(A fittingly memorable photo for a fittingly memorable fighter. Farewell to thee, Jeremy Rosewall.)
Because some of you fans (and to be fair, some of us in the media) are still convinced that MMA is a sport and not a form of entertainment, there has been a bit of a reaction to the firing of UFC heavyweight Jared Rosholt — if “(*wanking motion*)” counts as a reaction nonetheless.
(A fittingly memorable photo for a fittingly memorable fighter. Farewell to thee, Jeremy Rosewall.)
Because some of you fans (and to be fair, some of us in the media) are still convinced that MMA is a sport and not a form of entertainment, there has been a bit of a reaction to the firing of UFC heavyweight Jared Rosholt — if “(*wanking motion*)” counts as a reaction nonetheless.
Rosholt was officially released from the promotion this morning despite compiling a respectable 6-2 record in his tenure with the UFC that included three wins in his past 4 performances. The general consensus seems to be that Rosholt was the latest example of UFC valuing “entertainment” over “skill,” but in our eyes, his firing breaks down to two simple factors:
1) He was nicknamed “The Big Show” but never put on a show
As we all know, Dana White has as much love for Big Country as Donald Trump does for our Ecuadorian friends down there in Mexico, so if you’re a UFC heavyweight who both loses to Roy Nelson and doesn’t have the common decency to get knocked out by Roy Nelson, you should probably expect your walking papers come the morning.
For us, the bigger offense lies in Rosholt’s offensive and plain presumptuous decision to steal Paul Donald Wight Jr’s ring name. “The Big Show” is a name that has to be earned through the chokeslamming of thine, enemies, Jared. Not through sloppy, grapple-fucked decisions. You know who never once let the judges decide if he was the winner? The actual Big Show.
I mean, just look at that athleticism, that grace. The marks of a true champion, surely.
Anyways, because we are the “true” fans of the sport who will take a well-executed double leg over a fancy side check kick KO any day of the week, we have scoured the Internet for clips of Mr. Rosholt finest work to compile this highlight reel in his honor.
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: Dickshooterwill 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.
(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: Dickshooterwill 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.
(Everyone remembers where they were the first time they heard the “Comfortably Numb” guitar solo. Photo via Getty.)
The inventor of the punch-hair (Clay Guida WHO?) has likely fought for the last time in the UFC. Two months ago.
Yes, after succumbing to a first round rear-naked choke against the un-Wikipedia-able Leandro Silva back at Fight Night 56, Charlie “The Spaniard” Brenneman has once again been released by the promotion. Experts expect his reactionary lawsuit against the UFC to be filed by the end of the week.
The announcement was made by Brenneman himself on Twitter last night.
Was released fr @ufc today. Looking forward to starting the next chapter. Thx to my supporters!
Brenneman’s re-firing may not seem like that big a deal at first, but it does prove one thing…
(Everyone remembers where they were the first time they heard the “Comfortably Numb” guitar solo. Photo via Getty.)
The inventor of the punch-hair (Clay Guida WHO?) has likely fought for the last time in the UFC. Two months ago.
Yes, after succumbing to a first round rear-naked choke against the un-Wikipedia-able Leandro Silva back at Fight Night 56, Charlie “The Spaniard” Brenneman has once again been released by the promotion. Experts expect his reactionary lawsuit against the UFC to be filed by the end of the week.
The announcement was made by Brenneman himself on Twitter last night.
Was released fr @ufc today. Looking forward to starting the next chapter. Thx to my supporters!
Brenneman’s re-firing may not seem like that big a deal at first, but it does prove that the UFC is actually willing to draw the line in the sand when it comes the quality of their roster. And I know what you’re thinking, ”If the UFC is still firing people these days, how will they ever be able to fill up that Fight Night: Penistone card in July?” I don’t have an answer for that, but I think we can all agree that a #BringBackKimbo Twitter campaign will at least help.
In Brenneman’s first UFC run, the Pros vs. Joes winner went an even 4-4, with the obvious highlight being his massive upset of Rick Story at UFC on Versus 4 after taking the fight on less than a day’s notice. Unfortunately, TKO losses to Johny Hendricks, Anthony Johnson, and Kyle Noke saw Brenneman bounced in September of 2012 following two straight losses. The joke’s been made a million times, but I still find it necessary to point out that this guy and this guy were once in the same weight class and how hilarious that is.
