Rising star Duffee cut from UFC
In a stunning development, mixed martial arts heavyweight prospect Todd Duffee has been cut from the Ultimate Fighting Championships.
The move comes as a surprise because Duffee was considered to one of the top rising stars of the heavyweight class of the UFC, the world’s largest MMA promoter. No specific reason was given for the news, which was broken by MMAjunkie.com. The news however was confirmed by Alex Davis, Duffee’s manager, although what he was quoted saying to MMA reported Josh Gross shed little light on the matter.
“Well, I'm not sure exactly what the problem or problems were.I tryed [sic] ...hard to avoid, but [UFC President] Dana [White] wasn't listening. It unfortunate, but Todd's an a*s," said Davis.
Duffee made his debut at UFC 102 with great expectations riding on his shoulders as he fought against Tim Hague, and he failed to disappoint. He rushed out and crushed Hague with a well-placed punch, scoring a seven-second knock-out, the fastest in UFC history.
He then stepped up against police officer Mike Russow at UFC 114. Duffee came in as a favourite for the fight, and looked to have deserved the title as he dominated the fight for over two rounds, using his boxing background to blast Russow repeatedly. Out of nowhere though Russow landed a knock-out blow, which stunned fans and announcers in the audience, but Duffee’s career still looked bright. With his tremendous physique and boxing ability, the 24-year-old was seemingly set for big things in the division.
It would appear now some kind of dispute with White has caused his dismissal. Duffee has had to pull out of fights because of injury in the past, first at UFC 107 with a back injury, and then more recently out of an upcoming October fight at UFC 121 due to a knee injury. Duffee will now likely seek employment with a smaller promotion, such as DREAM, Strikeforce or Bellator. If he can collect a couple of wins outside the UFC, it may be possible to patch things up and return to the promotion soon.
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