Roosevelt Roberts kicked off season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter with a highlight-reel nine-second finish. But before getting the call for a second chance with the UFC, Roberts contemplated calling it a career.
Roberts, a member of Michael Chandler’s team as they battle it out against a squad coached by Conor McGregor throughout TUF 31, had an eight-fight first stint with the UFC where he went 4-3 with 1 no-contest, and was winless in his final three appearances, which led to the promotion parting ways with the lightweight fighter. While the 29-year-old went 2-0 over his next two appearances, Roosevelt was ready to walk away from fighting because he wasn’t making enough money in the sport to support his family.
Just before he made the decision, and as the doubt of his fighting skills clouded his mind, the phone rang, and everything changed.
“If I didn’t get that call, I probably wouldn’t be doing this no more, man,” Roberts told MMA Fighting. “I probably would be training and stuff, but my mind for fighting, actually getting in there and fighting, I kind of was just over it. People would offer me $2,000 to fight. I can’t fight for that. If I don’t know my own work, nobody else is going to know my work on the outside of it too.
“Basically, I was kind of just done. I wasn’t making the money I was supposed to be making and so I was kind of just over it.
“And then, I felt like that was a sign to get that opportunity. I feel like that was a sign from God, like, ‘Hey, this is what you’re meant to be doing, this is what you’re supposed to be doing. You belong here, don’t give up on yourself.’ The opportunity really clicked in my head that fighting is the right thing, because for a long time, I doubted myself. I’d tell myself I wasn’t made for it and I was losing it. I just felt like God really put me in the right place at the right time with this opportunity.”
Roosevelt was first up for Team Chandler as he took on Team McGregor’s Nate Jennerman, a 21-fight veteran who has competed for promotions such as PFL and LFA. Roosevelt landed a couple of big punches and stung Jennerman, and almost immediately, the fight was stopped by referee Mark Smith.
After being on the wrong end of finishes to cap of his first UFC run, Roosevelt was ecstatic to change the narrative a bit.
“It felt good to just be back there and to be able to make a statement and just to show that I belong there,” Roberts said. “My last couple of fights in the UFC didn’t really go [as] planned. So I really wanted to go out there and make a statement this time, and shoutout to Chandler and the coaches for putting that on my back to be the first fight and really set the tone off for the group.
“I think the way that happened was a blessing for me.”
During the episode, Roberts was conversing with another fighter in the house and said that he would love to move to Florida to be closer with his kids, who live there, and have the opportunity to train with Chandler full time. Roberts still hopes that is in the cards for him.
While he remembers the finish of Jennerman inside the cage, being able to see his handiwork on TV was a different feeling altogether, one that he he got to share with his kids.
“It was weird [seeing myself fight on TV], but it was really cool, too,” Roberts explained. “The way they edited it, I think they way they portrayed it, and the way that they did it was really nice.
“It was a cool thing, my kids loved it. They always tell me that they loved it, so it was really a good thing.”
