It looks like the UFC is cleaning some house in its lower weight classes, with the apparent release of Scott Jorgensen, George Roop, and “The Korean Bulldozer.”
Back on January 29th, the UFC released a whole slew of fighters between their heavyweight and lightweight divisions. It looked, for the moment, as though the lighter weightclasses had been spared. It doesn’t look that way now. While not an official announcement, the UFCFIGHTERSiNFO Twitter account, which monitors the UFC.com website and it’s roster, has delivered the news that a few names from the lighter weight classes have been removed from the UFC’s database. That usually only means one thing.
The biggest of those names is Scott Jorgensen, who sent out a Tweet just last week declaring his free agency. It looks like the UFC doesn’t plan on being part of that bidding process.
Free agent
— Scott jorgensen (@Scottjorgensen) February 5, 2016
Jorgensen’s UFC run has been less than stellar after a strong stint as a WEC mainstay. While he started out 2-0 after the UFC transplanted the bantamweight division, he’s gone on a 2-8 run since/ Most of those losses have been to top ranked competition, but his most recent defeat at the hands of Alejandro Perez was especially ugly, as Jorgensen went down with a leg injury early, and tried to battle through the pain before the referee finally stopped the fight. At just 33 years old and just hitting the end of his prime, it seems likely that Jorgensen could keep his career going for a few more years, but it’s difficult to imagine him getting back to the UFC.
Also apparently on his way out is another longtime bantamweight veteran, George Roop. This will be the end of Roop’s second UFC stint, having fought as a lightweight for the promotion back in 2008-2009. He came back over as a featherweight in the WEC and put up a 4-6 record over the last 5 years with the promotion. Most recently he suffered back to back losses against Rob Font and Takeya Mizugaki. He’s sitting in just about the same place as Jorgensen right now. A year older, at 34, but with a relatively similar amount of experience and a similar record. I wouldn’t be shocked if he keeps fighting, but it’d be a bit of a surprise if he was back in the Octagon down the road.
Otherwise, it looks like the UFC has also let go of “The Korean Bulldozer” Yui Chul Nam. Yui Chul went 1-2 for the UFC with all his fights going to split decision. Even at 34 and with a solid 9-year career already behind him, he could probably get a couple regional wins and be a callup for the UFC’s next card in Asia.