After four consecutive losses, contemporary heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos has parted programs with the UFC. Dos Santos confirmed earlier experiences of the news on Wednesday with a put up on his Instagram tale.
“Thanks, UFC for a monumental 12 years!” Dos Santos wrote on Instagram. “I fought thru MMA’s Assassin’s Row to ranking my shot at the belt. Preserving and defending it was as soon as one amongst the monumental honors of my lifestyles. Thanks to every opponent, due to every fan and every critic. I will expend some time lend a hand at the drawing board, but I am furious to lag on.”
Dos Santos first dwelling foot in the Octagon in October 2008, debuting in opposition to future fellow heavyweight champion Fabrício Werdum. In his first seven fights with the promotion, dos Santos obtained every bout while scoring five knockouts. In November 2011, dos Santos ultimately got a big gamble at the UFC heavyweight championship, facing Cain Velasquez in the major match of the UFC’s first ever card on FOX. In one amongst most certainly the most watched fights in MMA history, dos Santos knocked out Velasquez in precisely 64 seconds to cast off the title.
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After efficiently defending the title in opposition to Frank Mir, dos Santos dropped the title in a rematch with Velasquez. He would dwell as a force in the heavyweight rankings for years, failing to cast off the title lend a hand in opposition to both Velasquez of their trilogy strive in opposition to and most modern champion Stipe Miocic.
In 2019, dos Santos’ profession took a downward turn. After having beforehand efficiently rebounded from every defeat, dos Santos would endure four consecutive knockout losses, most certainly the most most modern a TKO loss to rising contender Ciryl Gane in December. ESPN experiences that dos Santos had five fights final on his deal.
As nicely as to dos Santos, heavyweight mainstay Alistair Overeem is moreover on his diagram out of the UFC on the heels of a 2d-spherical TKO loss to Alexander Volkov in February. ESPN nicely-known that Overeem unruffled had two fights left on his deal. Overeem acknowledged the lag on Instagram, seeming to hiss his retirement in the process.
“The closing lag has advance to an stop, but what a lag it has been. Trying lend a hand at my 10 years in the UFC, this has been the ride of a lifetime” Overeem wrote. “Massive thanks to your whole UFC crew, the fans and the entire opponents I discovered. Might maybe perchance most certainly now not bear wished for any assorted better profession route. A assorted thanks to Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta for making every thing doubtless. Combating for all of you has been such an honor.”
The news comes after statements from UFC president Dana White that the the promotion was as soon as taking a notice to overtake its roster, resulting in many opponents being lower.
