The UFC has done some house cleaning, as a full eleven fighters appeared to be removed from the promotion’s roster on Wednesday.
As first noticed by automated service UFC Roster Watch, which monitors the UFC’s fighter database, the following athletes appear to be out of the organization:
- Sijara Eubanks (7-7)
- Mike Trizano (10-3)
- Liudvik Sholinian (9-3-1)
- Marcelo Rojo (16-9)
- Jay Perrin (10-7)
- Alejandro Perez (22-9-1)
- Raulian Paiva (21-5)
- Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (13-2)
- Kevin Natividad (9-4)
- Vince Marales (11-7)
- Brandon Davis (14-10)
The removal of a fighter from the database does not necessarily mean they have been cut outright. As an example, a fighter may have fought out his or her current contract, and not been immediately re-signed (but could be brought back at a later date).
That having been said, some of the names revealed on Wednesday come as no surprise. Sijara Eubanks missed weight for her fight with Priscila Cachoeira just a week ago, resulting in the bout being scratched from the UFC Vegas 67 card. It was far from Eubanks’ first struggle with the scale: she lost her spot in The Ultimate Fighter 26 finale, where she would have competed for the promotion’s inaugural women’s flyweight title, due to a weight cut gone wrong.
Another weight miss followed in 2018, prompting a move to bantamweight. Eubanks then returned to flyweight last year, posting a 1-1 record while missing weight for a fight with Melissa Gatto.
Trizano won The Ultimate Fighter 27 tournament in 2018, and has gone 4-3 inside the octagon including the TUF 27 finale win. He last competed in November, knocking out Seung Woo Choi. Trizano fought out his contract in that bout; he feels like one name that could be brought back under the right circumstances, but that doesn’t look to be the case in the immediate future.
Mexico’s Alejandro Perez was 1-3 in his last four, while Jay Perrin just suffered defeat at the hands of teen phenom Raul Rosas Jr.
27-year old Raulian Paiva’s exit comes as a bit of a surprise. Paiva, who endured personal tragedy as he started his UFC run, has been ranked at both 125 and 135 pounds. He’s lost his last two.
Ukraine’s Liudvik Sholinian, a TUF 29 alum, went 0-2 in the UFC at bantamweight, though given the circumstances with his home country at war with Russia, seeing him gone is unfortunate.
Marcelo Rojo, who spent time at both bantamweight and featherweight, went 0-3 in his UFC run. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev and Kevin Natividad were both winless in their time in the promotion, while Vince Morales had lost his last two. Brandon Davis had lost both his fights since returning to the UFC in 2021. He first competed for the company from 2018-19.
Morales, for one, confirmed the news in entertaining fashion.
https://t.co/Q23jHYdVl8 pic.twitter.com/Hj3X4etpxE
— Vince Morales (@vandetta135) January 18, 2023
