These last couple weeks have been interesting in terms of UFC news. First, we learn that Todd Duffee (6-1, 1-1 UFC) had been released from the company nearly four months after his loss at UFC 114. This came as a shock not only because Duffee was thought to be a rising prospect in the heavyweight division but, the release came down such a long time after his last fight.
The next incident to occur was reports of Chael Sonnen (24-11, 3-2 UFC) testing positive for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) following his UFC 117 fight. While the full story has not been totally revealed and no action has yet been taken by Dana White, the news is bad.
The most recent news is the release of The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 winner, Efrain Escudero (13-2, 3-2 UFC). This news definitely came as a shock to the MMA World because nobody expected it to happen.
After defeating Phillipe Nover at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale to win season 8, Escudero moved to 2-0 following a KO victory over Cole Miller. Escudero’s next fight was against Evan Dunham where he was handed his first career lost, via a third round submission.
He was able to rebound his next time out against Dan Lauzon, winning a rather lackluster Unanimous Decision at UFC 114. Then last week at UFN 22, Escudero fought rising star Charles Oliveira, who proved to be just too much for Escudero.
Nobody really knows the real reasoning behind the sudden release, other than those directly involved, but weighing in 5 pounds over and losing two of his last three fights undoubting had something to do with it.
Escudero has now become only the second TUF winner to be let go by the company in eleven seasons of the competition; the other being Travis Lutter (10-6, 1-2 UFC).
Within a couple of hours of the story breaking out, Escudero tweeted out saying “Hello true fan I was released by the UFC today speaking to strikeforce and bellator. Taking a week off and make my way back!!!!!”
There’s no doubt that Efrain still has many more fights left in him and will be a quality asset for whoever decides to give him a contract. Until then, watch out UFC fighter because the leash seems to have gotten much, much shorter for you all.
