UFC career In his
UFC debut, he scored a stunning
knockout victory over top Middleweight
Matt Lindland. The victory instantly thrust Terrell into title contention, as his next fight was against
Evan Tanner for the vacant UFC Middleweight Championship title in February 2005. Despite locking Tanner in a tight
guillotine choke, Terrell lost the hold and eventually lost the match by
technical knockout in the first round. Plagued by recurring injuries, Terrell's next fight did not come until
UFC 59 in April 2006, where Terrell submitted his opponent,
Scott Smith, with a
rear naked choke in the first round. Controversy surrounds the victory as the referee told the fighters to break before Terrell took Smith down. Smith was appealing to the referee when Terrell was able to get Smith's back and apply a rear naked choke. Questionable officiating by referee Marco Lopez led Smith to file a complaint to the
California State Athletic Commission. At
UFC 62 he was supposed to fight
Yushin Okami but withdrew the bout due to a
sinus infection. The fight with Okami was then rescheduled to
UFC 66, but Terrell again pulled out of the fight citing an elbow injury suffered during training. Despite an early report which claimed that Terrell was planning to move to
Light Heavyweight, Terrell was scheduled to fight
Ed Herman in a Middleweight contest at
UFC 78 in November 2007. However, he withdrew from the bout due to injury and was replaced by
Joe Doerksen. On February 21, 2008 Terrell was released by the UFC.
Post-UFC In early 2010 Terrell expressed his desire to continue fighting. ==Career accomplishments==