So rumor has it that the UFC is going to be cutting a bunch of contracts (so they are down to about 150). So I went through and this is who I think should currently be under UFC contract.
-I listed every fighter who has a confirmed fight coming up in the UFC wether or not I think they belong.
-I went through all the show for the past 9 months and looked at fighters who have fought there. So that gave me the basis for my list for who is currently under contract.
-Obviously I didn't include people who I want the UFC to sign or who I think they should sign, this is just a list for people already under contract.
-Feel free to agree, disagree, subtract, or add fighters to the list.
-Of course their is the chance I just missed someone so instead of calling me an idiot for leaving so and so off the list, their is a chance I just missed them.
-Each division is two parts. The first will be the fighters who are secure for now. The second will be a list of fighters who if they lose their next UFC fight, I would prefer to see them dropped from the UFC and pick up some wins elsewhere before returning to the UFC.
HEAVYWEIGHT (19) - Christian Wellisch, Shane Carwin, Brandon Vera, Fabricio Werdum, Antoni Hardonk, Justin McCully, Frank Mir, Mark Coleman, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Heath Herring, Cheick Kongo, Rodrigo Nogueira, Gabriel Gonzaga, Mirko Filipovic, Andrei Arlovski
If these guys lose their next fight, I want to see them dropped from the UFC - Neil Wain, Brad Morris
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT (23) - Keith Jardine, Wanderlei Silva, Wilson Gouveia, Ryota Machida, Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans, Chuck Liddell, Jason Lambert, Marvin Eastman, Drew McFedries, Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin, James Irvin, Houston Alexander, Matt Hamill, Tim Boetsch, Stephan Bonnar
Loss their next and their gone - Goran Reljic, Antonio Mendes, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Thierry Sokoudjou, Luiz Artur Crane
And since the hot rumor right now is that WEC is going to be canning their LHW division, I would like to see Brian Stann, Steve Cantwell, and Doug Marshall brought over to the UFC from WEC.
MIDDLEWEIGHT (30) - Ivan Salaverry, Thales Leites, Nathan Marquardt, Martin Kampmann, Jorge Rivera, Kendall Grove, Ricardo Almeida, Patrick Cote, Ben Saunders, Damian Maia, Ed Herman, Jason Day, Alan Belcher, Jason MacDonald, Michael Bisping, Nathan Quarry, Rich Frnaklin, Yushin Okami, Chris Leben, Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Paul Kelly, Dean Lister, Akihiro Gono
Lose next 1 and their gone - Rousimar Palhares, Evan Tanner, Jared Rollins, Luke Cummo, Alessio Sakra, Terry Martin
WELTERWEIGHT (28) - Jon Koppenhaver, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, Dong-Hyun Kim, Jasno Tan, Marcus Davis, Mike Swick, Roan Carneiro, Ryo Chonan, Diego Sanchez, Luigi Fioravanti, Josh Burkmann, Dustin Hazelett, Josh Koscheck, Chris Lytle, Jonathan Goulet, Georges St. Pierre, Matt Serra, Anthony Johnson, George Sotiropoulous, Thiago Alves, Karo Parisyan, Jon Fitch, Matt Hughes
Lose next 1 and their gone - Jess Liaudin, Paul Taylor, Tom Speer, David bielkheden, Chris Wilson
LIGHTWEIGHT (38) - BJ Penn, Sean Sherk, Rob Emerson, Terry Etim, Thiago Tavares, Matt Wiman, Spencer Fisher, Jeremy Stephens, Joe Stevenson, Gleison Tibau, Marcus Aurelio, Tyson Griffin, Corey Hill, Cole Miller, Rich Clementi, Sam Stout, Mac Danzig, Mark Bocek, Clay Guida, Manvel Gambaryan, Josh Neer, Nathan Diaz, Kurt Pellegrino, Gray Maynard, Frankie Edgar, Kenny Florian, Joe Lauzon, Jorge Gurgel, Matt Arroyo, Troy Mandaloniz, Roger Huerta, Alvin Robinson.
Lose next 1 and their gone - Justin Buchholz, Melvin Guillard, Dennis Siver, Roman Mitchiyan, Din Thomas
So I got 18 heavyweights listed, 23 LHW, 30 MW, 28 WW, and 38 LW. That's 137 fighters if my math is right and then plus the 3 LHW's I want over from WEC would be 140. And of course you have the handful of guys who will be brought in for one time only every few months so someone can beat them and get a W on their record. So that's about the 150 under contract with Zuffa which the rumor says is what Zuffa wants to get down too.
Thoughts? Agree or disagree?
Some of those suggested cuts are a bit harsh. Reljic and Mendes haven't fought yet and along with Cane are all great prospects. Soku as well.
