Well, they had a good run in the UFC but it looks like the ride is over for 10 fighters, according to Bloody Elbow.
As noted by Zane Simon, the fighters haven’t been officially released, however this Twitter account runs a ruby script over the UFC.com roster to detect any changes when UFC updates its website.
Historically, when a fighter disappears it usually means that he’s been released from his contract.
To that end, here is the list:
Mike Pierce, 17-7, 9-5 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2009, 2 fight losing streak
Danny Castillo, 17-10, 7-7 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2011, 4 fight losing streak
Steve Montgomery, 8-4, 0-2 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2015, 2 fight losing streak
Marcio Alexandre Jr, 11-3, 0-3 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2014, 3 fight losing streak
Konstantin Erokhin, 9-3, 0-2 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2015, 2 fight losing streak
Valmir Lazaro, 13-4, 1-2 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2014, 1 fight losing streak
Akbarh Arreola, 23-10-1, 1-3 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2014, 2 fight losing streak
Steve Kennedy, 22-8, 0-2 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2015, 2 fight losing streak
Hayder Hassan, 6-3, 0-2 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2015, 2 fight losing streak
Marcin Wrzosek, 10-3, 0-1 UFC, fighter with UFC since 2015, 1 fight losing streak
Some of these cuts make perfect sense, however it’s the end of an era for a few big names.
Mike Pierce was once one of the top welterweights in the promotion, stringing together a four fight win streak prior to running into serial dirty submission fighter Rousimar Palhares. After a two year absence from UFC he returned to put on a rusty performance against Ryan LaFlare, which he lost by decision.
Danny Castillo, meanwhile, was a World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) alumnus, who started his UFC career 6-2 before going on a bad losing streak. Despite losing both his last fights by split decision it looks like UFC had seen enough.
It’s also the end for several fighters who clawed their way to the big leagues via UFC’s reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter.
Marcio Alexandre Jr was an undefeated fighter (11-0) when he appeared on “TUF Brazil 3”, winning three fights in the house to get to the finale where he lost against Warlley Alves. He then lost his next two fights as well.
Hayder Hassan appeared on TUF Season 21: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians. Practically the only ATT fighter who didn’t choke in his fights, Hassan single-handedly won three fights for the team to save them from complete embarrassment. He lost in the finale to Kamaru Usman and then dropped his next fight to Vicente Luque, whom he had beaten on the show.
MMAmania.com will update this article should anything change or become confirmed or if more fighters are released.