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| UFC Expected to make Huge Cuts to Roster |
| The News - Mixed Martial Arts | Written by Marshall Bowen | Tuesday, 29 April 2008 | ||||||
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It now appears that UFC has become a promotion where you now are literally needing to fight to stay. Dave Meltzer reported Monday on Yahoo Sports that last week's release of Travis Lutter is apparently just the beginning of what is projected to be massive cuts. The company has around 200 fighters under contract and doesn't run enough events to keep them all. The message UFC tried to send with Lutter, the first winner of The Ultimate Fighter to ever be released, is that if you can't go for an exciting three-round fight they don't need you. The decision has instead been made to cut fighters instead of keeping on contract to avoid the competition getting them. While no number has been set on fighter cuts, Meltzer and others easily believe it could top 50. Those who have the biggest risk of being cut are those who have boring fights (ala Jake O'Brien and Kalib Starnes, both cut recently) or those who have lost multiple fights in a row. The company is doing this in a effort to make more interesting fights. They also encouraging this out of fighters by increasing the Pay-Per-View bonuses for best fight or finish to right around $75,000 and threating to cut those who have boring fights. So it appears with the rise in popularity of the sport and th influx of talent being brought into the company by shows like Ultimate Fighter it has become win convincingly, go down in a blaze of glory or go home in the UFC.
Posted by: Joe Gr at 04-30-2008 00:50 I wonder if any bigger names that haven't won much will be cut !!! Posted by: Dwight Parker at 04-30-2008 01:39 So Tim Sylvia would have been cut anyway if he hadn\'t left. The most boring champion ever! Posted by: jsknuckle at 04-30-2008 04:37 That is how it should be. If you lose, then you're out. Maybe if you lose twice. Posted by: Tito Ortiz's Big Head at 04-30-2008 14:51 So, Liddel, Wanderlei Silva and Henderson would have been cut last year? Not quite right. While it's all fine and dandy that the UFC is trying to groom their roster into something different and more dynamic, I don't see them scouting and signing the best free agents available in the world. They can't both be firing everybody and not hiring new talent. Write Comment
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