UFC 174 was live from Vancouver this past Saturday night and was the worst UFC Pay Per View event thus far in 2014; with the dreadful event now behind us, let’s take a look at which UFC 174 losers we may no longer see compete inside the Octagon… ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK: Daniel Sarafian Sarafian is now 1-3 inside the Octagon and could very likely be facing contract termination. He headlined the UFC 174 preliminary card on FOX Sports 1 in a welterweight bout against Japanese veteran Kiichi Kunimoto, in what was his debut in the division. After going 1-2 at 185-pounds with a first round submission win over Eddie Mendez and split decision losses to CB Dollaway and Cezar Mutante, Sarafian cut from middleweight down to welterweight, but still found himself undersized against the very large 170-pounder in Kunimoto. After being hurt by a one-two combination by Sarafian, Kunimoto decided he did not want the fight to stay on the feet, and clinched with the Brazilian-Armenian, ultimately taking him down and latching onto his back while simultaneously sinking in the rear naked choke to earn the tap. It was the first submission loss for Sarafian, who is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a talented grappler in his own right. I would expect the TUF: Brazil season one veteran to be receiving the axe from the promotion, though it is possible that the UFC could give him another shot, considering this was his first fight at welterweight, and the fact that Dana White seems to really like the guy. Mike Easton Easton continued to fail to deliver on Saturday night’s UFC 174 event in Vancouver, losing a unanimous decision to hometown favorite Yves Jabouin, in what was by no means a hometown decision. “The Hulk” was impressive in his promotional debut, scoring a second round TKO over Byron Bloodworth. He followed that with another impressive performance in a razor-thin majority decision win over Jared Papazian. It was an incredible fight back and forth brawl, and arguably the best of Easton’s career. He followed that fantastic fight up with a not-so-exciting unanimous decision victory over Ivan Menjivar, though his luck ended there. The former Alliance MMA fighter got worse and worse, fight to fight, and has now lost four straight inside the Octagon; all of them by decision. The losses came against Raphael Assuncao, Brad Pickett, TJ Dillashaw, and now Yves Jabouin, respectively. None of them were easy fights, but he showed no desire to win in any of them, and I would be tremendously surprised to see him get another shot. I have no doubt Easton will be receiving his walking papers, so look for news of him signing with another promotion; he might fit okay in the Bellator’s bantamweight division. Roland Delorme After starting off strong with back to back rear naked choke submission victories over Josh Ferguson and Nick Denis in his first two appearances inside the Octagon, things took a downward turn for Delorme, as he has gone 1-3 in his last four fights. He faced Francisco Rivera at UFC 149 and was knocked out in the very first round of action, but the result of the bout was turned into a No Contest due to Rivera failing his post-fight drug test. He bounced back with a unanimous decision victory over Edwin Figureoa at UFC 161, but then dropped a split decision to Alex Caceres in his next outing at UFC 165, which in my opinion should have been unanimous. After losing a unanimous decision to promotional newcomer Michinori Tanaka at Saturday night’s UFC 174, Delorme is now on a two-fight skid and could be facing the axe. I would say his chances of getting another shot would be greater, had he tried harder to win the fight. He was down two rounds and did not go all out in the third, and Dana White hates seeing that. Delorme is likely facing contract termination, though with a great number of upcoming Canadian fight cards coming up, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the UFC throw him on one of them, giving him one last chance.
