(“Hang on a second, Frankie, cause you just blew my f*cking mind.” via Getty)
Francis Carmont — or as they refer to him on the CME podcast, “Frankie Cars” — has experienced one of the more surprising career downswings of them all in recent months. A training partner of Georges St. Pierre up at Quebec’s Tristar gym, Carmont kicked off his UFC career with six straight victories, including wins over Costa Philippou, Chris Camozzi, and Lorenz Larkin to name a few. While his grapple-heavy style was never exactly crowd-pleasing (and some of his aforementioned victories overshadowed by questionable judging decisions), Carmont was steadily working his way toward becoming a top contender in the middleweight division according to many.
Then 2014 happened, and Carmont suddenly couldn’t buy a win. In successive appearances, he dropped a pair of unanimous decisions to Ronaldo Souza and CB Dollaway at Fight Night 36 and 41, respectively. If that wasn’t bad enough, poor Frankie Cars was then crumbled by the patented overhand right of Thales Leites (a.k.a Tally Lates) at Fight Night 49 last month, making it three straight losses for the once promising French Canadian.
And today, the news of Carmont’s release comes straight from the horse’s mouth, er, Facebook page:
I announce that after 6 win and 3 defeat, I am no longer a UFC fighter. However it is with determination that I will continue my career in combat sports. A friend told me, after my loss against Thales, ” You will come to understand it is the best thing that could’ve happen for your career, it’ll make you stronger.” At that moment i did not quiet understand, and after reflecting i came to auto-criticize myself. I come to the conclusion that in sports just like in life, there are many and different stages. By looking for perfection on my technique, i slowly estrange myself from the combat by instinct. Seeking to score points instead of finishing my opponent. My last loss pushes me to grow everyday. Life is a learning path and my career is far from finish. Thank you very much for your constant support.
We imagine that Carmont will likely get scooped up by either Bellator or WSOF based on his former UFC status alone, but his firing just proves more than anything that the three strike rule still applies to guys with boring styles.
Our advice to Carmont: Train dem hands, score a few quick KOs on the local scene, and maybe get arrested a time or two from some really sketchy sh*t. The three strike rule doesn’t apply to knockout artists, Frankie, and that’s the God’s honest truth. Just be thankful that you are living in an MMA landscape where all can be forgiven because DAT FEIJAO KO DOE.