UFC releases 13 fighters

Amidst significant staffing cutbacks amounting to perhaps 15% of the approximately 400 UFC employees, the league has also released 13 fighters, who are classified as independent contractors.

Shane Campbell: 1-4 in UFC; lost last three in a row.

Kevin Casey: 1-2-1 with 2 No Contests in his latest UFC run. One no contest was from an eye poke that Casey suffered. The other was a win overturned after the fighter tested positive for drostanolone.

Cody East: Jackson/Wink heavyweight went into the UFC on a nine-fight win streak, both lost both fights in the world’s dominant league, by TKO.

Glaico Franca: 1-2 in the UFC, with the latest being back to back losses.

Leonardo Augusto ‘Leleco’ Guimaraes: 0-2 in the UFC.

Cory Hendricks: Came out of TUF 23, lost a majority decision in the TUF 23 Finale.

Caio Magalhaes: Release demonstrates how quick a release can happen. Lost UFC debut in 2012, then went on a four-fight win streak. Then got tapped by the late Josh Samman, and lost a split decision to Brad Tavares last month, and is released.

Enrique Marin: Entered The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 2 on a seven fight win streak, but in his only two UFC fights, lost the welterweight tournament finale via split decision, and then lost to Sage Northcutt in July.

Tamdan McCrory: Split wins and losses in the UFC three times and was released. After two wins outside the UFC was brought back in, where he first beat Josh Samman, but then lost via TKO to both Krzysztof Jotko and Nate Marquardt.

Kenny Robertson: 4-4 in the UFC since 2012, but lost the last two, both via Split Decision, to Ben Saunders and Road Carneiro.

Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva: 1-6 with one No Contest in his last eight UFC fights. The numbers however do not tell the full story of an excellent fighter.

Sean Spencer: 3-5 in the UFC; lost last three.

Alberto Uda: 0-2 in the UFC.

The layoffs come amidst reports that the new UFC owners, WME-IMG, plan to reduce the number of shows yearly from 40+ to mid 30s.