Palhares hasnt fought yet. Tanner, Rollins, and Cummo have proven to be very exciting fighters. Agree on rest.
Wilson has fought once and looked very good losing to the number 1 contender.
Mitchiyan shows promise and Din Thomas is an excellent fighter.
Soukoudjou and Nakamura I have the same beef with (beef's not the right word, but I can't think of the proper word right now).
They both made relaitvely decent paychecks and they are by no means bad fighters or anything. But how many fans did they bring with them? I can count on one hand who they both brought in combined. And losing their first two in the UFC would provide no reason for the casual fans to care. I like Soukoudjou, but he can't ride on the Arona and Nogueira KO's forever.
Tanner I think showed by his last fight against Okami why I don't care to see him again. If he losses his next one on the Ultimate Fighter finale, no problems with him being cut.
Reljic and Mendes are both great European fighters, but being a great European fighter does not make you a great UFC fighter. I am expecting Thiago Silva to absolutely destroy Mendes, and while Gouveia/Reljic is a closer fight than that, I am picking Gouveia to win.
Not saying your wrong or anything and I respect your opinion, just clarifying my opinions.
I'm not going to say who should be released, but some of the guys you list as "secure" probably aren't secure. I have a few specific comments. I'm just going by memory so, FWIW:
- CroCop has been released already
- Arlovski currently is a free agent
- Ortiz has one fight left on his UFC deal & says he won't re-sign
- Lister hasn't fought for the UFC in awhile; I don't know his contract status
- Gono is injured and said he may retire
- Martin may have been released already; he just did a boxing match
- Hughes says that he has very few fights left before he retires; he may even quit after Serra
- Thomas recently said he's is dropping down to 145 ala Pulver
You listed Arroyo and Mandaloniz. Do they have UFC fights lined up?
I do not agree with any of the LHWs you chose to cut, as you have probably have never even seen Reljic fight, he is a legit prospect, Cane is also a good prospect, these guys need more than 2 fights before you decide to cut them.
You basically want the loser of Sok v Nak to leave which is bullshit, as they have both have 1 loss in the UFC against arguebly the no1 contender, also Sok is young and is a great prospect, Nak is a proven LHW who is going to be a tough matchup for anyone, although he needs to come in a little sharper, he looked a bit sloppy against Lyoto, then again, who hasn't.
LOL big time at wanting to see the WEC guys come into the UFC, especially when you are willing to cut Sok or Nak, just LOL at that.
The UFC HW division is a joke anyway, they need to focus on who they can sign rather than who they can cut, But I agree with the 2 selected and it wouldn't kill me to see McCully fuck off, as I hate his fighting style.
Sakara and Martins are the only 2 I wouldn't mind seeing go in middle. You have put a few guys in the wrong weight class, Cummo is good enough at 170 to stay(you have him in 85) and Palhares is good, I have seen a few of his fights and he is good enough for at least a 3 fight deal in the UFC to see how he does.
170, Taylor and Wilson are easily good enough to stay, Wilson could actually make some waves, he impressed the hell out of me against no1 contender Fitch. The rest you named can go.
155, Troy and Arroyo need to do something before they are safe, Din is going to 145 and the rest I agree on.
Tito is still currently under contract. I am perfectly aware of the fact that he will be gone after his next fight. But my first bullet point is, "I listed every fighter who has a confirmed fight coming up in the UFC wether or not I think they belong".
As for you saying I aren't familiar with, Cane, I believe i have seen 5 or 6 of his fights, and he did not impress me overly in any of them. (His fight with Stelly wasn't bad). And he has not beaten anyone worth while.
Evan Tanner should never be cut.
appreciate the effort, but there are glaring problems like the ones mentioned above as well as guys you have listed in the wrong weight class.
Drew McFedries is a MW
Jared Rollins and Jon Koppenhaver fought each other at WW so nice try having them listed in different weight classes.
Gono is NOT a MW... he is in fact a small WW
Luke Cummo is not a MW and neither is Paul Kelly...
I could continue, but to hell with it.. there are a lot of problems with this list... I also puked in my mouth a little bit when you mentioned Brian Stann and Doug Marshal should replace Nakamura and Soko... you basically lost all respect right there.
evan Tanner,
After his performance with Okami, and considering his next fight is against Kendall Grove (a mediocre fighter), if he losses to Grove he deserves to be gone from UFC. Okay if you send him to WEC, but not again in the UFC.
Wait, if Tanner (former champ, 32-7 with 7 KOs and 20 subs) loses he's gone, but if Grove (TUF champ, "mediocre fighter", 8-5) loses he's "secure"?
^^^^^
Your right, it doesn't make sense. But they won't cut the TUF champ even if he losses to Tanner. I agree with you, but it's the way the UFC works.
Add Shogun in to the LHW division, currently injured but will be back