Rich Clementi (Pictures) (23-11-1) gained notoriety during his stint on TUF 4. He scrapped right away, taking on Shonie Carter (Pictures) on the first episode. Carter, the unorthodox veteran, gave Clementi all he could handle in the early going. The crafty Carter foiled submission attempt after submission attempt before winning a unanimous decision.
“No Love” Clementi was given a coin flip’s chance of getting back in the mix due to the ejection of Jeremy Jackson (Pictures). No one wanted a piece of him more than Matt Serra (Pictures) and he almost got his wish because Pete Spratt (Pictures) nearly let Clementi fight for him. However, Spratt lost and put Serra in the contract round.
Prior to the show Clementi made just one UFC appearance. He tangled with the heavily favored Yves Edwards (Pictures) and hung with the Texan into the final minute of the three-round bout before being submitted via rear-naked choke. Re retuned to the cage last November in a bout on the TUF 4 finale. He was choked out by Din Thomas (Pictures) in the second round.
Ross Pointon (4-7 in MMA) was a contestant on TUF 3 and was one of two Brits in the cast. He was eliminated from competition when he was submitted via rear-choke by Kendall Grove (Pictures). However, when Matt Hamill fell out of the competition due to injury, Ross was brought back.
Pointon was eliminated a second time when fellow Brit Michael Bisping (Pictures) pounded him strikes in the first round. It was the second time he and Bisping had clashed, and both bouts resulted in losses for Pointon. The kickboxing instructor and karate black belt was choked out via triangle choke by Rory Singer (Pictures) last June in his only Octagon appearance since the show.
Pointon is 1-7 in his last eight bouts and his only weapon here is that he’s fearless. He will fight anyone and even went up a weight class on the show when others opted not to continue. No disrespect to Ross but Rich is being fed a beatable opponent and these two have been matched up in hopes of seeing a toe-to-toe battle ending in a stunning knockout. Clementi is an interesting character and it seems the UFC would love him to work his way up to a meeting with someone like Joe Riggs (Pictures) or Karo Parisyan (Pictures).