Efrain Escudero cut from the UFC
In a somewhat surprising move, the Ultimate Fighting Championships has cut The Ultimate Fighter season eight winner Efrain Escudero from its roster. Escudero is coming off of a loss last Wednesday to Brazilian
prospect Charles Oliveira, and is only the second winner of Ultimate Fighter (out of 17) to have been cut from the world’s largest MMA promotion.
Escudero tweeted the news on Monday night, writing: “Hello true fan I was released by the Ufc today speaking to strikeforce and bellator. Taking a week off and make my way back!!!!!”
This after MMAWeekly.com initially reported the rumour. Bellator and Strikeforce are the two next largest MMA promotions in the United States, and Bellator has a history of signing former UFC fighers to
participate in their tournaments.
Escudero went 3-2 in the UFC, although he could be considered to have been something of a disappointment. He won his first two fights, scoring a decision victory over Philippe Nover to win his contract with
the UFC, and then defeated Cole Miller before falling to Evan Dunham. After that he bounced back with a win over Joe Lauzon, before dropping his fight to Oliveira on Wednesday by tapping out to a third round rear naked choke.
While losing two of three in the UFC usually isn’t enough to get cut, it’s even rarer for an Ultimate Fighter winner. Other
Ultimate Fighter
winners have struggled, but been given a longer leash or easy bounce-back fights, such as Mac Danzig, who has gone 3-4 with the organisation. But what probably sealed Escudero’s fate was showing up a full
three pounds overweight at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 22's weigh ins on 14 September. The UFC is known to demand full professionalism from its fighters, and even missing a half pound is considered rare. Missing weight by a full three pounds and then losing to
a prospect was considered enough.
The only other Ultimate Fighter
tournament winner to be cut was Travis Lutter after his debacle at UFC 67. For having won
Ultimate Fighter
season four, he was given a middleweight title shot, yet shockingly showed up 1.5lb over, meaning the fight was not for the belt. After losing to Anderson Silva, he then lost his next fight against Rich Franklin
and was cut.
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