By Pramit Mohapatra

Travis Lutter is a UFC middleweight fighter who won the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality show on Spike TV in 2006. Since winning TUF 4, Lutter has gone up against arguably the top two fighters in the UFC middleweight division – Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin – and has come up short both times despite opening both matches in dominant fashion. In addition, Lutter’s inability to make weight for the Silva fight – a title fight – made him a lightning rod of sorts for displeased fans.

In a candid phone interview on Wednesday, Lutter spoke with me about his UFC 83 loss to Franklin, his desire to fight both Franklin and Silva again, where he’s going from here with his training, and his opinion of the folks sending him hate mail.

Fight Ticker: How are things going since the loss to Franklin on Saturday? How are you feeling and what have you been up to?

Travis Lutter: Disappointed I guess is the best way to put it. I got caught with a good punch right off the bat. I didn't feel like I performed as well as I could have. That happens. I’m starting to think about what I want to do next.

Fight Ticker: How did you feel prior to the UFC 83 weigh-ins knowing what had happened at your last weigh-ins?

Lutter: Nervous. The day’s leading up to the weigh-in I’m nervous but I don’t want to go through that pain again. I knew my weight was in check. You’re still nervous. I was just happy to get on the scale and make weight.

Fight Ticker: Did you feel pretty confident when you stepped on the scale that you knew you were going to make it?

Lutter: Yeah, I got to weigh in a little bit before that. I knew exactly what I weighed.

Fight Ticker: I’ve read that you said that one time last year was pretty much the only time you’ve ever missed weight. So, it seems like that was pretty much an aberration.

Lutter: Yeah, you can go back in my history from the time I was in sixth grade. I’ve been wrestling since sixth grade and I’ve never once missed weight. I had 52 wrestling matches my senior year of wrestling alone. That’s a lot of times making weight. And, I’ve got one time I missed weight – it just happened to be the biggest stage of my life unfortunately.

Fight Ticker: What was your game plan going in against Franklin?

Lutter: Take him down, beat him up. Like I said, I got caught – I haven’t watched the fight yet but some of my buddies told me I got caught with a pretty good punch about 18 seconds in.

Fight Ticker: Into the first round?

Lutter: Yeah, in the first round.

Fight Ticker: So, you achieved the mount in the first round and you locked in the armbar. Did you think you had the victory at that point?

Lutter: I really did. I really did. I thought I had him. I was really surprised when he was able to roll out. It’s pretty rare for somebody to get out. It’s just one of those things. Golf clap for Rich for getting out.

Fight Ticker: What were you thinking when Franklin escaped that armbar?

Lutter: Like I said, I got caught with that punch really early and I was hurt. I don’t think people really understand – I got hurt real early. I don’t really remember anything from that point ‘til I was passing his guard. I remember passing the guard, getting the mount – I knew I was hurt. I just wanted to get in [and] get out of there as soon as possible.

I knew I was hurt. I didn’t feel good physically. I just wanted to get in and get out of there right away.

Fight Ticker: So, pretty much you’re saying after 18 seconds into the fight you were pretty much on survival mode.

Lutter: Yeah, basically. That’s the way I felt about it.

Fight Ticker: Now Franklin said after the bout that he had game-planned assuming you would be lacking in conditioning. Do you think conditioning is a problem for you?

Lutter: I don’t think so. I think it came down to more [that] I got hurt early in the fight. I don’t know which fight he’s referring to or whatever. I’ve only had two fights go the distance – I won one, I lost one. I guess maybe he’s seeing something that I’m not. I don’t think my conditioning is usually a reason that I lose.

Fight Ticker: Ever since you won The Ultimate Fighter 4, you’ve lost your last two fights. It seems like to me that you’ve dominated two of the division’s top fighters and you ended up losing after the first round. How does that make you feel as a fighter knowing that you could dominate them but then in the end you end up losing?

Lutter: I walk away kind of conflicted. I’ve lost five fights. I think currently four of them are ranked in the top five, for sure the top ten. When you’re losing to Matt Lindland, Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, guys like that – it’s a fairly elite level that I’m losing to. And, how many of the first rounds have I lost in that time?

