The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has dropped 13 competitors from their roster. Below is the list of fighters who did not make it through the latest round of the promotion’s chopping block… THE CHOPPED Alex Torres Featherweight Following his stint on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, Torres made his promotional debut at UFC 184, where he dropped a split decision to fellow castmate Masio Fullen. Despite the solid outing, the bout seemd to be a one-and-done deal for both featherweights, with the winner earning a multi-fight UFC contract, and the loser moving on. I am not a fan of this decision by the UFC, as I think Torres deserves at least one more fight. However, if they indeed pre-determined that only the victor would remain on the roster, then that makes the decision to release him easier to accept. Tateki Matsuda Flyweight After making his promotional debut in the UFC’s bantamweight division as a massive underdog against the undefeated Chris Beal, Matsuda put up a great fight, though coming up short on the judges’ scorecards, losing a unanimous decision. He dropped down to the flyweight division for his next outing, where he again found himself playing the role of underdog, this time against another undefeated fighter in Joby Sancez. Again, he put up another great, and unfortunately, he again came up short on the judges’ scorecards, this time losing via split decision. It was a close fight, and two MMA media members scored the contest a Draw. The Japanese fighter received his pink-slip after going 0-2 with the promotion in two close decisions, and only one of them being in his natural weight class. I definitely do not like this move by the UFC, because the 125-pound division is razor thin and Matsuda has only put on entertaining performances. He has only one close decision loss in the UFC’s razor-thin flyweight division, and I see absolutely no reason why they would not keep him around. Tim Elliott Flyweight Dropping three straight fights and falling to 2-4 inside the Octagon, UFC flweight Tim Elliott has been released from his contract and will be moving on from the promotion. Though the UFC’s 125-pound division is very thin, this is a move that makes sense to me. When any fighter drops three straight fights, showing no great desire to win in last fight, then I am always content with the decisiont to remove him/her from the roster. Louis Gaudinot Flyweight Gaudinot had two impressive submission victories inside the Octagon, both coming via guillotine choke. One came against John Lineker in a ‘Fight of the Night’ outing, and the other came against Phil Harris, but was later turned into a No Contest when he tested positive for a diuretic during the post-fight drug test. After serving his suspension, the promotion fed him to one of the biggest wolves in the division, Kyoji Horiguchu, who dominated Gaudinot for 15-minutes of action to pick up a unanimous decision victory on the judges’ scorecards, and then go on to challenge the champion for the title. I think the UFC decided they wanted to say goodnight to “Goodnight” when he tested positive, and after feeding him to the wolf in Horiguchi, they dropped him from the roster. That is the only reasoning that makes sense to me, as I don’t understand why you would release an entertaining flyweight (again, a very thin division!) who owns a win over John Lineker after only one loss, especially when that loss came against someone as dangerous as Horiguchi. It took three straight defeats for Tim Elliott to get the cut, but for Gaudinot, it was just the one. Dylan Andrews Middleweight Coming off back to back TKO defeats, Andrews had has back against the wall heading into his 185-pound contest against Brad Scott last month, where he was submitted via guillotine choke with only seconds remaining in the second round of action. After three straight losses, the UFC has opted to part ways with the declining 35-year old New Zealand native. This is a move I saw coming and have no trouble accepting. Shayna Baszler Women’s Bantamweight Baszler, known as a pioneer of women’s mixed martial arts, has lost both of her UFC bouts via TKO, after being submitted by Julianna Pena on the nineteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality television series. I think it’s time Baszler calls it a career and walks away from the sport, as her best days are certainly far behind her. Perhaps a career Pro Wrestlers is what awaits her in the future. Vik Grujic Welterweight Grujic is now on a two fight skid and has dropped to 1-3 with the promotion, so I think it makes sense that the UFC dropped him from their current roster. After suffering a first round TKO against Chris Clements, Grujic took on Brendan O’Reilly in a very close three round fight. I think the reason the fight was so close was