UFC lightweight Mike Ricci has been cut by the promotion after going 1-2 in his UFC career.
The 27-year-old Canadian, who appeared on season 16 of The Ultimate Fighter, recently dropped a split decision to Myles Jury at UFC 165.
The news of his dismissal was announced by Yahoo! Sports, which also reported that long-time middleweight Yushin Okami had been given the pink slip.
Before joining the cast of TUF, Ricci had notched up a 7-2 record as an MMA fighter and had reached the quarter finals of the Bellator season 2 lightweight tournament. There, he was knocked out in the first round by Pat Curran.
He moved up a weight class to appear in TUF last year, where he was awarded Knockout of the Season for his first-round finish of Neil Magny. In the final, he lost to Colton Smith—a loss which precipitated a move back down to the stacked 155-pound division. Perhaps that was because he failed to show enough aggression in his fights.
That initially seemed like a shrewd move, as, in his next fight, he defeated another TUF finalist, Colin Fletcher, winning a three-round decision and ending Fletcher’s career in the UFC. But he failed to improve upon that performance in his next match.
Ricci trains at Montreal’s Tristar Gym alongside Georges St-Pierre and his close personal friend, Rory MacDonald—a No. 2 ranked UFC welterweight. The immaculately turned-out MacDonald sites him as his fashion inspiration.
Along with Ricci and Okami, the UFC released three other fighters over the weekend. Those are Yuri Villefort, who dropped a decision to Sean Spencer at UFC Fight Night 28; Joao Zeferino, who also lost at UFC Fight Night 28 to Elias Silverio; and Keith Wisniewski, who lost three straight fights including to Ivan Jorge more recently.
It is unclear whether Ricci will pursue a career outside of the Octagon.
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