20 Seasons of 'The Ultimate Fighter': Part I

Picking out the worst draft picks from the first 20 seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter” is almost more difficult than picking out the best ones, precisely because most of the drafts are so awful. For some of these picks, the reasons are apparent — personal friendship, team affiliation — while others made no sense, even at the time. Buckle up, and know that the honorable mentions list here could just as well have been “half the fighters.” Keep in mind that these aren’t the worst fighters, but the worst draft picks. As with the best draft steals, these picks are considered in the context of their season casts; it’s worse to be picked early if fighters chosen later went on to do great things, while it matters less if the whole group was mediocre.

1. Joe Scarola

Season 6 (Team Serra)
Original Draft Position: 1 (of 16)
Redraft Position: 16
Post-TUF Record: 0-0

It doesn’t get any worse than this, and probably never will, not even if “TUF” runs for another 40 seasons. Scarola, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Matt Serra, was picked first overall by his coach thanks to their friendship — Scarola had been best man at Serra’s wedding — and a professional relationship that included Scarola teaching at Serra’s gym. Scarola’s “TUF” experience consisted of a bad loss to eventual season winner Mac Danzig, followed by a couple of weeks of being a miserable malcontent. Finally, despite an on-camera scolding by Dana White and a flat-out ultimatum from Serra that he would lose his teaching job, Scarola was allowed to go home at his own request. He never fought professionally again. Scarola’s most lasting legacy may be that he is the fighter most directly responsible for future seasons of the show featuring an elimination round before even moving into the house.

2. Shayna Baszler

Season 18 (Team Rousey)
Original Draft Position: 2 (of 8)
Redraft Position: 7
Post-TUF Record: 0-3 (0-2 UFC)

“The Queen of Spades” made a certain amount of sense as Team Rousey’s first pick on Season 18. She shared Roxanne Modafferi’s pioneer status and wealth of fight experience, only with better apparent athleticism and a head-to-head win. Unfortunately, Baszler did nothing to justify those lofty expectations, either on or after the show. She was eliminated on the second episode by Team Tate’s top draft pick, eventual tournament winner Julianna Pena, then settled into a role for the rest of the season as Rousey’s wingwoman in acting the heel. Baszler ended up going winless for the remainder of her MMA career, which is especially damning in light of the fact that three of Team Tate’s women are still in the UFC, two have fought for titles and the third is about to do so. Baszler may have gotten the last laugh, however, as her friendship with Rousey and flair for theatrics have carried over to a successful career in professional wrestling.

3. Louis Gaudinot

Season 14 (Team Bisping)
Original Draft Position: 1 (of 8)
Redraft Position: 5
Post-TUF Record: 3-4, 1 NC (1-3, 1 NC UFC)

Gaudinot is one of the most perplexing “TUF” draft picks ever. He was not particularly experienced, he was well-rounded but had no single outstanding skill, and most importantly, he was incredibly undersized even standing among fellow bantamweights. “Goodnight” as first overall pick might not be so awful if the next two men taken were not John Dodson and T.J. Dillashaw. Ouch. Gaudinot’s “TUF” run and subsequent career consist of a fantastic win over John Lineker, surrounded by a lot of examples of Gaudinot being pushed around by much bigger fighters.

4. Cristiano Marcello

Season 15 (Team Faber)
Original Draft Position: 4 (of 16)
Redraft Position: 12
Post-TUF Record: 1-3

Like Baszler, Marcello was probably overdrafted due to his existing body of work. He was a longtime member of the legendary Chute Boxe Academy and had even fought in Pride Fighting Championships. At 34, he was also the oldest cast member by several years, and either physically or mentally, just didn’t have much left to give. Marcello’s “TUF” experience was especially humiliating, as he was the one chosen when opposing coach Dominick Cruz put up his top overall draft pick, Justin Lawrence, and invited Urijah Faber to “pick [his] best guy” to face him. The accomplishments of the two men taken immediately after Marcello, Myles Jury and Daron Cruickshank, underscore what a miserable pick he was at the four spot.

5. Bobby Southworth

Season 1 (Team Liddell)
Original Draft Position: 1 (of 16)
Redraft Position: 11
Post-TUF Record: 4-3, 1 NC (0-1 UFC)

Southworth is the original “TUF” draft bust. It isn’t just that he was taken first overall; in a mixed draft of light heavyweights and middleweights, there wasn’t even another 205-pounder taken until Stephan Bonnar at No. 6. That was apparently the perceived gap in quality between Southworth and the pack. The pick wasn’t completely out of left field, as Southworth was experienced, and had the American Kickboxing Academy connection and the cachet of having fought in Pride. Southworth was also the original “TUF” heel, as he bullied various housemates for the duration of the season, bringing in Koscheck as wingman for much of it, just being generally unpleasant and setting the archetype for many others to follow. After a loss to Sam Hoger at the season finale, he returned to the Bay Area for good.

