After the third season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series showed a significant drop-off in talent level from the previous two seasons, UFC decided to switch things up for Season 4. Instead of having sixteen up-and-coming MMA fighters compete for a chance to fight in the UFC, Season 4 featured sixteen veterans of the sport competing at a shot at the UFC title in the middleweight and welterweight divisions. Though all of the featured fighters have competed in the Octagon in the past, most of them had below .500 records in the UFC and have never come close to winning a title. Season 4 offered these fighters another chance to earn the gold, and was dubbed ‘the comeback season’.
Season 4 did not focus as heavily on the coaches as the previous seasons: instead of having two coaches mentoring the opposing teams, the show featured a number of UFC fighters and trainers who were made available to all contenders. Though the fight teams did not have an official leader, welterweights Matt Serra and Rich Clementi emerged as de-facto captains of their teams. I will take a look at the middleweights first, and examine the welterweights next week.
Fighters are listed in order of their current Fightmatrix.com ranking, regardless of the weight class. Fights that took place in the live finale are counted in the ‘After’ column.
[#17 MW] Patrick Cote
| Current Record: 13-4 (4-4 UFC) | Before: 8-3 (0-3 UFC) | On the show: 2-0 | After: 4-1 UFC |
Canadian middleweight Patrick Cote began his UFC career at UFC 50, stepping up on short notice for a 205-lbs bout with Tito Ortiz. Though Ortiz dealt Cote his first professional loss, fans were impressed by the fact that Cote lasted the full three rounds with Ortiz despite a significant size and experience disadvantage. Back at 185 lbs, Cote also lost his next two UFC bouts. He defeated Jorge Rivera and Edwin Dewees on the show to earn a spot in the finale, but was submitted by Travis Lutter, bringing his UFC record to 0-4. Despite the abysmal record, Cote was given another chance and managed to reverse his fortune, winning his next four bouts in the Octagon. His most recent victory over Ricardo Almeida earned Cote a shot at the seemingly unstoppable middleweight champion, Anderson Silva.
[#48 MW] Scott Smith
| Current Record: 13-5 [1 NC] (1-3 UFC) | Before: 9-2 (0-1 UFC) | On the show: 0-1 | After: 4-3 [1 NC] (1-2 UFC) |
Scott Smith had only fought in the UFC once prior to the show, losing by submission to David Terell in a matchup tainted by questionable officiating. He was submitted by Travis Lutter in his first and only bout on the show, and after knocking out Pete Sell on the finale dropped his next two UFC matches to Cote & Ed Herman. Scott was subsequently released from the UFC, and ended up in Elite XC where he most recently participated in two exciting battles with the Elite middleweight champion Robbie Lawler. The first bout ended in a no-contest when Smith was inadvertently poked in the eye, and in the rematch Lawler defeated Smith by TKO.
[#60 MW] Travis Lutter
| Current Record: 9-5 (2-4 UFC) | Before: 8-3 (1-2 UFC) | On the show: 2-0 | After: 1-2 UFC |
After starting out his UFC career with a 1-2 record, the jiu-jitsu expert Travis Lutter breezed through competition on TUF, submitting Scott Smith and earning a unanimous decision over Pete Sell, then submitting Cote in the finals to win the show and earn a title shot. However Lutter could not make weight for his fight with Anderson Silva, making it a non-title matchup. Lutter was submitted with a triangle choke by the champion, despite having Silva in some trouble early in the fight. In his next bout, he was stopped by the former champion Rich Franklin – once again, Lutter dominated early on but ran out of steam by the second round. He was rumored to make a return to action against Joe Doerksen at an upcoming UFC event, but the rumor turned out to be a false one, leaving Lutter’s future unclear.
[#77 MW] Jorge Rivera
| Current Record: 15-7 (4-5 UFC) | Before: 13-5 (2-3 UFC) | On the show: 0-1 | After: 2-2 UFC |
Long time veteran of the fight game, Jorge Rivera was one of the most experienced middleweights of the group, with five UFC bouts under his belt. Though he lost his only bout on the show in a close decision to Patrick Cote, Rivera stopped Edwin Dewees in the finale, and continued his UFC career as a gatekeeper of the middleweight division. Rivera is rumored to take on TUF Season 6 runner up C.B. Dolloway in his next fight.
[NR] Pete Sell
| Current Record: 7-4 (1-4 UFC) | Before: 7-1 (1-1 UFC) | On the show: 1-1 | After: 0-3 UFC |
Pete ‘Drago’ Sell impressed the fans in his UFC debut, choking out Phil Baroni late in the bout. In his second UFC matchup, Sell was TKO’d by Nate Quarry in what was a very controversial stoppage by referee Cecil Peoples. On the show, Sell defeated Charles McCarthy in a close decision, then lost another decision to Travis Lutter in the semifinals. Sell was stopped by Scott Smith in the finale, and dropped his next two UFC bouts as well – a decision loss to Thales Leites and a KO loss in a rematch with Quarry. The string of losses forced Smith to move down to 170 lbs; he will take on Josh Burkman in his first matchup as a welterweight.
[NR] Gideon Ray
| Current Record: 15-10-1 (0-3 UFC) | Before: 13-4-1 (0-2 UFC) | On the show: 0-1 | After: 2-6 (0-1 UFC) |
Gideon Ray is best remembered for the brutal TKO losses he suffered at the hands of David Loiseau and Mike Swick, as well as an extremely bloody battle with Dewees in an elimination bout on the show. Ray lost the decision in that fight, then was submitted by Charles McCarthy in the finale and was not brought back to the UFC. Though Ray has been the most active of all the fighters in his group since the show, he has only won two of last eight bouts.
[NR] Edwin Dewees
| Current Record: 35-13 (0-3 UFC) | Before: 34-9 (0-2 UFC) | On the show: 1-1 | After: 1-4 (0-1 UFC) |
With 43 professional bouts, most of them in Arizona’s Rage in the Cage promotion, Dewees was the most experienced middleweight on Season 4. His two prior UFC outings left him with two losses – a TKO stoppage by Rich Franklin, and an armbar submission loss to Chris Leben. Dewees ground out a bloody decision win against Gideon Ray but could not get past Patrick Cote in the semifinals. Edwin was then TKO’d by Jorge Rivera in the finale, and lost three of his last four bouts outside of the UFC.
[NR] Charles McCarthy
| Current Record: 10-5 [1 NC] (1-2 UFC) | Before: 9-4 [1 NC] (0-1 UFC) | On the show: 0-1 | After: 1-1 UFC |
Charles ‘Chainsaw’ McCarthy has only had one UFC bout prior to his appearance on TUF: a TKO loss to David Loiseau by the means of a body kick. His dour demeanor earned him the nickname of ‘Captain Miserable’ in the Ultimate Fighter house, where he was eliminated from the competition via a decision loss to Pete Sell. McCarthy defeated Gideon Ray in the finale, but suffered a brutal beating at the hands of Michael Bisping in his next bout, and announced his retirement from the sport shortly therafter.