Joe 'Daddy' Stevenson
Joe Stevenson is the winner of the welterweight division of the second season of the UFC reality show, The Ultimate Fighter.
He lost his most recent bout against up-and-comer George Sotiropoulos. His next fight was set to be against former Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomi in August, but he was injured and replaced by Tyson Griffin.
Joe took a few months off to recover and in mid-October, he was announced to face Mac Danzig in December. Danzig knocked Stevenson unconscious in the first round. Stevenson next faced newcomer Danny Castillo, losing via unanimous decision.
He next dropped to featherweight (145 pounds) and he made his debut against WEC veteran and UFC newcomer Javier Vazquez. The general consensus is that if he loses, he's gone. There was some bad blood coming into the fight. On a popular MMA messageboard, one of Vazquez's relatives ran a contest in which people used Photoshop to alter pictures of Stevenson in various ways, some humorous, others far more offensive. Stevenson's worry was that his children would find the pictures online.
One of Stevenson's quotes about the situation was "I'm not gonna stop, not this whole fight. I'm going to go and go and go, and I'm going to have to be pulled off."
Vazquez defeated Stevenson via unanimous decision, handing him his fourth straight UFC loss in Joe Daddy's featherweight debut and Vazquez's UFC debut. For some reason, the UFC waited until August 4 to cut Joe from the UFC after his fourth straight UFC loss.
Stevenson took nearly a year off from the sport of MMA before returning at the end of June 2012 to make his Resurrection Fighting Alliance debut against fellow TUF veteran Dakota Cochrane. Cochrane handed Stevenson his fifth straight loss via second round rear-naked choke submission. Stevenson had to be entertaining some thoughts of retirement at that point despite being only thirty years old.
Stevenson indeed took over two years off from the sport before signing in early December 2014 to fight prospect Dominique Robinson in January 2015.
Fights[]
- Jens Pulver vs. Joe Stevenson - The fight was Stevenson's first loss.
- Chris Brennan vs. Joe Stevenson - The fight was for the vacant KOTC middleweight superfight title.
- Joe Stevenson vs. Jeremy Jackson - The fight was for the King of the Cage welterweight championship apparently.
- Joe Stevenson vs. Luke Cummo - The fight was to decide the welterweight winner of the second season of TUF. The fight was the official UFC debut of both men.
- Joe Stevenson vs. Yves Edwards - The fight was, especially at that time, considered one of the bloodiest fights in UFC history.
- Joe Stevenson vs. Melvin Guillard
- B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson - for the vacant UFC lightweight title. It was also considered one of the bloodiest fights in UFC history.
- Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson - The fight was for a shot at the UFC lightweight title.
- Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson - The fight was Diego Sanchez's lightweight debut.
- Joe Stevenson vs. Nate Diaz - Stevenson came into the fight on thin ice, having lost two previous bouts to Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez, and he was in danger of being cut by the UFC if he lost to Nate Diaz as well. He pulled out the win.
- Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher
- Joe Stevenson vs. George Sotiropoulos
- Mac Danzig vs. Joe Stevenson - The fight was the first time in a long time that Joe Stevenson had been knocked unconscious.
- Danny Castillo vs. Joe Stevenson - The fight was Danny Castillo's UFC debut.
- Dakota Cochrane vs. Joe Stevenson - The fight was Stevenson's RFA debut.