Antonio Carlos Junior among 12 fighters no longer under UFC contract
The UFC’s roster purge continues.
Antonio Carlos Junior’s UFC 257 loss to Brad Tavares proved to be his last in the UFC.
MMA Fighting confirmed that The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil season 3 winner has been let go by the promotion after his third consecutive defeat. Joining him on the list are Carlton Minus, Peter Barrett, Spike Carlyle, Anthony Ivy, Jacob Kilburn, Sarah Moras, Vinicius Moreira, Markus Perez, Cole Williams, Rhys McKee, and Vanessa Melo.
It should be noted that Melo is a free agent after her win over Sarah Moras, but per MMA Fighting the hope is that she will be re-signed, otherwise that fight could be the rare double cut.
Perez did ask for the UFC to release him after his disappointing losing streak and evidently they agreed. One of the more notable names on here is Rhys McKee, who went 0-2 after losses to Khamzat Chimaev and Alex Morono. This means that two of Chimaev’s three wins have come against opposition who were released just one fight later — the other one was middleweight John Phillips.
None of Ivy, Moreira, Kilburn, Williams, or Barrett ever notched a win inside the Octagon prior to their departures.
So all things considered, none of these cuts is surprising and virtually all of them were populating the lower end of UFC shows. We can expect more of these headlines in the coming weeks.