(1-0 over constrictive tanktops, 0-1 over actual competition. You will be missed, Gilbert. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)
The UFC continues to steamroll ahead with its massive roster cuts, Potato Nation. And while we are never one to praise the departure of a Zuffa employee (unless it’s Paul Daley, of course), we should at least be able to take comfort in the fact that there are no Jon Fitch level mind-bogglers for us to mourn this time around. However, the UFC’s most recent list of firings does feature — somewhat unsurprisingly — every TUF 17 alum who came up short in the season’s finale earlier this month, as well as a couple other guys who have had less than successful UFC runs as of late.
Taking out the trash is never fun, so let’s just get this thing over with…
Philip De Fries: Otherwise known as the poor man’s Christian Morecraft, the submission specialist has seen his lights turned out in 3 of his past 4 fights — to Stipe Miocic, Todd Duffee, and most recently, Matt Mitrione. All three of those losses came in under 3 minutes. Despite his trio of vicious beatdowns, De Fries was able to score a pair of victories over Rob Broughton and Oli Thompson at UFC 138 and UFC on FOX 4, respectively.
Chris Spang: The Strikeforce veteran was only given one chance in the UFC and suffered a unanimous decision loss to fellow Strikeforce vet Adlan Amagov in a snoozer at UFC on FUEL 9 earlier in the month. Insert Leonard Garcia joke here.
Jimmy Quinlan, Gilbert Smith, Kevin Casey, Collin Hart, & Adam Cella: These TUF 17 alums suffered losses at the season finale to fellow castmates Dylan Andrews, Bubba McDaniel, Josh Samman, and Luke Barnatt, respectively. Cella, on the other hand, was choked out by Tor Troeng in the first round of their fight at UFC on FUEL 9.
Commence the lighting of ceremonial candles and pouring out of a little liquor…