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CounterPuncher · 02-22-2008, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crashsti

Its a known fact that TUF does'nt showcase the toughes or the best fighters. However i will have to say either Jason Thacker or Josh Rafferty. They both competed in season one with Thacker never even getting to fight on the show and Rafferty, who despite training with Rich Franklin showed nothing in the cage. Thacker has since disappeared from the planet and Rafferty is slumming it up in some pro wrestling circuit that may be coming to an high school gymnasium near you soon. They set the standard and i don't think anyone else has looked as bad since.

Actually Rafferty is on a three fight win streak, and is headlining an XFO event tonight.

Quote:

Josh Rafferty (8-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC), an original cast member of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, will go for his fourth consecutive victory when he takes on one-time WEC fighter Kevin Knabjian (7-3-1) in the main event of Friday’s Xtreme Fighting Organization event.

The 13-fight event takes place at the Holiday Inn in Crystal Lake, Ill. The XFO is one of the Midwest’s more popular MMA organizations and has hosted notables such as UFC stand-out Clay Guida, UFC/PRIDE fighter Travis Wiuff, “The Ultimate Fighter 7” cast member Luke Zachrich, former UFC fighter Sean Salmon and WEC vet Jeff Curran.

The Cincinnati-based Rafferty, who trained extensively with Rich Franklin early in the former champ’s career, was a member of Team Liddell on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” However, he was later sent to Team Couture to balance the squads, and he was then forced to fight former teammate and friend Diego Sanchez. Sanchez posted a quick first-round TKO of Rafferty on his was to winning the show.

Rafferty returned at the show’s live finale and suffered a first-round TKO to Alex Karalexis. He fought four months later and scored a victory at a Reality Combat Fighting event but then took nearly two years off from competition. However, he went 2-0 last year, which included a 16-second TKO of Drew Reed at an October XFO show.

He’ll now look to make it four in a row — and five of his past six — at tomorrow’s event.

Knabjian, 23, is a Chicago-based fighter who’s competed throughout the Midwest. After piecing together a five-fight win streak, he earned a WEC fight in June 2007. However, he suffered a quick knockout to a very tough Brock Larson (22-2). Knabjian, though, rebounded for a first-round submission of John Lee two months later at an American Bushido event.