Bryan Caraway no longer with UFC, set to make Battlefield FC debut

An eight-year UFC tenure has been revealed to have come to an end. The Ultimate Fighter season 14 contestant and perennial top bantamweight contender, ‘Kid Lightning,’ Bryan Caraway (21-9) is no longer with the promotion.

The 30-fight veteran took to Instagram recently to tease some fight news. As most surely assumed, he would be referring to a fight inside the UFC Octagon.

However, that wasn’t the case as The Body Lock’s John Hyon Ko confirmed on Friday that Caraway’s next fight will be against Raja Shippen (18-11-1) at Battlefield FC 2 in Macau, China on July 27.

Raja Shippen vs Bryan Caraway lined up for Battlefield FC 2 on July 27 in Macao pic.twitter.com/dB8srs9em3

— Hyon Ko (@JHKMMA) May 25, 2019

“Raja Shippen vs Bryan Caraway lined up for Battlefield FC 2 on July 27 in Macao” Ko’s tweet read.

The now 34-year old Caraway got his UFC career off to a solid 6-2 start before solidifying himself as a top 10 threat by handing Aljamain Sterling the first loss of his professional career. Unfortunately, it would be injuries that halted all of the bantamweight’s momentum en route to the top of the weight class.

Following the Sterling win, the underrated BJJ specialist would return to action after a two-year absence where he fought new rising prospect, Cody Stamann in February 2018 and suffered a very close split decision defeat.

Able to make it two fights in that year, his first time doing so since 2014, Caraway would then face the surging Pedro Munhoz in November for what would end up being his last UFC fight. The result would wind up being his lone UFC loss via finish as Munhoz put him away in the opening round with a brutal body kick accompanied by punches thereafter.

As for his next opponent in Shippen, he currently rides a four-fight winning streak. However, Shippen’s last fight actually happened to come at Battlefield FC’s first event which took place in March 2017.

With Battlefield FC recently hiring the likes of MMA legend, Wanderlei Silva as a brand ambassador, their second event after this two-year hiatus has already seen the boost from that as notable names fighting at this upcoming fight night aside from Caraway include the likes of former UFC lightweights, Will Brooks and Abel Trujillo who will be facing off with each other. The former of the two is also a former Bellator champion.

The South Korea-based promotion is infamously known for the incident that saw them not pay the fighters their fight purses until an entire year had passed following their fights in the organization’s inaugural event.

on 5/25/2019