I win in the first round against these guys but I’m losing the war. So, it’s a little bit frustrating. I’m looking at my training and trying to figure out what I need to do to overcome that.

I’m getting a lot of emails and stuff like that they’re saying,”Oh, I wasn’t in shape” and I was in great shape that fight. Like I said, I got hit really, really early and that was a reason that I feel like my conditioning was not where it should be. When you get it, sometimes you go into survival mode – that’s what I was in. And, you’re not performing. But, I was in shape. You can ask anybody in my camp if I was in shape. I was definitely in shape. Sometimes you get hit and you’re never the same after that during the fight.

And, I still don’t feel like I really answered your question. It’s really, really disappointing to lose when you’re winning. It’s gratifying to know that I can beat these guys but it sure would be nice to get a win over them.

Fight Ticker: So, what’s the next step for you? What are you focusing on next?

Lutter: I put a feeler out to Paulie Ayala. He’s got a boxing gym here. I don’t know if you know who he is in the boxing world but he’s the former lightweight world champion in boxing. I think I’m going to start working with him on my stand up.

I’m looking at some other options as far as maybe I do have a problem with conditioning. I think I’m in shape. I’m in here doing the things that I saw other people do. It’s just like in the [TUF] house, I’m in there killing people with conditioning. There’s nobody that walks into my gym that’s going to out-train me.

So, looking at some different options. Thinking about using a hyper-baric chamber. I guess that’s the good thing about a loss is that it really makes you look at what you’re doing and try to decide if what you’re doing is good.

Fight Ticker: How many fights do you have left on your UFC contract?

Lutter: I have four fights.

Fight Ticker: Has the UFC contacted you since that fight or do you have any idea who your next opponent will be?

Lutter: No idea man.

Fight Ticker: Is there anyone that you would like to fight?

Lutter: At this point, I’m not going to say anything. It’s just whoever they feel like they want to put me in front of, I’m game. …whoever they want. I think I lost the right to request.

Fight Ticker: You mentioned Anderson Silva a lot before the fight against Rich Franklin. As I was watching your interviews and stuff, I kind of wondered to myself that maybe you were overlooking Franklin and thinking about Silva. Do you think you may have overlooked Franklin?

Lutter: I don’t think so. I was probably a half-inch, maybe even a quarter-inch, from breaking Rich Franklin’s arm. If we played that fight again I think I’ve got a real good shot at beating him. How close was I to getting my arm raised in both those fights? Sometimes luck is…

And, I’m not saying that Rich got lucky. I don’t want people sending me hate mail saying I was saying Rich got lucky. I’m just saying I got unlucky.

Fight Ticker: You seemed pretty confident before the Franklin fight that you could beat Silva. Do you still think you can beat Silva?

Lutter: I think I can beat Franklin. I think I can beat Silva. I’m not lacking for confidence. I still think I can beat them. I’m going to train to fight my next opponent with the idea of hopefully getting in the ring with both of them again.

I don’t have a vendetta against either one of them. I don’t give a crap about that. I just want to be considered one of the best in the world. Right now, I’m not on a good path for that.

Fight Ticker: Would you like a rematch with Franklin? Is that something you think about?

Lutter: Yeah, I’d love to. I’d love to fight Franklin again.

Fight Ticker: Who would you say is the top middleweight out there in the world today?

Lutter: Matt Lindland.

Fight Ticker: Where do you think this performance at UFC 83 puts you in the UFC middleweight division?

Lutter: I don’t know man. Lost probably (laughs). That’s probably a good place to put it. I think it makes it a tough place for opponents where it’s like, “Wow, do I really want to fight Travis? He’s had some bad luck but he’s still dangerous, blah blah blah.” Whose really going to be standing there saying that they want a piece of Travis right now? I don’t see a lot of people saying, “This is a great fight for me, even though he’s lost his last two fights.”

Fight Ticker: Now, a lot of people are saying Anderson Silva – maybe GSP – is the number one pound-for-pound fighter. You’re saying that Lindland is probably the best middleweight out there. What do you think gives the edge to Lindland over Silva?

Lutter: I think his wrestling. I’m not going to go out on a limb and say that GSP would beat Anderson Silva because he is a lot smaller, stuff like that, but I’d watch it. It’d be fun to watch.

