When Andre Winner and John Howard dropped fights at UFC 132 this past Saturday night people predicted they might lose their jobs inside of the behemoth mixed martial arts organization and now, the calls have been placed and Andre and John have been let go by the UFC.  Their roads to returning to the UFC start now.

Andre Winner took shot after shot from Anthony Njokuani, out on his feet but unwilling to give up.  He was battered about mercilessly but remained on his feet, never giving up and after 15 minutes of taking hellacious punishment, he lost a unanimous decision.

Winner was a runner up on season 9, losing to Ross Pearson in the final.  Andre holds a 2-4 record inside the UFC but his loss to Njokuani was his third consecutive and that was all that was needed for Joe Silva to pull the plug on Winner’s UFC career.  He’ll have to sign up on the smaller circuits, put some wins under his belt and try again to land in the UFC.

John “Doomsday” Howard also got the dreaded phone call after a UFC 132 loss to Matt Brown via decision.  John has been a mainstay in the UFC, having fought seven times under the UFC banner.  He started his UFC career on fire, winning four in a row.   He was on the verge of the big time, but losses in three consecutive fights have found him without a job and looking to fight elsewhere.

John opened his UFC career in solid form but three consecutive losses to Jake Ellenberger, Thiago Alves and Matt Brown were just cause for his release.  A brawler with an exciting style, it shouldn’t be difficult for Howard to catch on someone else and pick up fights.  He’s a perfect fit for Maximum Fighting north of the border.

When fighters step into the Octagon, they are fighting for their jobs and occasionally they fall short.  It’s not a career death sentence to be released, it’s just evidence that a fighter needs to continue to grow and gain experience and skills elsewhere.  It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see both Andre Winner and John Howard back in the UFC at some point.