File this one under “least surprising info of the day.” Following back-to-back losses to Brian Stann and Demian Maia at UFC 130 and 136, repectively, word has it that Jorge Santiago has been released by the UFC for the second time. The American Top Team standout’s original run took place back in 2006, where he scored a quick knockout over the now deceased Justin Levens before ending up on the highlight reels of Chris Leben and Alan Belcher for all eternity.
From there, Santiago racked up an impressive 11-1 record in various promotions over the likes of Siyar Bahadurzada, Trevor Prangley, and Andrei Seminov, scoring all but one of those wins by stoppage. Santiago captured the Sengoku middleweight crown in November of 2009 with a fifth round submission over Kazuo Misaki and defended it twice, including a Fight of the Year performance against Misaki at Sengoku Raiden Championships 14.
“The Sandman” was given another shot at the big time at UFC 130, where he was put to bed by Brian Stann in a Fight of the Night effort. At UFC 136 Santiago found himself grounded en route to a unanimous decision loss to Demian Maia and subsequently given the boot, which we warned him would happen. Santiago will likely be headed back to Japan, where he should consider changing his nickname to “Godzilla” because the man is scary as hell, until he comes to America.
-Danga