5 TUF winners who shocked the world in the UFC

#4. Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua – UFC 76

Forrest Griffin left everyone stunned when he defeated Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua at UFC 76

The winner of the light heavyweight bracket during the first season of TUF back in 2005, Forrest Griffin was always a little underrated by some UFC fans.

Written off as nothing but a reality show product by some, Griffin already had big wins over Chael Sonnen and Jeff Monson prior to his UFC career. He immediately proved he belonged in the big time with wins over Bill Mahood and Elvis Sinosic.

However, although he impressed in his loss against Tito Ortiz, that defeat, along with a KO at the hands of Keith Jardine, suggested that Griffin had reached his ceiling.

When the UFC matched him with the incoming Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, then, nobody really gave the TUF star a chance. After all, Shogun was widely recognized as PRIDE’s best 205lber, with wins over top-level fighters like Ricardo Arona, Alistair Overeem and then-UFC champion Quinton Jackson.

However, Griffin was determined to prove everyone wrong, and he did just that in a truly stirring victory.

The TUF winner basically outfought Shogun in all areas, never letting him get comfortable and taking the fight to him both on the feet and on the ground. Eventually, the Brazilian wilted, allowing Griffin to secure a third-round rear-naked choke to finish him off.

Naturally, the UFC’s fans were blown away by the performance and the win meant that nobody would doubt Griffin, who went onto win the UFC light heavyweight title in his next fight, again.

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#3. Rashad Evans vs. Chuck Liddell – UFC 88

Nobody saw Rashad Evans' brutal knockout of Chuck Liddell coming

After TUF's first season was hugely well-received, the second season was always going to struggle to live up to the standard. Although it featured some high points, for the most part, TUF 2 was indeed a disappointment.

In particular, the winner of the season’s heavyweight bracket, Rashad Evans, instantly came under criticism from UFC fans due to his wrestling-heavy style.

Evans outworked four opponents to claim his TUF victory, but it wasn’t until he knocked out Jason Lambert in his fourth octagon appearance that UFC fans began to buy into him as a potential prospect.

However, a controversial draw with Tito Ortiz, a fight Evans would’ve lost had Ortiz not been deducted a point, suggested that ‘Suga’ was not quite ready for the big time.

That meant that when he was signed to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in the main event of UFC 88, he was largely written off by the UFC’s fanbase.

Evans had an ace up his sleeve, though, in the fact that he’d taken a year away from the octagon prior to the fight to hone his skills. He came into the fight looking sharper and, more importantly, faster than ever.

It soon became clear that ‘Suga’ had much faster hands than Liddell. After tagging him with a number of punches in the first round, he landed a crushing counter right in the second that left ‘The Iceman’ unconscious in one of the scariest UFC knockouts of all time.

The UFC fans were naturally stunned by the result, with very few figuring that the maligned TUF winner could take out a legend of the octagon in that way.

As for Evans? He went on to win the UFC light heavyweight title in his very next bout and would go on to be recognized as one of the best 205lbers of his generation.