UFC Releases Six Fighters For October, 2015, So Far, But That Is The Beginning — More Pink Slips Will Be Handed Out Soon


Among the MMA community, it is often recognized that the ultimate goal for any mixed martial arts fighter is to work for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It is because UFC is the most popular MMA promotion in the world, earning the most income and signing on the best of the best in the combat sport. Just to understand how great UFC is, they are the promotion recognized for signing on famous fighters like Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hughes, Brock Lesnar, Conor McGregor, and Ronda Rousey.

However, the MMA community is constantly changing, constantly evolving. UFC understands that to keep up with the interests of the fans within the community, new blood needs to come in. With such in mind, Sage Northcutt was recently signed on for his fighting ability and promotional appeal. Though they never directly said it, UFC is probably hoping his past experience in modeling and acting will have cross-over opportunities, similar to Ronda Rousey. And if Sage is any inclination of how any Northcutt would be in MMA, UFC will most likely sign on his older sister, too.

Unfortunately, finding the next big MMA star and signing him or her into UFC is likened to the shotgun effect. What that means is UFC will find plenty of potential fighters, sign them on, and hope at least one of them will be worth it. This method also means a lot of fighters who aren’t doing so well have to be given the pink slip just so other potential fighters can come in. Seven UFC fighters were given their pink slips just recently. Apparently, they are just the beginning, because it is reported more fighters will be terminated soon after.

According to Low Kick MMA, UFC cut a total of six fighters over the course of last weekend (October 19 and 20, 2015). The fighters in question are Christos Giagos, Chris Clements, Matt Van Buren, Roger Narvaes, Marcus Brimage, and Eddie Gordon. Clements, Van Buren, Narvaes, and Brimage took to their official Twitter accounts to express themselves on the situation.

Taking in the aforementioned tweets above, one thing seems to be clear among all of them. Despite the fact the MMA fighters listed above are no longer with UFC, they are thankful for the opportunity to fight in the most popular MMA promotion in the world. Not only that, they truly believe they will be back. To be fair, such a belief is not far-fetched. Tamdan McCrory was given his pink slip from UFC back in 2009. However, “The Barn Cat” showed major improvement when he returned to MMA back in 2014 under Bellator MMA. UFC liked what they saw, and recently re-signed McCrory.

Tamdan McCrory
Tamdan McCrory made an impact at Bellator 123 when he knocked out his opponent in 21 seconds. (via MMA Junkie’s Facebook Page)

As for the terminations themselves, it should be noted not all of them are because the fighters on the chopping block were performing poorly. Christos Giagos mentioned on his Instagram account that the UFC’s reason for cutting him was because “they are overbooked and had to make some cuts.” Currently, UFC has around 560 fighters under contract, as reported by MMA News. To be frank, that is a lot!

If the overbooking situation is true, the massive roster cut of 50 fighters reported by Swedish MMA Site MMA Nytt might be valid. It is unknown which 50 fighters are on the chopping block, but they expect to receive a statement either today (Monday, October 19, 2015) or tomorrow (Tuesday, October 20, 2015).

[Featured Image via Mark Kolbe / Getty]

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