(Photo via Getty.)
2015 is off to a rough start for a handful of UFC fighters, Potato Nation. According to a pair of tweets sent out by @FightersInfo (which have been confirmed by several of the names mentioned), the UFC has released seven more fighters from its roster and lost another to retirement. Fight Night: Dickshooter will surely suffer from this.
Let’s get to the casualties, shall we?
Isaac Vallie-Flagg: After transitioning to the UFC following the Strikeforce merger in 2012, Vallie-Flagg quickly established a reputation as one of the lightweight division’s most consistently entertaining brawlers. Unfortunately, his inconsistent at best 1-3 record inside the octagon just wasn’t doing it. Following his third straight loss to Matt Wiman at Fight Night 57 in November, Flagg announced his release from the UFC via Twitter last week, stating that “sometimes putting on a fun show isn’t enough” before seeing if his old buddy Scott Coker was in need of someone who “comes to scrap.”
Guto Inocente: Another Strikeforce veteran and one who was riding a ton of hype into the UFC until Alistair Overeem’d him in training, Inocente made his long-awaited (and long-delayed) UFC debut at the TUF 19 Finale against Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis. It did not end well. Inocente made the cut to light heavyweight for his next bout and came in as a huge favorite against (my boy) Anthony Perosh at Fight Night 55, but the 42-year-old “Hippo” was simply too grizzled and choked him out inside four minutes.
Fabricio Camoes: Following an 0-1-1 run during his first tour of duty back in 2009-10, Camoes picked up a pair of wins on the local circuit (including a win over TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero) and was brought back to the UFC in January of 2012. A unanimous decision loss to Melvin Guillard at UFC 148 was followed by submission losses to Jim Miller and Tony Martin, which were surprising to say the least for the 3rd degree black belt under Royler Gracie.
Phil Harris: The aforementioned retiree, Harris announced his departure from professional fighter on Twitter last week, stating “So 2014 I’ve decided to retire from MMA but will be staying competitive training out of @Gym01Portsmouth BJJ team roll on 2015.” Harris has not fought since July, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Neil Seery at Fight Night: McGregor vs. Brandao, and retires with a 1-3 1 NC record in the UFC and a 22-12 record overall.
And now, the guys you probably didn’t know where UFC fighters in the first place…
Chris Heatherly: 0-2, best known as the victim of the first ever Omoplata submission in the UFC (to Ben Saunders at Fight Night 49). Was most recently TKO’d by Augusto Montano in the first round at UFC 180.
Garett Whiteley: 0-3, suffered a TKO loss to Alan Patrick Silva Alves in his 2013 UFC debut before dropping a pair of UD’s to Vinc Pichel and David Michaud this year.
Wagner Silva: 0-2, rear-naked choked twice. On. I am moving.
Ernest Chavez: I’ll be honest, I have no idea if this “Ernest Chavez” even exists. I have no recollection of any of the three fights he’s supposedly had in the UFC (of which he lost two), and his name sounds just fake enough to arouse my suspicions that the UFC created him out of thin air as part of some tax write-off scheme. Regardless, BloodyElbow is reporting that he has “booked for a fight in another organization, outside the UFC and has thus, almost certainly, been released.” Translation: He’s a phantom, an apparition, second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit.
It’s always saddening to see a bunch of fighters get the axe, but look at it this way, at least Charlie Brenneman has found himself a few co-plaintiffs for his upcoming lawsuit against the UFC.