The Man That Saved TUF: How George Sotiropoulos Covered the Black Eye

Last week I wrote an article looking at the past successes (or failures) of Ultimate Fighter (TUF) alumni. While the show has been a widely-watched, critical success, the results of alumni in the ring have been mixed.

The tepid careers of TUF fighters have never been more evident than they were on Saturday night. Lost in the headline stealing match-ups was the fact that seven TUF alumni, including three champions, were on the card. The four biggest were Season 1 Middleweight runner-up, Kenny Florian, and Light-Heavyweight champ, Forrest Griffin, were each fighting in the two co-main events. Season 3 champ, Kendall Grove, was on the main card against Ricardo Almeida and Season 7 winner, Amir Sadollah, was making his first octagon appearance since his title, in a fight against UFC new-comer Johnny Hendricks.

Maybe there was a reason that storyline wasn't played up. Not only did each former contestant come out on the losing end on Saturday night, they all did it in extremely unimpressive fashion, leaving it to a forgotten, semi-final loser to pick up the pieces. 

We all have heard enough about the domination that Griffin suffered at the hands of Silva, but perhaps he can be forgiven. Silva is in fact the UFCs pound-for-pound king and a clearly more skilled fighter than Griffin.

Florian's loss was a little more troubling considering the amount he was talking beforehand and the impressive win streak that he has rattled off in recent years. But on Saturday night he proved that he was no match for Penn, the class of his division, as he continuously failed to mount any semblance of a victory push.

Grove and Sadollah were even worse. Despite a massive height and reach advantage, Grove was unable to keep the fight on its feet and did zero damage in a unanimous decision loss, while Amir lasted 29 seconds in a quick, albeit controversial TKO loss to Hendricks. 

Luckily, George Sotiropoulos was there to pick up the pieces. A heavy favorite on Season 6, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt displayed impressive submission skills and KO power on his way to the semi-finals before getting sloppy, and falling victim to a big punch from eventual runner-up, Tommy Speer. 

Since the shows conclusion Sotiropoulos has been training at Xtreme Couture and quietly putting on impressive performances inside the octagon. The Australian native submitted Billy Miles with a rear naked in round 1 of the Season 6 finale, before returning to TKO Roman Mitichyan in the second round of their fight in April of 2008.

After an injury lay-off, he made his way onto the preliminary card for Saturday's fight, taking on George Roop. It was the first time Sotiropoulos has fought at his new 155 lb. pound weight class, making him a fairly large 5'10" lightweight. 

Needless to say, it was a performance that made people take note. Just under two minutes into the second round, Sotiropoulos locked Roop into a Kemura so tight that it looked as though Roop's arm might break off.

The victory pushed Sotiropoulos to 10-2, with only three of his wins going to decision, none of which have been fought in the UFC. 

Maybe it's not too late to change my mind about TUF alumni.