The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) traveled to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia for the second time in promotional history with UFC Fight Night 101: Whittaker vs Brunson. It was an interesting night of action that saw 10 of 13 bouts go the distance. Following the night of scraps in Aussie-land, let’s take a look at which of the evening’s competitors we may no longer see in action inside the Octagon… ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK Yasuke Kasuya Kasuya suffered a second-round TKO at the hands of promotional newcomer Alex Volkanovski. After dropping a unanimous decision to Germany’s Nick Hein in his own Octagon debut, he is now 0-2 in the UFC and will likely be receiving his walking papers following Saturday night’s defeat. Khalil Rountree Rountree has a major gap in his game, and that is his grappling. He was submitted quickly on TUF 23, and after catching a break and making it to the show’s finale, he was dominated on the mat for a one-sided unanimous decision loss to Andrew Sanchez. Seo Hee Ham After dropping a unanimous decision to Joanne Calderwood in her promotional debut, Ham picked up an upset unanimous-decision victory over Cortney Casey her next time out. Unfortunately for the South Korean, that was the first and last time she tasted victory inside the Octagon, as she went on to lose a pair of controversial decisions following that bout, both of them coming in Australia. Earlier in the year, she dropped a controversial unanimous decision to the Australian Bec Rawlings, and this past weekend dropped a controversial split decision to California’s Danielle Taylor. She is now 1-3 inside the Octagon and could potentially be released from the promotion. However, due to the close and controversial nature of her two last losses, I think there’s a decent chance the UFC cuts her some slack and gives her another scrap, especially considering how razor-thin the UFC’s women’s strawweight division is. That said, I would not be surprised to see her released. Jon Tuck Tuck came up short in a controversial split-decision loss to Damien Brown and is now on a two-fight defecit inside the Octagon, going 3-4 total with the promotion. He had a very dominant first round against Brown but failed to finish and slowed down in the second round, allowing the Australian to pick up the pace and win the round. Though Tuck appeared to have edged the third round, two out of three judges at Octagon-side did not agree, as they awarded Brown the split decision victory. I think there is a fair chance the Guam fighter receives his pink slip from the UFC following Saturday night’s defeat despite nearly coming out with his hand raised. Richard Walsh Walsh came up short in a UD loss to Jonathan Meunier and is now on a two-fight skid inside the Octagon and 1-4 in his last five. Following the one-sided defeat to the French-Canadian, I think there is a fair chance that the UFC opts to part ways with this Australian moving forward. Geane Herrera Herrera made his short notice UFC debut against Ray Borg and dropped a UD on the judges’ scorecards following three rounds of action. His next time out, he took on Joby Sanchez and defeated him via second-round knockout. Sadly, he has since dropped back to back fights to Ali Bagautinov and Ben Nguyen, respectively, both by UD, and now faces the possibility of being released from the promotion. The loss to Nguyen this past weekend could be the end for “La Pulga” inside the Octagon, but I believe that would be just for now, because should he be released, I think Herrera is more than capable of working his way back to the big show. That said, I hope to see him get another crack, especially considering how talent-poor the UFC’s flyweight division is.
