UFC Fight Night 65 is now in our rear-view, having left us with a night of solid fights and finishes. Let’s now take a look at which of the evening’s competitors we may no longer see inside the Octagon… Hatsu Hioki After starting his UFC career off at 2-0, the Japanese veteran has gone 1-5 in his last six bouts, the latest being this past Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 65 in Australia, where he took on New Zealand native Daniel Hooker and lost via head-kick in the tail end of the second round. Hioki looked to be cruising towards a unanimous decision win on the judges’ scorecards while threatening with submissions, but unfortunately he ended up getting caught with that kick. Now on a two-fight skid and 3-5 overall in the UFC, I think there is a good chance he will be released from the UFC, however I would not be surprised to see him get one last chance, as he is one of the bigger Asian names on the promotion’s roster. Dylan Andrews Starting his Octagon career off with two straight wins, the 35-year old has gone on to lose his last three, technically being finished in all three of them. You could put an asterisk next to the first two, as the first one was an injury in a fight he was winning, and the other was a flukey situation in which he knocked himself out. Now 2-3 in the UFC, I would not be surprised to see him pop up on the preliminary card of the UFC 193 in November, but I think it is equally likely he will be released from the promotion. Despite coming off the second round submission loss to Scott this past weekend, I thought Andrews looked the best he’s looked since his promotional debut. Vik Grujic The Australian is now 1-3 inside the Octagon with two straight losses and I think there’s a good chance he will be receiving his promotion now, following this past Saturday night’s unanimous decision loss to Brendan O’Reilly. I think this was a “loser goes home” type of fight going in, but unfortunately for Grujic, he was unable to dig deep in the third frame and ended up losing the close decision. It was a fun fight, but I think we’ve seen the last of Grujic inside the Octagon. Alptekin Ozkilic After picking up a unanimous decision win in his promotional debut against Darren Uyenoyama, “The Turkis Delight” has gone on to lose his next three contests, including a unanimous decision to Louis Smolka and a pair of T/KO’s at the hands of John Lineker and most recently, promotional newcomer Ben Nguyen at this past Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 65 in Australia. Despite suffering three consecutive defeats, I would not be shocked to see Ozkilic get one last crack inside the Octagon, considering how razor-thin the UFC’s 125-pound division is. However, I think that is unlikely and assume he will be receiving his walking papers shortly.
