Thomas Almeida And Three Dana White’s Contender Series Alumni Released From The UFC

Thomas Almeida UFC 260 media day
Thomas Almeida Credit: Gabriel Gonzalez/Cageside Press

Four more fighters are no longer a part of the UFC roster.

MMA Fighting and Combate were the first to report that Thomas Almeida, Mike Rodriguez, Sarah Alpar, and Antonio Arroyo have been released from the promotion.

Almeida (22-5) exits the promotion on a four-fight losing streak, with losses to Sean O’Malley, Jonathan Martinez, Rob Font, and Jimmie Rivera. The Brazilian started his UFC career out on a four-fight win streak and got all the way up to No. 7 in the bantamweight top 15 rankings. Almeida is a five-time Performance of the Night winner, with one of those being Fight of the Night in his UFC debut.

Rodriguez (11-7-1) went 2-5-1 in the UFC and leaves on a three-fight losing streak. His second fight of 2020 with Ed Herman was surrounded in controversy. Rodriguez was on his way to a TKO win when he hit Herman with a legal knee; however, the referee stepped in and called it a low blow. Herman would milk the time and mount a comeback in the third round, submitted Rodriguez.

Alpar (9-6) went winless in the promotion losing to Jessica Rose-Clark in her UFC debut and most recently losing to Erin Blanchfield. Alpar made waves earlier this year when she started a GoFundMe to pay for her training camp, with Youtuber Jake Paul contributing.

Arroyo (9-5) also went winless in the promotion losing three straight to Andre Muniz, Deron Winn, and most recently to Joaquin Buckley.