The last time Travis Lutter fought was at UFC 67-All or Nothing when he faced middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Lutter was booed over and over when he didn’t make weight for that bout. Although he didn’t make the 185 pounds that he was supposed to, both fighters went at it anyway the following night. Unfortunately, the bout wasn’t as exciting to UFC fans because they just weren’t fighting for the belt anymore.
More than one year later, Lutter is now given another chance to redeem himself as he gets ready to take on Rich Franklin at UFC 83. Both fighters are coming back into the octagon after losing to the current champion– Anderson Silva.
Lutter expects a tough crowd that will most likely be going against him. The jeering will continue, but he’ll be looking to numb the voices of the crowd as he looks to add a win and move on with his fighting career. Here’s a snip from Lutter:
“I guess I’m gonna get booed pretty good again…I’m gonna have to make weight, fight again, and have a good showing
before I’m gonna be forgiven. But until that happens, I think people
are bitter"
Referring to his last fight with Anderson Silva:
“That was a bad day…I told (UFC President) Dana (White) before that I wasn’t gonna make
weight and it was terrible. You go out there, you train, you do
everything, you’ve got your hopes and your dreams, and before you even
get into the ring, your hopes and your dreams are crushed…The whole thing is that Anderson has lost before. The thing that people
have forgotten is that Anderson lost four fights, and he was winning
those fights when he lost. The only difference with me is that he was
losing that fight and he pulled something out of his ass to win.
(Laughs) He has looked inhuman and stuff like that except from when he
was going with me, and I think I can do that to him again…I think if I go out there and take Rich apart, I think there’s a good
chance that he (Silva) and I will meet shortly. If Rich and I go out
there and Rich beats me, then I go away probably, but if I go out there
and win a decision, I don’t know if I’d get a shot. I think it all
depends on how the fight goes.”
Thoughts on his fight with Rich Franklin:
“I think he’s definitely better than what he showed in those two fights against Silva…You’re just going up against somebody where everything that Rich does reallywell, Anderson just happens to do a little bit better. Rich is just fighting the wrong guy for him, whereas I think Rich is gonna be tough for me – it’s definitely not one you’re
gonna phone in. Rich is a tough guy for 99 percent of the guys out
there; Anderson just has the unique ability to make people look really,
really bad. But with that being said, since I’m such a different
fighter from Anderson or Rich, I feel like I match up with both of them
really, really well, and I think I can take Rich down. The gameplan’s
the same as it always is – take him down and beat him up.”
(props to ufc.com)
