UFC cut 3 fighters post 125

dave1982

Marus Davis Brandon Vera Phil Baroni

After 15 fights, four fight-night bonuses, a spot on the organization's reality series, former welterweight title contention, and a handful of high-profile international fights, Marcus Davis (17-8 MMA, 9-6 UFC) received his UFC walking papers following a UFC 125 loss to Jeremy Stephens.

Davis' manager, Joe Cavallaro, today confirmed the release with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

The 37-year-old will continue fighting in MMA professionally, and he'll do so at 155 pounds with the hopes of getting back to the UFC.

Davis, fighting for the first time since a drop from welterweight to lightweight, met fellow striker Stephens on the ION Television preliminary card of the Jan. 1 UFC 125 card. Davis wobbled his opponent in the first round and was positioned for a close decision victory, but Stephens connected on a perfectly placed right hook that set up his KO win in the third round.

Davis, a former pro boxer (16-1-1) who went 13-1 from 2006 to 2009 in MMA, now has lost four of his past five fights. The other losses, though, came to notables Nate Diaz, Dan Hardy and Ben Saunders.

"He felt real strong at 155 (pounds)," Cavallaro said. "He made a mistake. The guy's been fighting forever, and he has no plans of retiring. Between all the 'Fight of the Night,' 'Knockout of the Night,' and 'Submission of the Night' bonuses, he's showed that he's a very exciting fighter to watch. Now, it's just a matter of figuring out the next move. We're talking to a few people right now."

Cavallaro said the comfortable weight cut and otherwise solid performance convinced Davis he should keep fighting.

"If he'd taken a sustained beating and didn't look good or didn't look sharp, maybe we'd be having a different conversation," he said.
But he did none of those things. His weight cut was perfect. He felt healthy. Like he said, he thought he was winning that fight, and he just got caught. Jeremy Stephens is a very tough kid, and that's what his bread and butter is. He can stop you at any time. But hats off to Jeremy. He stayed in the fight until the last second."

Davis first joined the UFC in 2005 as a cast member on "The Ultimate Fighter 2," but as a fairly one-dimension striker, he lost an opening-round matchup to eventual show winner Joe Stevenson. He then dropped a TKO (due to cuts) to Melvin Guillard at the show's live finale and was released for the first time.

Davis, though, dedicated himself to the sport and specifically jiu-jitsu improvement. He won 13 of his next 14 fights, including seven via submission, which included a return to the UFC in 2006. Over the past few years, he's been a fixture on the UFC's international cards. Eight of his past 11 UFC fights came in overseas markets.

In the meantime, he and Cavallaro are preparing to field offers.

"I'm open talking to anybody who's interested," Cavallaro said

What started as an extremely promising career with the UFC has now ended as Brandon Vera has been released from the promotion as of Thursday morning.

The news of Vera’s release was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fighter. FiveOuncesofPain.com initially reported the release.

Vera came to the UFC with only four professional fights on his record, but a ton of talent and hype behind him from day one.

The brash young fighter proclaimed right away that he had goals of becoming a two weight class champion, and wanted to fight Chuck Liddell, who at the time was the UFC’s reigning and defending light heavyweight title holder.

It looked good in the early going for Vera, who reeled off four straight wins including a TKO over former heavyweight champion Frank Mir. A contract dispute put Vera out of the cage for several months following that win, and when he returned he was stymied by former heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

After that it was a mixed bag of results for Vera who went 3-5 in his last 8 bouts after the Sylvia fight. His career with the UFC closed on an 0-3 run, culminating with a loss to Thiago Silva at UFC 125

The second time was not the charm for Phil Baroni.

The heavy hitting New Yorker was released from the UFC on Monday following his UFC 125 loss to Brad Tavares over the weekend.

Baroni’s manager Ken Pavia confirmed his release to MMAWeekly.com on Monday. Versus.com originally reported his release.

The loss brought Baroni’s career record to 13-13, while dropping his last two fights in the UFC. It was his second stint with the promotion.

Overall during his UFC career, Baroni went 3-7 in the Octagon. Baroni started with the UFC in 2001, left the promotion and fought in several other shows before returning in 2009.

His release while not unexpected brings Baroni’s latest chapter with the UFC to a close, but he does plan to keep fighting and working his way back to a major show in the future.


http://mmaweekly.com/phil-baroni-released-from-ufc-following-loss-at-ufc-125

Hail 2 Da Thief

Cant really argue against any of those being cut.

dave1982

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

Cant really argue against any of those being cut.

Me either but Davis is surprising imo.Nearly every time he fought he got a bonus for it,and he always came to fight.I was always excited to see Davis on any card.Hopefully he will end up in Strikeforce

GTR63

Unlucky for Davis cause he'd a good 2 rounds(he should of went in for the kill when he hurt stephens in the first) & then got caught cold.Vera is a pure enigma one second he looks quality the next average.I'd of kept Vera,the Light Heavyweight Division isn't the steepest.That they have to put Couture up against Machida says it all.

Gerard.C

I guess Davis just didnt have the luck of the Irish :pac:

unknown13

Mc Kee was also cut.

Odats

Cannot argue on any of them really.
I feel the reasons they were cut were as follows:

• Vera : 0-3 in his last three fights generally means it's cut time, although some would say he won the Couture fight he was dominated in his last two against Bones Jones and Thiago Silva. (Possible destination Strikeforce)

• Davis: Although he got caught he's 1-4 in his last five fights with two losses in a row. Not really marketable any more on a UK card (since the Dan Hardy photoshop incident) and no sign of an Irish card in the future plus merger of WEC lightweight divisions results in a virtual no brainer to be cut. (Possible destination: MFC or tune up fights on the New England circuit then maybe Shark fights)
• Baroni: The New York Bad Ass returned to the UFC on the back of a loss to Joe Riggs in Strikeforce. Two more losses since then and virtually no brainer to cut him. (Possible destination: Regional circuit)
• McKee: Came in talking the talk about challenging for the lightweight title and in a snooze fest against Volkmann generally means your cut now in Dana's eyes (Gerald Harris comes to mind) and was renowned for being a boring fighter before coming into the UFC.Also his age at 40 he's no Randy Couture (Possible destination: Back to the MFC)

d_jordan

I think we could probably see Davis headline a Cage Wars fight card in Ireland

dannybhoy

Its Unlucky for Davis but maybe just one war too many !

Could be the best thing to happen to Vera one of my fave fighters but desperately needed a kick up the ass allways promises but fails to deliver ! He allways leaves it in the judges hands . I think we will see him back in the ufc one day !

Baroni used to be a favourite of mine just sad to see the fella get beat down so much now great boxer but has never evolved !