I think if Lindland fought him I think it’s without a doubt that he would beat him. I think there’s a good chance that a prepared GSP could beat Anderson also.

Fight Ticker: I was watching the “Countdown to UFC 83” on Spike. I saw that you’ve gotten back together with your wife. From a fighter’s perspective – for the average fan – when you lose a fight like this, talk about how it feels generally speaking – are you positive about your life? Does it bring you down? How do you think about your life as a whole after a fight like this?

Lutter: Man, life is basically good. I get to go out there and one of the parts of my job is that I get to fight in front of people. The down side is sometimes you lose. But the good thing is I’m getting to do what I want to do. I don’t have a job where I’ve got to punch a time clock. I don’t have a boss that’s telling me that he needs a report. All these things. I get to control my own destiny in a way.

Life is good. Am I a little down right now? Yeah, I’m definitely down. I’m disappointed in my performance. And I probably beat myself up a little more than I probably need to be. That’s just part of life. It’s just a part of it.

Fight Ticker: When are you going to get back into training and gearing up for your next fight?

Lutter: I don’t know if I’m going to train tomorrow but for sure by next Monday I’ll be back doing everything I usually do.

The other crazy thing you didn’t bring up is – and you can post this or not post this – fans of this sport just suck.

Fight Ticker: Oh ok. Talk to me about that a little.

Lutter: In my interview on the Countdown show, I talked about people sending the guy hate mail and stuff like that and I got hate mail from that. You lose, you get hate mail. You say, “I think I can beat this guy” [and] you get hate mail.

It’s crazy. It’s literally – I don’t understand the people that are watching this. It’s a total lack of respect for the fighters. Some of them I wrote back, “What have you done? What have you accomplished with your pathetic life?” It’s not a nice thing to say but it just sucks having these guys write to you and say the things that they say. It’s crazy. It really is.

I’m not like Serra where you’re just – Serra could give a fuck. People suck. I think it’s amazing. I definitely don’t fight for those people. I fight for me. Use that in your article or not, whatever. But, fans suck.

Fight Ticker: Let me just follow up on that. I hear what you’re saying. Would you say it’s because MMA fans are really passionate or what do you think is motivating them to say what they say?

Lutter: I think most of them are dumb-ass kids. I’m not saying MMA fans. I’m saying the people that are writing me this shit. I think the average MMA fan rules. They’re following my sport. I like them a lot.

But, the guy who is taking the time out of his day that lives in Kentucky to email me to tell me what a piece of shit I am. You really have to question, what is his motivation? How sad of an individual is that? I don’t know what to say to that. It’s like, “I saw you on TV so you suck. As a fighter you suck. You’ve got no cardio, blah blah blah.” What motivates these guys to send hate mail? I don’t understand it.

Maybe I shouldn’t even touch on this subject. It’s one of those things. I’m sure Serra’s getting hate mail too. Whoever is getting hate mail. Kalib Starnes – he got fired from the UFC for his performance. And that was a bad performance. He didn’t fight.

Me, I went in there, I tried to kill the guy and I ended up getting beat and I’m getting an amazing amount of hate mail. I don’t understand it from a fighter’s perspective.

Fight Ticker: So are you saying you’re getting hate mail after this fight as well?

Lutter: Oh dude, it’s insane. It’s crazy.

Fight Ticker: I know a lot of people were pissed off because you didn’t make weight last year. Do you think that sensitized them to you and all of a sudden you’re on their radar screen?

Lutter: I think I was on TV and I have a Web site for my school and it’s easy to get a hold of me is part of it. And, I don’t know if people have too much time on their hand. You obviously don’t understand fighting if you’re telling me I didn’t train for the fight. Your opinion is completely and totally null and void at that point in time in my mind. But, I’m not a machine. I’m a human being that is out there performing and I was literally within -- like I said -- a half-inch, quarter of an inch, of winning that fight and people feel compelled to tell me what a piece of crap I am…What the hell’s wrong with people? I just don’t get it.

I just don’t understand it. I got punched in the first round. Let me punch you in the head, you try to grapple with me.

(Photo of Travis Lutter courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)