After putting together four straight wins on the local circuit, Brenneman was invited back to the UFC in January, where he was steamrolled by Beneil Dariush, pancaked by Danny Castillo, and flibbity-flobbed by Silva. Let’s hope the WSOF treats him better.
For whatever reason, this was the first thing that popped into my head when I heard word of Brenneman’s firing. So everyone raise a parting glass to Charlie Brenneman: UFC fighter, and sing along.
(“Hang on a second, Frankie, cause you just blew my f*cking mind.” via Getty)
Francis Carmont — or as they refer to him on the CME podcast, “Frankie Cars” — has experienced one of the more surprising career downswings of them all in recent months. A training partner of Georges St. Pierre up at Quebec’s Tristar gym, Carmont kicked off his UFC career with six straight victories, including wins over Costa Philippou, Chris Camozzi, and Lorenz Larkin to name a few. While his grapple-heavy style was never exactly crowd-pleasing (and some of his aforementioned victories overshadowed by questionable judging decisions), Carmont was steadily working his way toward becoming a top contender in the middleweight division according to many.
Then 2014 happened, and Carmont suddenly couldn’t buy a win. In successive appearances, he dropped a pair of unanimous decisions to Ronaldo Souza and CB Dollaway at Fight Night 36 and 41, respectively. If that wasn’t bad enough, poor Frankie Cars was then crumbled by the patented overhand right of Thales Leites (a.k.a Tally Lates) at Fight Night 49 last month, making it three straight losses for the once promising French Canadian.
And today, the news of Carmont’s release comes straight from the horse’s mouth, er, Facebook page:
(“Hang on a second, Frankie, cause you just blew my f*cking mind.” via Getty)
Francis Carmont — or as they refer to him on the CME podcast, “Frankie Cars” — has experienced one of the more surprising career downswings of them all in recent months. A training partner of Georges St. Pierre up at Quebec’s Tristar gym, Carmont kicked off his UFC career with six straight victories, including wins over Costa Philippou, Chris Camozzi, and Lorenz Larkin to name a few. While his grapple-heavy style was never exactly crowd-pleasing (and some of his aforementioned victories overshadowed by questionable judging decisions), Carmont was steadily working his way toward becoming a top contender in the middleweight division according to many.
Then 2014 happened, and Carmont suddenly couldn’t buy a win. In successive appearances, he dropped a pair of unanimous decisions to Ronaldo Souza and CB Dollaway at Fight Night 36 and 41, respectively. If that wasn’t bad enough, poor Frankie Cars was then crumbled by the patented overhand right of Thales Leites (a.k.a Tally Lates) at Fight Night 49 last month, making it three straight losses for the once promising French Canadian.
And today, the news of Carmont’s release comes straight from the horse’s mouth, er, Facebook page:
I announce that after 6 win and 3 defeat, I am no longer a UFC fighter. However it is with determination that I will continue my career in combat sports. A friend told me, after my loss against Thales, ” You will come to understand it is the best thing that could’ve happen for your career, it’ll make you stronger.” At that moment i did not quiet understand, and after reflecting i came to auto-criticize myself. I come to the conclusion that in sports just like in life, there are many and different stages. By looking for perfection on my technique, i slowly estrange myself from the combat by instinct. Seeking to score points instead of finishing my opponent. My last loss pushes me to grow everyday. Life is a learning path and my career is far from finish. Thank you very much for your constant support.
We imagine that Carmont will likely get scooped up by either Bellator or WSOF based on his former UFC status alone, but his firing just proves more than anything that the three strike rule still applies to guys with boring styles.
Our advice to Carmont: Train dem hands, score a few quick KOs on the local scene, and maybe get arrested a time or two from some really sketchy sh*t. The three strike rule doesn’t apply to knockout artists, Frankie, and that’s the God’s honest truth. Just be thankful that you are living in an MMA landscape where all can be forgiven because DAT FEIJAO KO DOE.
