Rich Attonito
A couple more fighters have received their pink slips from the Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion.
Lightweight Carlo ‘Neo’ Prater (30-12-1) received his walking papers earlier this week according to MMAOpinion.co.uk, following a second straight defeat inside the Octagon after a split decision loss to Marcus LeVesseur at UFC on FX 5.
Prater went 1-2 inside the Octagon.
Also released was Rich ‘The Raging Bull’ Attonito (10-5), who was cut after accepting a welterweight fight with Gunnar Nelson at UFC on FUEL TV 5, but then told the promotion he was unable to make the weight of 170-lbs, and a subsequent 175-lbs, catchweight limits.
Attonito’s record in the UFC was 3-2, with a loss to Jake Hecht at UFC 140 in his last Octagon appearance.
Eventually, DaMarques Johnson took the 175-lbs catchweight fight with Nelson on seven days notice, but he too failed to make weight, hitting the scale at 183-lbs. Johnson was subsequently defeated by Nelson, his third straight defeat, and was also released by the UFC.
Reporter Ariel Helwani, of MMAFighting.com, spoke to UFC matchmaker Joe Silva about Attonito and Johnson’s release.
When Krauss pulled out of UFC on FUEL TV 5, Silva offered Rich Attonito the fight against Nelson via Attonito’s manager Dan Lambert. Lambert spoke to the American Top Team fighter, who agreed to take the welterweight bout. The next day, Lambert called Silva to tell him Attonito said he would not be able to make the 170-pound weight limit on short notice. Silva then offered him the opportunity to take the fight at a 175-pound catch weight, which both Attonito and Nelson, through his manager and father Haraldur Nelson, agreed to. The next day, Lambert called Silva back again to inform him that Attonito would not be able to make the 175-pound catch weight either. As a result, Silva decided to release Attonito from his contract.
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“I thought it was incredibly unfair to Gunnar Nelson to fight someone that much larger than him,” Silva said. “Johnson told me he could make the weight. He’s not doing me a favor if he missed weight because I could have gotten someone else who would have made the weight.
“I never pressure anyone to take late notice fights. I got a bunch of guys who want to fight. If one says no, I will find someone else. No problem.”
Johnson apparently had to cut about 30-lbs in order to make the 175-lbs catchweight limit, only to miss the mark by 8-lbs.