UFC Kansas City: Who were the champions when veteran Ed Herman made his promotional debut?

Ed Herman has had a lengthy MMA career, which began in 2003 and eventually led to him earning a UFC contract following his stint on season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter. The promotion has gone through a number of changes since then, including championship reigns.

To put him into perspective for just how long Herman has been with the UFC, all the fighters that were champions at the time of his debut have long been retired.

Tim Sylvia was two-months removed from his heavyweight championship win over his longtime rival Andrei Arlovski. Chuck Liddell was the biggest star in the promotion and a year into his dominant light heavyweight title reign.

No other UFC fighter has had a longer continuous stint than Ed Herman.

When he debuted in the promotion, Tim Sylvia and Chuck Liddell were champs and the iPhone 1 was a year away from release.

This is his story, or at least some of it. #UFCKansasCity twitter.com/mmajunkie/stat…

Rich Franklin was three-months removed from his second successful middleweight title defense and would eventually lose the title to Anderson Silva later that year. Meanwhile, Matt Hughes was two-months removed from his first successful title defense over Frank Trigg in his second reign as welterweight champion.

The lightweight division, which is currently considered by many as the most competitive division in the UFC, was on hiatus at the time when Herman made his promotional debut on the TUF season 3 finale.

'Short Fuse' will look to bounce back from his loss to Alonzo Menifield as he fights Zak Cummings in a light heavyweight bout this Saturday at UFC Kansas City.

Did Ed Herman win season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter?

Anyone remember Ed Herman vs Kendall Grove? That was a serious finale. #TUFFinale https://t.co/MRhhrUEsUv

Ed Herman has competed with a who's who throughout his MMA career and even has a win over former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira prior to his stint on season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter, which saw Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock and former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz serve as the coaches.

Shamrock selected 'Short Fuse' with his sixth selection and had an impressive run on the show. He defeated Danny Abbadi via first-round submission in the opening round and then followed that up by earning a second-round submission win over Team Ortiz's Rory Singer in the semi-finals.

Despite losing to Kendall Grove via unanimous decision in the middleweight finals, UFC president Dana White awarded both fighters with a contract for their Fight of the Night performance.