Travis Lutter

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC (2004-2005)
4 The Ultimate Fighter
5 UFC (2007-2008)
6 Mixed martial arts record
7 Gallery
8 External links

Profile

Travis "The Serial Killer" Lutter (born May 12, 1973) is an American professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Carlos Machado.

He stands 5 ft. 11 in. (180 cm) tall and fights in the middleweight (185 lbs.) division.

Lutter was The Ultimate Fighter 4 middleweight winner and is a UFC veteran. He is currently unsigned to any major promotion.

Early Career

Travis Lutter made his professional mixed martial arts debut for the Power Ring Warriors promotion on November 7, 1998. He defeated his opponent, James Cooper, via decision to successfully kick off his career.

After a rear naked choke submission win over Chris Munsen in his next bout, Lutter suffered his first professional defeat when he was stopped with punches in the third round against Jorge Rivera.

Lutter rebounded from the opening loss of his career by submitting Mark Epstein with a rear naked choke in his next professional bout over a year later.

In April, 2004, Lutter improved to 4-1 as he submitted Grzegorz Jakubowski with a kimura in the first round.

UFC (2004-2005)

With just five fights, Lutter earned himself a call-up to the UFC where he faced off against Marvin Eastman in his debut at UFC 50. The first round was a tedious one as Lindland tried and failed on multiple times to get the fight to the mat, while Eastman chose to defend the takedown instead of throwing strikes. The second round was the complete opposite as 43 seconds in Lutter threw a right hand that grazed Eastman's nose but nevertheless knocked him cold. It was the first TKO of Lutter's career and first UFC victory.

Six months later, Lutter was back in UFC action against 2000 Olympic Silver Medalist in Greco Roman wrestling, Matt Lindland at UFC 52. Lutter was always a step behind in the bout and midway through the second round was caught in a guillotine choke and submitted.

Lutter headed to the Cage Rage promotion after the loss where he scored a confidence building submission win of Matt Ewin.

With the Ewin victory in his pocket, Lindland faced off against good friend, Trevor Prangley, at UFC 54. Lutter was outworked by the South African en route to a clear unanimous decision defeat.

The Ultimate Fighter

The loss to Prangley saw Lutter temporarily out of the UFC. In his first fight after leaving he flew over to England to fight again for the Cage Rage organization. He faced Brazilian legend and PRIDE veteran, Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons and impressively submitted him with an armbar at 4:00 of round 1.

Just over three months later, Lutter made it two armbar submission wins in a row as he submitted Cedric Marks in 1:15 of round 1 at an International Freestyle Fighting event.

Shortly after the victory, Rivera signed on as one of eight middleweight contestants on The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback.

The show offered UFC veterans who had had little to no success in the Octagon a chance at redemption with the winner of each weight class earning themselves a shot at their respective division's champion.

Lutter faced off against Scott Smith in the opening round of the competition and after several moments of awkward maneuvering, secured his back and submitted him with a rear naked choke.

At the semi-final stage, Lutter faced Pete Sell. Lutter stuck true of his simple style of takedowns and ground work en route to a wide unanimous decision win.

He met Canadian, Patrick Cote at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale and exploited Cote's subpar ground game quickly as he submitted him with an armbar in 2:18 of round 1 to win the show and earn himself a shot at middleweight champion, Anderson Silva.

UFC (2007-2008)

Lutter's chance at the middleweight title came at UFC 67 but that chance was blown out of the water before he even reached the cage as he failed to make weight for the bout - missing by 1.5 lbs. The fight was changed to a non-title affair with Lutter taking the first round after securing mount and threatening with an armbar. The second was a different story though as Lutter fell into a triangle choke trying to avoid upkicks. Over a minute later of choking and vicious elbows, Lutter submitted.

Scheduled to return at UFC 74 against Ryan Jensen, Lutter was forced to pull out of the bout due to injury. He instead returned at UFC 83 in April, 2008 against former middleweight champion, Rich Franklin. Lutter again threatened with mount and an armbar in the first round but gassed and was beaten senseless in the second, finally going down via TKO.

After the bout Lutter was released from his UFC contract.