Report: Travis Lutter released by UFC
April 27, 2008 by Sam Caplan
Middleweight tournament winner from the fourth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” Travis Lutter has been released by the UFC.
The news was broken by Pramit Mohapatra of FightTicker.com, who was informed of the development via e-mail by Lutter himself.
Lutter fought and lost to former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin on April 19 at UFC 83 in Montreal, Canada.
It was Lutter’s first bout since having lost a bout against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 67 in February of 2007. Lutter became infamous from the fight as a result of failing to make weight, thus forcing what had been a title match to become a non-title fight.
Lutter joins Kalib Starnes as fighters who lost at UFC 83 that have been released by the promotion in the days that have proceeded the event. The UFC is expected to pare down its roster of 200 fighters to somewhere in the 140-160 range.
Guess he was right when he said he would “never lose to Anderson Silva again.”
Other than gassing (although he claims he was hurt) and not making weight against Silva, Lutter was a decent fighter. I guess his anti-MMA fan rant probably helped with the UFC’s decision whether to retain him. That’s too bad because he’s not that bad of a fighter and would have made for some interesting middleweight match-ups — especially since the UFC doesn’t have the strongest middleweight division.
I’m not sure I like this decision; Lutter lost, but he made for some good fights against Silva and Franklin. He was still one of the better middleweights in the organization.
not a bad fighter, will help make one of the other up and coming orgs stronger.
Kinda lame. They want guys to fight exciting, balls to the wall fights, to take risks, and make it exciting. Dana and UFC fans seem to have a problem with guys playing it cautious, and just fighting not to lose. But then they cut a guy like Lutter after he loses to the champ, then the former champ. He put Silva in the most dangerous positionwe’ve seen him in, and looked very good in controlling Franklin, but he’s somehow not good enough?
It had to have been influenced by that interview.
This opens up some interesting possibilities for Lutter. There’s a lot to choose from, for a fighter of his calibre. Call me a grappler, but I’d love to see Lutter vs Lindland.
Historic first on this release .. he’s the first TUF winner to be let go
‘They want guys to fight exciting, balls to the wall fights, to take risks, and make it exciting.”
This is a business based on excitement.
i like Lutter a lot , he comes at you with 100% BJJ and gives his opponents fits. I think he will be a good pick up for strike force or someone else
BTW Cabelo -he already fought and lost to M the law Lindland
[...] Five Ounces of Pain | Report: Travis Lutter released by UFC __________________ War Huerta! War [...]
cabelo, lutter and linland have fought already, in the ufc, linland won by guillotine
It was released on Lutter’s myspace, not on Fight Ticker.
I don’t think his style was the reason he was cut. UFC doesn’t have an anti-BJJ attitude that I can see. Lutter’s problem was gassing twice in fights that were, at the time, the most important of his career. If he can’t or won’t train to an elite level of conditioning, he can’t perform at an elite level, and didn’t on two occasions. It’s a Darwinian world, especially in MMA. Flourish or perish.
First thing Lutter needs to do he must join a camp, he likes being a lone wolf but thats not helping him, maybe join Greg Jackson’s camp, Team Quest!, Hell Hammer House, no scrap that nobody that is interested in winning should train there.
idk..
i know Lutter lost a WHOLE LOTTA points with Dana after not making weight for his ONCE IN A LIFE-TIME title fight.. but.. to get cut.. after losing ONLY 2 FIGHTS IN A ROW [not to mention that the losses were to two top 10 MW's] is kind of ridiculous.. but.. i won’t miss him too much..
and…
“Historic first on this release .. he’s the first TUF winner to be let go”
unfortunately, we might see that again.. with Kendall Grove..
“Historic first on this release .. he’s the first TUF winner to be let go”
Did well to beat Grove on his current run. I reckon that Kendall’s got to be a strong contender for the chop if he can’t handle Tanner.
[...] Posted by Gavriel Lutter. Five Ounces of Pain | Report: Travis Lutter released by UFC well there we go lol, if grove loses to Tanner then hes gone __________________ More than [...]
I’ve got no sympathy for Lutter. It’s an insult to MMA fans to see a professional fighter show up and not be in the best possible fighting shape. Let alone do it twice in a row. We are the ones ultimately paying his salary. His little tirade about MMA fans didn’t sit very well with me either.
I don’t think it’s the losses. Liddell lost twice in row after all. It’s the way that Lutter lost. He came to the Silva fight overweight, gassed out, and lost. Not making weight for a title shot is hard to justify. He could’ve argued that the loss was because of the amount of weight he had to cut, and that he was too drained as a result. Then he came to the Franklin fight with plenty of time to prepare and supposedly having learned from his mistakes. But by the end of the second round he could hardly get back off the ground. He took some shots from Franklin, but that didn’t seem to be the problem. He just didn’t seem to have the cardio. So White sees a guy with great skills and potential who can’t or won’t spend the time to adequately prepare. In a very competitive business and in a competitive weight class, why give the guy a third chance? Who wants to spend money on his fight? If he had won against Franklin, he would have redeemed himself and enhanced his drawing power. I don’t think he has any left at this point, and White made a business decision. It’s too bad, but some guys just can’t put it together and make it to the next level.
It is a shame we never got to see Lutter really bring it. Hopefully, he will make a statement in a different promotion.
I am not really surprised by his release really. With all the fighters they have been releasing lately you could easily see Lutter being one based on his last two fights for the UFC.
I was wondering though if anyone knew why the UFC is releasing so many fighters? Is this just house cleaning?
“Lutter vs. Lindland”
It has happened before in the UFC and Lindland won by guillotine choke of all things.
Well I hate to Lutter get let go. I figured him being able to hand Silva was enough to let him hang on for a while, but I sure disappointed to see him gass so early against Franklin. I missed the comments he made about mma fans, does anyone have a link so I could see the video??
thanks
UFC is cutting it’s roster most likely because it was bolstering it against other promotions as a defensive measure. Since Zuffa has acquired most of the other popular promotions it does not need to keep “possible stars” away from the competition.
It can now trim the UFC and continue to build it as an “elite” MMA promotion while putting other mid grade talent out to their new found markets.
1. Divide
2. Conquer
3. Redistribute
4. Profit
HAHAHAHA! That’s what that punk gets for running his mouth too much. Happy Trails, Mr. I had Silva mounted or now Mr. I had Franklin armbarred. That’s all he’ll have left in mma. lol
I like how three people corrected me, but one was totally buried and chronologically pointless. Guess I shoulda checked if it’d happened, but I’d still like to see a rematch. Guillotine choke though? goddamn…..I’m not sure I even want to watch that.
“# 7 Evan Says:
April 27th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
‘They want guys to fight exciting, balls to the wall fights, to take risks, and make it exciting.”
This is a business based on excitement.”
Yeah, that’s what I was stating.
what exactly did you think I meant? what are you offering? You got nothing more than to rephrase what i said? I was pointing out the contradiction of running the business on that premise, but cutting guys for losing to the top 2 guys in their division. Musta gone right over your head.
# 17 Rln Says:
April 27th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
“It’s an insult to MMA fans to see a professional fighter show up and not be in the best possible fighting shape. Let alone do it twice in a row.”
He only missed weight once. I think Travis is the only one qualified to determine if he was rocked by a punch or gassed, for his fight with rich.
sorry cupitt, but I got served way back up the thread….:P
“I think Travis is the only one qualified to determine if he was rocked by a punch or gassed, for his fight with rich.”
Are you kidding dude?? He was standing there with his hands below his waist in the second round. He was clearly gassed, no doubt about it. Imagine how epic his fights with Franklin or Silva could have been if he had A level cardio.