever linked by their insane tussle that saw Sell stun Smith but as Sell was looking for the finish, Smith connected with a right hand on the chin to win by KO.

Gideon Ray—He's found his way onto the IFL's Toronto Dragons as their welterweight representative where he's 1-1. The Dragons just missed out on the playoffs this season falling to the New York Pitbulls in the finale 3-2.



Studs
None.
But Manvel Gamburyan and Joe Lauzon sure do have potential.

Solid Fighters
Nate Diaz—I think solid fighter is the best way to describe the younger Diaz. He'll win his fair share of big fights. He might even get a title shot or two in his career. But I don't know if he'll be that great fighter everyone associates with this season. I think Gamburyan and/or Lauzon will be the fighters to carry that torch.

Manvel Gamburyan—155 or 145? That's the question for Gamburyan after he lost to Nate Diaz in the finals this past Saturday. If his shoulder not popped out against Diaz I think he would have won the fight. But that's neither here nor there. He's a very small and compact fighter that makes him tough to deal with. They said it about 512 times during the broadcast on Saturday but Gamburyan really is a pitbull. He's a smaller version of his cousin Karo Parisyan who just never stops coming and wares his opponents down.

Joe Lauzon—He came into the season as arguably one of the biggest names among the fighters. He already knocked out Jens Pulver. He made it to the semifinals of the show before losing to Gamburyan. Lauzon followed that up with a victory over Brandon Melendez on the finale on Saturday. Lauzon has a good all-around game that with some more experience could make him a force at lightweight.

Other Fighters of Note
Corey Hill—When you're 7'10" (really it's just 6'4") and 155 lbs. you have the potential to do pretty much anything. Lets hope he landed with a good fight team (rumor has it he's with the Miletich camp in Iowa) who can develop his all-around game.

Matt Wiman—If there were to ever be a fighter who got by more on his looks than anything else, Wiman would be it. Lets face it he's not a bad looking fighter. He also has some decent skills so if he continues to improve some big things could happen.

Gray Maynard—Needs to develop his striking to go along with his strong wrestling.

Brandon Melendez—Needs to develop a ground game to go with his striking abilities.

Gabe Ruediger—Was the camera time worth it?

Miscellaneous Musings!
-So Frank Shamrock defeated Phil Baroni on Friday in an impressive performance. He's been dubbed as "The Legend" by EliteXC and Shamrock says he's the best in the world. But when you ask him if he'll fight the likes of Dan Henderson or Matt Lindland he laughs it off and says, "No they'll kick my a**." (We like to keep things clean on the Planet). Remind me why we should take Frank seriously?

-I don't know whether to feel bad for Kevin Ferguson or just ignore what's going on with him. The man known as Kimbo Slice got in the gym and legitimately trained for his MMA fight against Ray Mercer. He wants to be taken seriously but it's tough when you've made your name through street fight videos on the Internet. He beat Mercer but then was challenged by a "more legitimate" fighter in Tank Abbott. The CFFC says they're going to make the fight happen. There's another freak show fight to go down in MMA lore.

-I have no problem with the no contest ruling between Gray Maynard and Rob Emerson. It's just an unfortunate situation overall. Maynard knocked himself out slamming Emerson to the mat but Emerson was too hurt to continue. Steve Mazzagatti did what I think 95% of us would have done had we been reffing that bout. He turned his attention to Emerson because he was the one who was visibly hurt and tapped immediately. Again, no one is at fault, the whole thing is just unfortunate.

-I've been known to completely miss certain points and maybe that's what I'm doing here. But I need someone to explain to me the draw behind Jens Pulver at 145. I understand he's a big name. But outside of a fight between Urijah Faber and Pulver what else is there? A fight against Mark Hominick could be intriguing but I don't know about much else. It just seems like Pulver's best days are behind him. Is he still a big enough name with big enough talent to draw fans in for fights against Cub Swanson or Rani Yahya? I don't see it but again maybe I'm wrong.


And that does it for another edition of Planet Tapout. As always send me your thoughts, questions, comments, recipe ideas, whatever to [e-mail] . It's been a pleasure as always and make sure you come back next Tuesday for another edition of Planet Tapout! This week in MMA gives us a few smaller shows before the big UFC 73 card next weekend in Sacramento. Enjoy the fights everyone.

Credit Cagetoday.com and Sherdog.com for the pictures