When Al Iaquinta steps into the Octagon on Friday night at the season finale of The Ultimate Fighter, he'll be representing Team Faber. In truth, though, the native of Wantagh, N.Y., will be representing a different team: the Serra-Longo Fight team on his native Long Island, headed up by former UFC champion Matt "The Terror" Serra.
Serra's name, of course, is inextricably tied to the UFC's star-making reality show. The Long Island native won the fourth season - the "Comeback" season featuring UFC veterans - and then went on to capture the UFC Welterweight Championship with a shocking TKO of Georges St-Pierre at UFC 69, becoming the first TUF winner ever to wear UFC gold. However, Serra's TUF connections run back even further, to the show's second season and Serra disciple "Crazy" Luke Cummo.
The unheralded Cummo was picked last during team selection, winding up with future Serra rival Matt Hughes, but defeated Anthony Torres and Sammy Morgan to reach the finals against teammate Joe Stevenson. Despite having the opportunity to train for the finale with Serra and striking coach Ray Longo back on Long Island, Cummo lost a unaninmous decision to "Daddy" in the finals. However, he earned a UFC roster spot nonetheless, and went on to compile a 3-3 post-TUF record in the UFC before calling it a career in 2008.
A year later, it was Cummo's coach starring on TUF, as Serra revived a UFC career that had been on hold after a loss to Karo Parisyan, then took it to another level with his win over St-Pierre. The Ultimate Fighter had unquestionably treated Serra well, although that would change in the coming years.
Serra returned to TUF as a coach for the sixth season, matching up against rival Hughes. Serra's team featured several fighters who would go on to UFC success, including Ben Saunders and George Sotiropoulos, but Hughes' team would dominate the competition, as Team Hughes fighters Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer would meet in the finals. Making matters, Serra top pick Joe Scarola, a close friend and trainer at Serra's gym, lost via submission in the first round and wound up walking out on both Serra and the show. In addition, Serra was forced to withdraw from his planned bout with Hughes due to a herniated disc in his back.
Another Serra protégé, Cyprus-born former boxer Constantinos Philippou, was one of 28 middleweights picked for the 11th season of TUF, but lost in the elimination round to the ultimately forgettable Joe Henle. Philippou has rebounded, though, catching on in the UFC as a short-notice opponent for Nick Catone at UFC 128 and bouncing back from that loss to reel off three straight wins heading into his UFC 148 prelim against Riki Fukuda. He's not the top middleweight on the Serra-Longo team, however: former All-American wrestler Chris Weidman (Hofstra University) is 8-0 and set to face the "Filipino Wrecking Machine," Mark Muñoz, in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 4 in July.
Before either Weidman or Philippou next gets in the cage, however, there will be Al Iaquinta, looking to do his hometown and his home team proud.