The Ultimate Fighting Championship has parted ways with five
fighters, including Luke
Sanders and Anthony
Birchak.
In addition to those two, Aalon Cruz,
Jordan
Griffin and Ray
Rodriguez are no longer on the Las Vegas-based promotion’s
roster.
MMAjunkie.com confirmed the news after Sherdog.com’s Tom Feely
and TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter pointed out that none of the above
athletes were eligible for fan rankings online. The aforementioned
departures don’t necessarily mean those fighters were cut; it could
indicate that their existing contracts expired and they did not
receive new deals.
Sanders exits the UFC after losing three of his last four bouts,
including a decision defeat against Felipe
Dias Colares in his most recent outing at UFC on ESPN 23. He
went 3-5 during his promotional tenure.
Birchak went just 2-5 over two separate stints with the
organization. During his second go-round, “El Toro” was finished in
back-to-back fights by Gustavo
Lopez and Tony
Gravely.
After earning a contract on Season 3 of Dana White’s Contender
Series, Cruz suffered back-to-back TKO defeats in his first two
Octagon appearances against Spike
Carlyle and Uros
Medic.
Griffin earned a deal on Season 2 of the Contender Series but
proceeded to lose four of five promotional outings. Most recently,
he dropped a three-round verdict to Luis
Saldana at UFC on ABC 2.
A veteran of multiple regional organizations including LFA, Combate
Americas, Fury FC and the Contender Series, Rodriguez went 0-2 in
the UFC, suffering submission losses to Brian
Kelleher and Rani
Yahya.