The Ultimate Fighting Championship is parting ways with longtime
heavyweight standouts Alistair
Overeem and Junior dos
Santos.
MMAjunkie.com was first to report Overeem’s release, while dos
Santos initially brought word of his departure via social media.
Multiple outlets have since confirmed the cuts. According to a
report from
ESPN, Overeem had two bouts remaining on his UFC contract,
while dos Santos had five.
Overeem recently competed at UFC Fight Night 184 on Feb. 6, when he
had a two-bout winning streak snapped in a second-round technical
knockout loss against Alexander
Volkov. A former Strikeforce, K-1 and Dream champion, Overeem
made his Octagon debut with a first-round stoppage of Brock
Lesnar at UFC 141 and proceeded to compile a 12-8 mark within
the Las Vegas-based promotion. “The Demolition Man” challenged for
heavyweight gold at UFC 203, where he suffered a first-round
knockout loss to Stipe
Miocic in September 2016.
The 40-year-old Dutchman owns a 47-19 career mark with one no
contest and has earned notable wins over the likes of Fabricio
Werdum (twice), Mark Hunt
(twice), dos Santos, Andrei
Arlovski, Roy Nelson,
Frank
Mir, Lesnar, Vitor
Belfort (twice) and Sergei
Kharitonov.
MMAFighting.com is reporting that Bellator is not interested in
signing Overeem at this time, despite the fighter’s past
relationship with president Scott Coker in Strikeforce.
Dos Santos, meanwhile, exits the promotion on the heels of a
four-fight losing streak. All four of those defeats — against
Ciryl
Gane, Jairzinho
Rozenstruik, Curtis
Blaydes and Francis
Ngannou — have come by knockout or technical knockout. Per the
ESPN report, the Brazilian was offered a short-notice bout against
Marcin
Tybura at UFC 260 on March 29, and after he declined due to a
lack of time to prepare, he was released from his contract.
“Thanks [UFC] for a great 12 years!” dos Santos wrote on Instagram.
“I fought through MMA’s Murderer’s Row to get my shot at the belt.
Holding and defending it was one of the great honors of my life.
Thanks to every opponent, thanks to every fan and every critic. I’m
going to spend some time back at the drawing board, but I’m excited
to move on.”
“Cigano” kicked off his promotional tenure with nine consecutive
triumphs. He notably helped usher in the Fox era when he knocked
out Cain
Velasquez in 64 seconds to claim the heavyweight crown at UFC
on Fox 1 in November 2011. He would defend the belt once more
before against Frank Mir
before relinquishing it in a rematch with Velasquez at UFC 155. The
Brazilian challenged for the belt twice more, falling to Velasquez
again at UFC 166 and to Miocic at UFC 211.
Currently 37 years old, dos Santos owns a 21-9 career mark and has
bested the likes of Derrick
Lewis, Ben
Rothwell, Miocic, Hunt, Shane
Carwin, Nelson, Gabriel
Gonzaga, Mirko
Filipovic and Werdum over the course of his professional
tenure.