Chris "Lights Out" Lytle: A Fight Fan's Fighter

In our current economic state with the job market shrinking and employment becoming more limited and valuable, life inside the UFC is no different. It seems following every UFC event, there is a list of talented fighters cut from their roster after losing just two, and sometimes only one fight.

Fighter Jake Rosholt recently received his walking papers after being tapped out by Kendall Grove in a fight he had been dominating, despite coming off of an impressive win over Chris Leben.

Middleweight contender Thales Leites was also recently fired after losing a title fight to Anderson Silva and a close split decision to Alessio Sakara. His prior five fight win streak was seemingly forgotten.

However, there are exceptions to the cold pitiless upper brass of the UFC. Proof that it’s not just about the “W” and the “L”.

Chris Lytle is currently 7-9 in the UFC, and 5-9 before his last two fights. The first of which was featured live on Spike TV.

So, how is it that Lytle stays employed, when so many others are always on such thin ice?

Well, if you’ve ever watched him fight, then that might not be a hard question to answer.

Lytle started his UFC career at UFC 28 in November of 2000 with a decision loss to Ben Earwood. He would go 9-3-1 in different promotions before returning at UFC 45 in November of 2003 in a competitive slugfest with the highly touted Robbie Lawler. Lytle would lose a decision, but gain many fans from the fight.

Chris went on to win his two UFC fights in 2004 against Tiki Ghosn and Ronald Juhn, both by submission, and then lose two to contenders Karo Parisyan (decision) and Joe Riggs (TKO) in 2005.

During all of this time, Lytle had continued his full time job as a firefighter in Indianapolis. He had stated in an interview he would never quit his job, no matter how much money he could make from fighting.

In 2006, the UFC began production on the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, in which they would bring back previous fighters to compete for a new contract and a shot at the title. Chris, 2-4 in the UFC at this point, was offered a spot in the cast and excitedly accepted.

It was the first time he would have a full training camp, taking six weeks off of work for the show.

Lytle won his two fights on the show against Pete Spratt and Din Thomas, earning him a spot in the finals against Matt Serra (the fights on the show are considered exhibitions and don’t go on a fighters record in order to keep the results secret until the show airs).

The fight with Matt Serra would end in a very lackluster split-decision for Serra. It was a very hard fight to score that could have gone either way, but it would mark a change in Lytle’s approach to fighting.

After the loss, Lytle vowed to aggressively try to finish every fight and to leave it all in the octagon. He said he had tried to win the Serra fight on the scorecards and regretted that mentality.

He was then awarded a new UFC contract due to the close split decision, with the first fight coming against former champion, Matt Hughes. He would lose a decision by being outwrestled by Hughes, but gained respect for his performance against top competition.

At UFC 73, Lytle faced off against Jason Gilliam, submitting him with an inverted triangle/ straight armbar and winning his first fight bonus of $40,000 for Submission of the Night.

At this time, Chris was making $10,000 to show and $10,000 to win for each fight, so the bonus money was well above what he normally made.

His next fight was a stand up war against Thiago Alves. The fight was stopped due to controversial doctor stoppage after Chris received a cut over his eye. He would lose the fight, but would be awarded Fight of the Night, giving him another bonus, this time for $55,000.

Chris would end up with a bonus in five of his next six fights, despite losing two of them. A Knockout of the Night against Kyle Bradley for $60,000, a Fight of the Night against Paul Taylor for $40,000, a Fight of the Night against Marcus Davis for $40,000, a Fight of the Night against Kevin Burns for $25,000, and a Submission of the Night against Brian Foster for $50,000.

Since July of 2007, Chris Lytle has made $310,000 in bonuses alone. He is the only fighter with more than five bonuses in their career (with seven).

Despite having a wife with four kids and working for the fire department 48 hours a week, Chris Lytle has become one of the most appreciated fighters in the UFC. While he may not be in any main events or fighting for a title any time soon, the real fight fans always look forward to his fights.

He has compiled a pro boxing record of 13-1-1 (UFC contracts prohibit fighters from boxing, or else he would most likely have more) and an MMA record of 28-17-5.

Stated Lytle in an interview from 2009, “If I start feeling like I don’t have any chance to do anything in the cage, and I’m just taking fights for the money, at that point I’d be done. But right now I enjoy it and I feel like I have a lot to offer. Right now my goal is basically just to put on the best fights I can.”

Chris is the kind of fighter that will always have a job.