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[Cat--Smasher]

UFC 143's Ed Herman still proving he's more than the guy from the reality show

Reality TV is a powerful thing when you're on it for more than 10 minutes.

"I'm your biggest fan! I remember you from 'The Ultimate Fighter,'" one says.

"You're that crazy kid!" says another.

"Hey, you're that guy who used to fight in the UFC – here's an extra buck, man," a barfly tells Ed Herman.

It's 2009, and Herman has competed nine times in the UFC, fought tooth and nail to win the third season of the promotion's seminal reality show (before falling controversially short on points), and finished three of his opponents.

But after two blown ACLs, Herman is working as a bartender. He is a 29-year-old man working a job that was way more fun when he was in his early 20s. And he is seemingly frozen in amber to the millions of people who watched this fiery redhead try to win a six-figure contract with the UFC.

"Are you still fighting?" they ask.

"Well yeah, I'm still fighting," Herman told MMAjunkie.com Radio (MMAjunkie.com Radio | MMAjunkie.com). "You didn't see my last couple of fights?"

Things get awkward.

One one hand, Herman, now 31, is happy to have had the opportunity to be seen on such a powerful platform. For a fight career, nothing could be better than weekly exposure, even if it consists of you monkeying around a house in Las Vegas with free booze. Better name recognition means better sponsors, seminar appearances, signings, and the like.

"You get fans that stick with you for a long time and have that emotional attachment," he said. "Especially if you have a decent personality and you're a good-looking guy, like myself."

It also means he's that guy on "TUF."

Herman is out of the bar now. He returned to the cage this past June and knocked Tim Credeur senseless. Then, he torqued Kyle Noke's heel for a tap-out at UFC on Versus 5. But he's apparently still fighting to free himself from the images burned into the heads of casual fans from that show.

It's hard to say where he stands as a draw. On Saturday, Herman (19-7 MMA, 6-5 UFC) fights the unheralded Clifford Starks (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on the first bout of UFC's 143 pay-per-view main card, which takes place at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Starks has one fight to his UFC resume. He has a chance to bag a name, or Herman is adding a few seconds to his highlight reel for future use.

It's still work.

UFC 143's Ed Herman still proving he's more than the guy from the reality show | MMAjunkie.com

[0mega1]

Ive always liked "short fuse" I didnt catch his sub win over Noke but I did see him knock the crap out of Crueder which was a bit of a surprise (a pleasant one). Hope he continues to do well for himself.