Over a dozen of fighters are officially gone from the UFC.
As first reported by
MMA Junkie and
Bloody Elbow, the promotion has released the following fighters: Daniel Spitz, Darko Stosic, Hector Aldana, Luke Jumeau, Ben Saunders, Salim Touahri, Martin Bravo, Brandon Davis, Marco Polo Reyes, Carlos Huachin, Brad Katona, Grigorii Popov, Lucie Pudilova, Junior Albini, Nathan Coy, Kalindra Faria, and Jin Soo Son.
The biggest name on the list is UFC veteran Ben Saunders, who has lost his last four bouts inside of the octagon. Saunders has had two stints with the promotion, with the welterweight first making his debut on The Ultimate Fighter.
While Saunders didn’t win the competition, the 36-year-old was still signed to a contract and had memorable fights against men such as Marcus Davis and Jon Fitch. The Florida native was released shortly after suffering a loss to Dennis Hallman and fought in various different promotions, with the most notable being Bellator MMA.
Saunders made his return in 2014 with a win over Chris Heatherly and saw success for the next three fights until his loss to Patrick Côté. While it wouldn’t take long for him to bounce back, Saunders suffered back-to-back defeats following his win over Jake Ellenberger.
Every fighter that was released from the promotion like Saunders had a losing streak going before their exit. There’s no word on the future for Saunders and the 16 other fighters; however, we’ll keep you updated should any be signed to a different promotion.