George Roop

George H. Roop (born November 10, 1981) is a retired mixed martial artist.

He was a cast member of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir, winning his preliminary and first round fights.

He fought as a bantamweight in the UFC and most recently fought under the Road FC banner.

He holds notable victories over former WEC Bantamweight champion Brian Bowles and UFC featherweight contender Chan Sung Jung.

Roop is from Tucson, Arizona and began competing in martial arts from a young age, winning Tae Kwon Do and judo tournaments while following the UFC in its early days.

He later attended Canyon Del Oro High School, where he was a quarterback on the football team and participated in wrestling in the 112 lbs.

division, and had also wrestled in middle school.

He attended Pima Community College but elected not to wrestle.

He met former UFC fighters Drew Fickett and Efrain Escudero while attending PCC.

Roop developed his mixed martial skills at The Ultima Martial Arts and Primero Jiu-Jitsu in Tucson, Arizona.

Roop's main experience comes from fighting in an Arizona-based promotion, Rage in the Cage, where he was the featherweight champion.

He has fought as a lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight.

Roop was originally a fighter for the team, The Ultima Martial Arts.

When the Ultimate Fighter ended, Roop moved out to Las Vegas, Nevada and began his training with Xtreme Couture.

After Shawn Tompkins left Xtreme Couture, Roop followed him and started fighting for Team Tompkins.

Now, he fights out of APEX MMA in Tucson, AZ.

Roop defeated Rolando Delgado by decision in the preliminary round.

This meant that he earned a shot in the TUF house.

Roop was selected last overall in the team selections, by Team Mir.

George's fight with John Polakowski was the last lightweight, first round fight.

Right before the fight Roop broke his hand, during his team's practice.

Roop won the fight by decision after two rounds.

Frank Mir said it was the fight of the show.

While Dana White stated "Sometimes fights that need a third round don't make it, even when they should."

In the semi-finals, Roop fought Phillipe Nover and lost in round one by submission.

Roop lost his UFC debut against former The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir castmate Shane Nelson.

Roop lost the fight via split decision.

Roop had his next fight at UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida where he defeated Dave Kaplan via split decision.

In his third UFC fight, Roop stepped in on very short notice to take on George Sotiropoulos at UFC 101.

Roop lost the fight in the second round after Sotiropoulos applied a kimura forcing Roop to tap instantly.

Roop was let go, along with Thales Leites and Tamdan McCrory, after going 1-2 in the promotion.

After being released from the Ultimate Fighting Championships, Roop returned to the Rage in the Cage promotion to fight Matt Dell for the featherweight title.

The fight took place on November 14 with Roop winning all three rounds on every judges scorecard to capture the title.

Roop was signed by the WEC after going only 1-0 since being released from the UFC.

He was set to make his debut against Jesse Moreng on January 10, 2010 at WEC 46, but Moreng was forced off the card with an injury.

Roop instead went down two weight classes to bantamweight and faced Eddie Wineland.

Wineland defeated Roop via unanimous decision.

Roop faced Leonard Garcia on March 6, 2010 at WEC 47 after he replaced Diego Nunes who was forced off the card with an injury.

The bout ended in a rare split draw but earned Fight of the Night honors.

Roop next faced Chan Sung Jung on September 30, 2010 at WEC 51.