For over 20 years, the UFC has been the premier MMA organization showcasing the best fighters in the world.
Over those 20 years, some other MMA organizations tried to take the top spot. Pride, EliteXC, and Strikeforce are among the promotions that had success, but in the end, weren’t able to surpass the UFC.
Today, there isn’t a particular promotion threatening to take the UFC’s top talent. The UFC is just giving their top talent away.
In the past few weeks, fighters such as Ryan Bader, Misha Cirkunov, Lorenz Larkin, Rick Story, Ali Bagautinov, and Zach Makovsky were all released from the UFC. All of these fighters were a part of the official UFC rankings.
This isn’t the first time the UFC has released a fighter who is seen as one of the best in their respective divisions. In early 2013, the UFC received a lot of criticism following the release of Jon Fitch.
Fitch for a long period of time was considered the second best 170-pound fighter (behind Georges St-Pierre) in the world. He was also considered to be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters as well.
Despite being regarded as one of the best fighters in his division, Fitch was released following a decision loss to Demian Maia. He had won his previous fight against Erick Silva in a “Fight of the Night” performance. However, Fitch was still released after just one loss.
Since then, Fitch has continued to be one of the top welterweights in the world. His stock has lowered due to some losses and lack to high profiled opponent, but he is the current World Series of Fighting welterweight champion and he is coming off a win against Jake Shields.
Shields is another fighter who was released from the UFC after losing just one fight. Shields’ release came with some added controversy due to him being a ranked fighter in the official UFC rankings. Ironically, Fitch was released just days before the first official UFC rankings were created.
Shields was cut by the UFC following a decision loss to Hector Lombard in March 2014 at UFC 171. On that night, Shields fought on the pay-per-view main card. The main event and co-main event that night featured three fighters, Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, and Tyron Woodley, who Shields had defeated. Prior to the loss to Lombard, Shields was on a two-fight win streak defeating Woodley and Maia.
Today, Shields is still one of the top welterweight fighters in the world. Just like Fitch, his stock has lowered due to not getting high-profiled fights. However, if you look at the UFC ranking as of the first week of February, Shields has victories over the current champion Woodley, and the guys ranked no. 2 through 4, Maia, Lawler, and Condit.
Since then other ranked fighters have been released, such as Jared Rosholt or Chico Camus, but the news of those releases received less fan fare. And at the time, ranked fighters being released was rare.
Today, the number of fighters who were let go by the UFC, but would be ranked if in the promotion, is astonishing. Fighters already mentioned include Fitch, Shields, Bader, Cirkunov, Story, Larkin, and Bagautinov. There are also other highly ranked fighters who have left the promotion recently including Sarah Kaufman, Matt Mitrione, Phil Davis, Rory MacDonald, and former UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson.
Now there are still fighters who are among the best in the world but have never fought for the UFC. Bellator has fighters such as Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, Liam McGeary, Douglas Lima, Andrey Koreshkov, Michael Chandler, Patricio Freire, Daniel Straus, Pat Curran, and Eduardo Dantas. ONE has fighters such as Ben Askren and Bibiano Fernandes. These are the majority of fighters who would be ranked in the UFC upon their arrival if they joined the promotion.
With the few fighters who have been able to excel without the UFC, and the growing number of fighters the UFC is releasing or letting leave the promotion, the UFC’s claim of having the best fighters in the world is diminishing.
In the past week, two fighters with claims of being in the top five of their divisions have left the UFC. Bader, who is ranked no.4 in the UFC light heavyweight division, has left the UFC as a free agent and is expected to go to Bellator. Bader is leaving the UFC on a two-fight win streak and has won seven of his last eight.
Bader isn’t the only top-5 light heavyweight to leave the UFC and join Bellator. In 2015, Phil Davis left the UFC. Davis was let go by the UFC following a close decision loss to Bader. Currently, Davis has wins in the UFC against the no. 2 and 3 light heavyweights in the division, Alexander Gustafsson and Glover Teixeira.
In the past week, Larkin was let go by the UFC despite being one of the top-five welterweights in the promotion. Larkin is currently on a two-fight win streak in the UFC defeating the two fighters who are ranked no. 5 and 6, Jorge Masvidal and Neil Magny.
Just last year, the UFC let Rory MacDonald leave to join Bellator. MacDonald was also ranked among the top five of the welterweight division. He currently has wins over Woodley, who is the current champion, and no. 3 ranked Maia.
So today, both the welterweight and light heavyweight divisions have fighters at the top of the ladder who are not in the UFC. This trend only seems to be growing.
The UFC is definitely changing. With the organization new regime, it appears the promotion is more focused on making major fights that will result in quick paydays over having all the best fighters in the world competing regardless of their popularity.
The future of MMA is uncertain. Maybe the new UFC will be even more successful than the UFC in the past, and we will care less about rankings and more about entertainment.
However, the world of MMA always seems to be on a cycle. There are boom periods followed by dull periods. For example, 2014 was one of the worst pay-per-view years in UFC history when it came to buyers. In 2015, the rise of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor led to record-setting numbers that were later broken in 2016. Now in 2017, it appears the promotion may be hitting another dull period.
The future for almost all of the UFC’s biggest stars in uncertain. If the UFC loses it’s few stars, what is going to be left? The UFC grew to what it is, and obtained a hardcore fan base, based on the best MMA fighters in the world fighting each other. If the UFC no longer maintains its stronghold on all the best talent, who knows how big Bellator, or any other MMA promotion, may be able to become.
The MMA landscape is at a crossroads. More and more fighters are realizing how much money they are actually worth. Free agency has already had a major impact on the entire sport, but it’s not close to being done. The landscape is going to be altered, but how it will look and who will benefit the most has yet to be seen.