6. Corey Hill

Season 5 (Team Pulver)
Original Draft Position: 2 (of 16)
Redraft Position: 11
Post-TUF Record: 5-9 (1-2 UFC)

Owner of one of the most bitterly ironic MMA nicknames ever, “The Real Deal” got to lay in the bed he made. Hill was drafted second overall by Jens Pulver, due in part to his imposing 6-foot-4 lightweight frame, but due in larger part to having lied his ass off about his credentials. Once the show was under way, he revealed that his professional record was not 10-0 as he had claimed, but 1-0. Unfortunately, everything from there on out seemed to be a little too much, too soon for an otherwise promising fighter. Hill would not be so high on this list if not for the fact that Season 5 was absolutely loaded; his falsified record helped hoist him past the likes of Nate Diaz, Joe Lauzon and Cole Miller in that draft, just to name three men who would go on to earn double-digit UFC wins. Hill is probably best known to fans for his horrific leg break against Dale Hartt, and passed away tragically young in 2015, at the age of 36.

7. Junie Allen Browning

Season 8 (Team Mir)
Original Draft Position: 1 (of 8)
Redraft Position: 6
Post-TUF Record: 3-6 (1-1 UFC)

Browning might be far higher on this list if not for the Season 8 lightweight cast being one of the worst in series history. Yes, he was a terrible No. 1 pick for Frank Mir, but none of his castmates posted a winning record in the UFC either, so it’s difficult to call him an all-time bust. “Lunatik,” of course, became infamous as the most unhinged, drunken miscreant the show had seen up to that point. Browning’s sole UFC win came against comic relief castmate David Kaplan, and in his next Octagon appearance, it took him less than two minutes to learn the folly of calling Cole Miller’s jiu-jitsu overrated.

8. Kevin Ferguson

Season 10 (Team Rampage)
Original Draft Position: 2 (of 16)
Redraft Position: 10
Post-TUF Record: 2-1, 1 NC (1-1 UFC)

Ferguson is the perfect example of how bad Quinton Jackson was at drafting. By the time of Season 10, the mystique was gone and “Kimbo Slice” was no longer the backyard brawler listed at 260 pounds on grainy videos, and thanks to Seth Petruzelli’s jab heard ‘round the world, he was no longer the pillar holding up EliteXC. Instead, he was very much a known quantity: a 35-year-old, 230-pound heavyweight with pretty good boxing, but severe deficiencies in every other aspect of MMA. “Rampage” took him with his first pick, passing up Brendan Schaub, Roy Nelson and Matt Mitrione to do so. Ferguson’s fate, predictably, consisted of getting embarrassed by opponents with any ground game, with his lone UFC win coming in a 215-pound catchweight fight against Houston Alexander, a man brought back to the promotion specifically to give him a winnable fight. Ferguson came back a few years later and defeated Ken Shamrock and Dhafir Harris in nonsense matchups, the latter overturned to a no-contest, before dying sadly young at age 42.

9. Kyacey Uscola

Season 11 (Team Ortiz)
Original Draft Position: 3 (of 14)
Redraft Position: 14
Post-TUF Record: 3-9 (0-0 UFC)

While Tito Ortiz was surprisingly engaged as a “TUF” coach in his multiple stints on the show, he was unremittingly awful as a judge of talent. Case in point: While Chuck Liddell banked away late-round gold like Brad Tavares and Court McGee in the Season 11 draft, Ortiz used his second pick on Uscola. “Ice Cold” was the most experienced cast member, but he was barely over .500 and had lost to all the good fighters he had faced. He was a middling athlete, armed chiefly with the belief that he was going to run right through the season tournament. He lost twice on the show, thanks to the magic of wild card picks — three times, really, if you count getting bitten on the penis by a dog. After the show, he quickly slid into irrelevance as a fighter, broken up only by making the news as a horrific criminal.

10. James McSweeney

Season 10 (Team Rashad)
Original Draft Position: 1 (of 16)
Redraft Position: 5
Post-TUF Record: 12-14 (1-2 UFC)

“The Hammer” didn’t work out too badly — picked first, went fifth in the redraft article — but you can’t judge some of these picks purely on the results. McSweeney simply did not make a bit of sense as the top overall pick. He had professional kickboxing experience, but not at a particularly high level. He was fairly tall, but might have been the lightest cast member, and would go on to fight at light heavyweight. Most glaringly, he was the only fighter on the cast with a losing record. It was just bizarre, but as stated previously, it didn’t work out too badly. This pick might be higher on the list if not for the fact that Jackson took “Kimbo Slice” with the very next pick; if Jackson had taken Nelson, Mitrione or Schaub, this pick would look absolutely dreadful.

Honorable Mention: Mike Whitehead (Season 2), Len Bentley (Season 13), Brandon Melendez (Season 5), Dominic Waters (Season 16), Seth Petruzelli (Season 2), Marc Stevens, (Season 12).