Rich Clementi

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC Debut and ZST
4 The Ultimate Fighter
5 UFC Career
6 Mixed martial arts record
7 Gallery
8 External links

Profile

Rich "No Love" Clementi (born March 31, 1976) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former contestant of The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback.

He stands 5 ft. 9 in. (175 cm) tall and fights in the lightweight division (155 lbs.).

Clementi is a UFC veteran with his last fight taking place at UFC Fight Night 16.

Early Career

Rich Clementi made his professional mixed martial arts debut on October 9, 1999 at WEF 7: Stomp in the Swamp, losing via unanimous decision to Chris Seifert.

Clementi lost his next fight via decision as well before finally picking up the first win of his career at a one night four man tournament hosted by the Reality Combat Fighting promotion. He made Scott Melia tap to strikes in the opening round and then did the same to Aristides Brito in the final to clinch the tournament.

After stopping Dymitrius Wilson with punches in August of 2000, Clementi went on a four fight losing streak which including future UFC competitors, Ben Earwood, Steve Berger and Pete Spratt.

Clementi snapped the losing streak in March of 2001, in a fight that was the first win in a nine fight win streak that lasted up until February 28, 2003. Included amongst the nine victories were submission wins over future UFC competitors, Justin James and Joe Jordan.

UFC Debut and ZST

On the back of that nine fight win streak, Clementi made his UFC debut at UFC 41 on February 28, 2003. He was submitted by opponent, Yves Edwards with a rear naked choke in the third round to drop his record to 12-7.

Now out of the UFC, Clementi bounced back from the loss to Edwards with a knockout victory over Jon Weidler at a Freestyle Fighting Championships event in July of 2003.

After fighting to a draw with Hiroki Kotani at a ZST 4, Clementi entered the ZST 16-man lightweight grand prix. The opening round of the grand prix took place on November 23, 2003. Clementi moved into the final 8 with a unanimous decision win over Aloisio Barros.

The final three rounds of the Grand Prix were held on the one night, just under two months later. Clementi picked up unanimous decision victories over future UFC competitor, Noayuki Kotani in the quarter finals and then Tomomi Iwama in the semi-finals to move into the final to face Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, Marcus Aurelio.

The bout was over quickly as Clementi submitted because of a broken nose at 40 seconds of round 1.

Clementi dropped his next bout to David Gardner via decision before beginning another nine fight win streak which included a triangle choke submission win over Sergey Golyaev and an armbar submission win over future IFL lightweight champion, Ryan Schultz.

His win streak was broken on March 15, 2006 when he went down via unanimous decision to former UFC lightweight title challenger, Caol Uno at K-1: Hero's 4.

The Ultimate Fighter

Soon after dropping the decision to Uno, Clementi was selected as one of 16 UFC veterans for the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback.

The 16 combatants were split between two weight classes, welterweight and middleweight with Clementi being of the former. He headed up Team No Love, as opposed to Team Mojo, and faced off against Shonie Carter in the first fight of the season on episode 1. Carter defeated via Clementi after the first round to knock him out of the tournament.

At The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale, on November 11, 2006, Clementi was back in the lightweight class and facing off against fellow TUF 4 contestant, Din Thomas. Clementi had trouble making weight for the bout and was submitted by Thomas in the second round with a rear naked choke.

UFC Career

Clementi picked up his first UFC victory two months later, when he submitted TUF 3 contestant, Ross Pointon with a rear naked choke at UFC Fight Night 8.

Clementi's UFC record dropped to 1-3 in his next bout when he was submitted by Roan Carneiro at UFC Fight Night 9.

The loss prompted a return to the smaller shows to pick up some victories. Win he did, as he submitted Kyle Gibbons with a rear naked choke in the first round at an IFO event.

The win earned Clementi another fight in the UFC, a 177 lbs. catchweight bout on short notice against vicious striker, Anthony Johnson at UFC 76. Clementi took some big shots in the bout but ultimately came out on top in the second round, winning via rear naked choke.

Under a month later, Clementi stopped Antoine Skinner via TKO outside of the UFC. He resumed UFC duties at UFC 79 when he faced TUF 2's Melvin Guillard in a grudge match that had been in the making for many years. The two traded insults before the fight but during the fight a wild brawling Guillard was overcome by the ground game of Clementi. Clementi seized Guillard's back in the final minute of round 1 and made him tap with a rear naked choke. Clementi celebrated by standing over Guillard and motioning to his groin, a move which infuriated Guillard who restrained before he could retaliate.

At UFC 83, Clementi faced Canadian, Sam Stout on the show's undercard. After three rounds of action, Clementi was awarded a razor thin split decision victory.

Just over a month later, Clementi was back in the Octagon where he picked up his sixth consecutive victory with a unanimous decision win over Brit, Terry Etim at UFC 84.

In October of 2008, Clementi was given main card honors at UFC 90 when he faced off against TUF 5 semi-finalist, Gray Maynard. Clementi was completely neutralised by Maynard's wrestling and top control, eventually losing a lacklustre unanimous decision.

At UFC Fight Night 17, on February 2, 2009, Clementi was monstered by Gleison Tibau and submitted with a guillotine choke at 4:35 of round 1. Soon after the bout, he was released from his UFC contract.