UFC cuts 13 fighters from roster

The string of recent UFC employees being laid-off has now extended beyond the corporate side of the UFC, as the new WME-IMG owners have now removed 13 fighters from the roster.

MMAFighting broke the story, which has reported that the following fighters have been cut from the UFC roster:

Shane Campbell

Kevin Casey

Cody East

Glaico Franca

Leonardo Augusto ‘Leleco’ Guimaraes

Cory Hendricks

Caio Magalhaes

Enrique Marin

Tamdan McCrory

Kenny Robertson

Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva

Sean Spencer

Alberto Uda

Fight fans received word this past week that Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, and Enrique Marin had parted ways with the promotion, however there had been no word regarding the other 11 fighters.

Notable names include ‘The Ultimate Fighter: Season 17’ alum Kevin Casey, who went just 1-2-1 with the promotion, with another 2 no-contests, one of which stemmed from a failed drug test that saw him suspended for PED usage. Tamdan McCrory, who burst onto the scene in 2007 at just 21 years old when he submitted Pete Spratt. Following his win over Spratt, McCrory hopscotched wins & losses before taking a hiatus from fighting in 2009. In 2015, McCrory returned to the Octagon as he picked up a submission win over Jason Butcher. He followed up the performance by picking up a slick submission win over Josh Samman in late 2015 to close out the year. Unfortunately however, in 2016, McCrory dropped back to back KO losses, most recently being KO’d by Nate Marquardt on the UFC Fight Pass prelims of ‘UFC Fight Night: Portland’.

Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, who at one point in time was considered one of the most destructive heavyweights on the planet at the time that he knocked out Fedor Emelianenko, parted ways with the promotion earlier this week when they declined to renew his contract. Since 2013, Silva has picked up just one win with the promotion, going 1-6 with a no contest to Mark Hunt in a Fight of the Year candidate.

Recently, the new WME-IMG owners have drawn quite a bit of controversy as they have cleaned house, firing several top UFC executives including UFC Canada’s Tom Wright, along with approximately 80% of the UFC Canada team.

In addition, it has been estimated that 15-20% of the UFC’s global workforce has been fired.