because Grujic allowed it to be. He could have sealed things up in the third round, but he gave the fight away to O’Reilly. Showing lack of heart and desire to win, I’m fine seeing the 38-year old receive the pink slip. Alpetkin Ozkilic Flyweight “The Turkish Delight” picked up a split decision win over Darren Uyenoyama in his promotional debut, but has since gone on to lose his next three bouts, the last two by way of TKO. Following the three fight skid and pair of knockout defeats, I think it makes sense that the promotion has decided to part ways with this flyweight. Rocky Lee Featherweight Lee made his UFC debut against Taylor Lapilus during the promotion’s inaugral trip to Poland a few weeks ago and lost the bout via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards. His performance in the contest proved that he is not a UFC-calibre mixed martial artist, so many assumed Lee would be a “one-and-done” victim of the Octagon. Shane Howell Flyweight Howell took on Ray Borg in his promotional debut, losing via rear naked choke submission in the very first round of action. After being fed to one wolf, the UFC fed him to another in Patrick Holohan in front of an Irish-heavy Boston crowd at UFC Fight Night 59, where he ended up losing a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards following three rounds of action. Howell was a massive underdog heading into both contests, and personally I feel it seemed obvious that the promotion was not interested in seeing this guy win. This is a flyweight cut I do not like, as I think Howell should have received another bout against another 125-pounder closer to his level. Justin Jones Middleweight When Gian Villante was forced out of his bout with Corey Anderson and replaced by Jonathan Wilson, the injury replacement Wilson also suffered an injury and was pulled from the bout, which opened the door for Jones to make his UFC debut with an undefeated 3-0 record. He stepped up from miiddleweight to the light heavyweight division for the short notice affair and ended up losing the bout via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards following three rounds of action, despite showing a solid outing. He looked good in that loss, but looked terrible in his next Octagon outing, where he took on Ron Stallings. While it was a worse performance than his previous bout, I personally scored the fight for him and felt he deserved the decision, despite the lackluster performance. Controversial decision or not, he received his second straight defeat and received his walking papers from the promotion. Jones was quick to return to action since his release from the promotion, fighting under the Tachi Palace banner and picking up a first round guillotine choke victory to get back to his winning was. If he puts a few more together and sharpens up his all-around skill-set, there’s a good chance we could be seeing “Lazy Bones” back inside the Octagon. Cain Carrizosa Lightweight “The Insane” made his promotional debut with an undefeated professional mixed martial arts record of 6-0, taking on Chris Wade and losing the bout via technical guillotine choke submission only a minute into the first stanza. He traveled to Brazil for his next outing, where he took on the Brazilian, Leonardo Mafra. He hurt Mafra early in the first round but failed to capitalize and ultimately went on to lose a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards after three rounds of action. Falling to 0-2 inside the Octagon and 6-2 in his pro career, Carrizosa has received the boot from the UFC and will likely not make his way back, as he has proved to not be a UFC-calibre lightweight. Marcin Bandel Lightweight Bandel was knocked out by Mairbek Taisumov in just a minute in his UFC debut, and his next outing came at the UFC’s inaugral trip to Poland a few weeks back, where he was defeated via second round TKO by promotional newcomer and former Cage Warriors Lightweight Champion, Stevie Ray. Following the Pole’s two uninspiring performances, it comes as no surprise to see him removed from the promotion’s roster. Luke Barnatt Middleweight The Brit went 3-0 inside the Octagon with a pair of finishes, but has unfortunately gone on to lose his next three bouts, all by decision on the judges’ scorecards. The first two were controversial split decision’s against Sean Strickland and Roger Narvaez, and the last and most recent was a one-sided unanimous decision against Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz in the veteran’s farewell bout. I thought there was a chance the UFC would keep “Big Slow” around for one more fight, possibly on the upcoming Scottland card, but it appears they have decided to part ways with The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 veteran. I don’t like this move by the UFC, but I understand it.
