(Griggs might not have had the best ground game in the biz, but he made up for it in pure funkatude.)
It must be spring, Potato Nation, because in order to make room for their new batch of Strikeforce fighters, the UFC has been doing a little cleaning out of their roster as of late. In total, 9 fighters have been axed as of this morning, including everyone’s favorite muttonchops aficionado, Chad Griggs. MMA Opinion has the full list, so join us after the jump to find out which fighters will no longer be punctuating the undercards of FUEL and FX events.
Chad Griggs: 11-1 before entering the UFC, Griggs’ lack of a ground game was quickly exposed in his debut, where he was choked out by Travis Browne in under three minutes at UFC 145. After dropping to light heavyweight, Griggs returned at UFC 154 to face PRIDE veteran and feared striker Cyrille Diabate. Those who were expecting a slugfest left disappointed, however, as Griggs was choked out in the first round again, just fifteen seconds later than his first fight.
Marcus LeVesseur: Despite being one of the more decorated wrestlers to enter the UFC in some time, “The Prospect” quickly showed that he was simply not well rounded enough to hang in the sport’s highest promotion. After dominating the beginning of his UFC debut against TUF 12 alum Cody McKenzie, LeVesseur became McKenzietine victim #11 at just over three minutes into the first round. After scoring a snoozer of split decision over Carlo Prater in his next fight, Levesseur was absolutely savaged by Abel Trujillo at UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Diaz.
Joey Gambino: After getting sliced, diced, and eventually submitted by Steven Siler in his promotional debut at UFC on FX 4, Gambino was outpointed by TUF 14 winner Diego Brandao at UFC 153.
Jared Papazian: 0-3 in the octagon, followed up a majority decision loss to Mike Easton at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller with a submission loss to Dustin Pague at UFC on FX 3. He was given a final chance at the TUF 16 Finale, but was utterly dominated (30-25 x2, 30-26) by Tim Elliot in a performance that somehow netted both men a FOTN award.
Jeff Houghland: 1-2 in the promotion, with UD losses to Yves Jabouin and Takeya Mizugaki in successive contests.
Nick Penner: 0-2, with successive (T)KO losses to Anthony Perosh and Cody Donovan at UFC on FX 2 and UFC on FX 6, repectively.
John Cofer: The TUF 15 alum who was head kick KO’d by Justin Lawrence at the TUF 15 Finale last June before suffering an armbar defeat to Mike Rio at the TUF 16 Finale.
Yasuhiro Urishitani: a.k.a the highly ranked flyweight who was blistered by Joseph Benavidez in the opening round of the flyweight tournament at UFC on FX 2, then outpointed by John Lineker at UFC on FUEL 6.
Henry Martinez: 1-2 in the promotion, Martinez followed up a highly entertaining split decision loss to Matt Riddle at UFC 143 with a split decision win of his own at UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall. However, Martinez would find himself on the wrong end of a Daron Cruickshank highlight reel, walk-off KO at UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Diaz. A sour note to end on, for sure.