Travis Lutter - The Serial Killer 4th Degree BJJ Black Belt

1. Travis Lutter’s Details

2. Travis Lutter’s Biography

Travis Lutter was born on May 12, 1973, raised in Gann Valley, South Dakota. Travis Lutter is a retired American MMA artist. He is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, honored by Carlos Machado. He has won The Ultimate Fighter 4 reality T.V. show. Travis owns a martial arts training center that specializes in teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, mixed martial arts, and boxing in Fort Worth, TX.

2.1. Travis Lutter’s Early Life and Amateur Fighting

Travis Lutter comes from a family of farmers. He started wrestling at a very early age when he was only 12, continuing from high school to the first two years of college.

In May 1992, Travis graduated high school and went to Aberdeen South Dakota College. He started getting into JKD and Muay Thai around this time.

Travis had mainly begun training in Muay Thai, but his interest grew towards jiu-jitsu after he watched UFC 1. The tournament had a great impact on Travis.

In 1993, he was introduced to jiu-jitsu by Royce Gracie.

2.2. Travis Lutter’s MMA Career

In August 1997, he moved to Texas and started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlos Machado. He began fighting in grappling events regularly.

Travis met Carlinhos at Gracie Barra while he was training for the Worlds in Rio, Brazil.

He won 2nd place as a blue belt in the 1998 World Tournament. He won every jiu-jitsu match he had up until the finals.

In 1998, Travis opted to compete in mixed martial arts (MMA) for $100. His MMA career was put on hold until the prize money earned in this sport got better.

He returned to jiu-jitsu and won two ADCC North American trials, earning a seat in the ADCC finals.

In 2000, he went back again and won third place Purple Belt.

Lutter returned to mixed martial arts in 2002, winning the HOOKnSHOOT Championship and was awarded his black belt a few weeks later by Carlos Machado. After things began to look up for Travis financially, he made the decision to devote more of his time and energy to MMA and quit his competitive BJJ career.

3. Travis Lutter’s Historic Fights

In 2005, Travis made his UFC debut, quickly establishing himself as a successful member of the organization’s middleweight division. He rose to the position of number two finalist for the company’s championship belt following his victory at TUF season 4 and loss against Anderson Silva.

3.1. Ultimate Fighting Championship 67 Fail

The day before UFC 67 on February 4, 2007, Travis failed to meet the weight requirement on the day of the weigh-in. For his first attempt, he weighed 187 pounds and then 186.5 lbs only two hours later during his second attempt. Due to his inability to meet the 185-pound weight requirement, his fight with Silva was modified to a three-round non-title bout. He was hissed by many fans as he entered the Octagon for his next fight. Travis went on to lose the fight in the second round after being subdued by a triangle choke.

In an interview by NBCSports, Travis Lutter explained, “I really didn’t think I was too heavy until about four hours beforehand. I knew at the time I was in a lot of trouble. I told the guys, this is not good. And the weird thing was, I was ahead of schedule on paper. We keep track of weight cuts from fight to fight. And as compared to my fight against Patrick Cote (November 2006), we were 1.5 hours ahead as far as time”.

3.2. Ultimate Fighting Championship 74

On August 25, 2007, Travis was set to make his return to the UFC at UFC 74. He was scheduled to fight UFC newcomer Ryan Jensen, however, he was forced to drop from the event due to a neck injury he sustained while training.

3.3. Ultimate Fighting Championship 83

Being out of the UFC for more than a year, Lutter battled against the former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin at UFC 83 for his return. With an armbar on the ropes in the first round, Lutter was almost caught by Franklin who defeated him in the second round by TKO.

Travis was released from his contract after losing two consecutive fights with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He became the first Ultimate Fighter Champion to be released from the UFC contract.

On October 2, 2009, Travis defeated Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald in the main event of Maximum Fighting Championship 22.

On May 21, 2010, Travis battled with Rafael Natal. This fight was part of the Moosin- God of Martial Arts in Worcester, Massachusetts. After two takedown attempts, Travis appeared to be getting weary and was defeated by a knockout in the first round.

4. Travis Lutter Academies

6913 Camp Bowie Boulevard Fort Worth 76116 Suite 133.

1732 E Square Fort Worth TX 76120.

5. Travis Lutter’s Championships and Accomplishments

• The Ultimate Fighter 4 Middleweight Winner.
• HooknShoot Lightweight Championship.
• Winner Texas State BJJ Champion.
• Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Black Belt under Carlos Machado.

6. Travis Lutter’s Main Achievements

7. Travis Lutter’s Main Achievements (Belts)

8. Travis Lutter’s Professional Record Breakdown

9. Travis Lutter’s Fight History

10. Retirement

Travis left the Ultimate Fighting Championship(UFC) in 2008 after nearly four years with the company, Travis participated in mixed martial arts two more times, but a severe neck injury that was sustained in his final battle against Rafael Natal brought an end to his career.

Lutter made the best of his forced layoff by teaching as a full-time BJJ and MMA coach.

11. Video Links

Photo credit: @travislutter