First airing in 2005, The Ultimate Fighter is the longest running sports reality show airing today. Praised by many for being the catalyst for the rise of the popularity of MMA in the eyes of the masses, the show continues to draw new fans to the UFC with its constantly changing show themes, such as in the case in the ninth season which employed a country vs. country theme, with the United States competing against the United Kingdom, or that time they highly marketed a certain cast member on the tenth season, Kimbo Slice. After twenty three seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, the show has produced a number of champions, top contenders who have stayed in the top ten rankings of their divisions for multiple years, and sadly its fair share of fighters who only fought a few fights in the UFC.
With so many seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, many of the winners of the show are forgotten, or, in some cases, their time on the show was forgotten. Amongst these forgotten fighters are some of the best fighters in the UFC today, while others sadly were dropped from the UFC so quickly, no one saw them fight past their Ultimate Fighter Finale Bout. With the 23rd season of the show, The Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia, recently coming to an end, it's the perfect time to take a look back at these forgotten Ultimate Fighter winners and shine a light on where they are now.
15. Mac Danzig
[caption id="attachment_186761" align="alignnone" width="2048"] via mmacrossfire.com[/caption] In The Ultimate Fighter 6 tournament, The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra, we saw the elite wrestling prowess of Mac Danzig who dominated the tournament by employing his superior ground skills. In the season’s finale, using the aforementioned ground skills, Danzig submitted Tom Speer via rear naked choke in the very first round to become The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 winner. In the UFC, Danzig went through his share of wins and losses, amassing a record of 5-8 in the UFC, dropping three in a row from 2012 to 2013. Unfortunately, Danzig would not have the opportunity to rebound from the run of losses. In 2014, Mac Danzig announced his retirement from fighting as a result of severe concussions, stating “I must take into consideration how important my sustained brain function is and how tragic it would be to have Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s, dementia, etc”. Mac most recently worked as a mixed martial arts consultant for the The Legend of Korra, a Nickelodeon television series.14. Ryan Bader
[caption id="attachment_186879" align="alignnone" width="3810"] Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports[/caption] Ryan Bader, who attended Arizona State University where he was college wrestling teammates with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez and UFC middleweight CB Dollaway, was the first light heavyweight selected by coach Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on season 8 of The Ultimate Fighter. Once on the show, Bader defeated all three of his opponents to fight Vinicius Magalhaes on the finale of the show. He defeated Magalhaes by way of TKO in the first round, becoming The Ultimate Fighter season 8 winner. Bader went on to fight in the UFC, winning his first five fights, notably defeating his former Ultimate Fighter coach Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Since that time Bader has gone on to amass a 21-5 record. He is currently ranked 5th in the light heavyweight division and is set to fight Ilir Latifi at UFC Fight Night: Arlovski vs. Barnett later this summer, aiming to rebound from his recent TKO loss to Anthony Johnson.13. Matt Serra
[caption id="attachment_186771" align="alignnone" width="1280"] via bjjee.com[/caption]
Matt Serra competed on The Ultimate Fighter 4 Welterweight Tournament. He defeated all three of his opponents on route to winning the tournament, earning him a shot at the UFC welterweight belt against Georges St-Pierre. In a fight that the odds makers had Serra at a ten to one underdog, he rose to the challenge, forcing a TKO in the first round with a devastating session of punches. After a decade in the UFC, Serra called it quits in 2011, ending his career with a 17-7 record. Serra has kept himself intertwined with the sport after retirement, having served a period as a UFC on Fox analyst. He is currently one half of the UFC radio show UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra as well as a stable character on the UFC miniseries Dana White: Lookin' for a Fight. He started Serra/Longo Competition Team with MMA trainer Ray Longo, which currently trains former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman and Ultimate Fighter 15 finalist Al Iaquinta.