UFC cuts 12 fighters including Curtis Millender

The UFC has cut 12 fighters from its roster including former top-15 ranked welterweight Curtis Millender.

Nolan King of MMAjunkie.com reported the news of the UFC’s latest roster releases. The 12 fighters who were cut are listed below.

Curtis Millender (3-2 UFC)

Millender was a highly-touted welterweight contender and defeated the likes of Thiago Alves, Max Griffin, and Siyar Bahadurzada to jump into the top-15 rankings. But after losing to two talented opponents in Elizeu Zaleksi dos Santos and Belal Muhammad the UFC matchmakers gave up on him. Still, he’s very talented. He looks like an ideal fit in Bellator’s welterweight division.

Manny Bermudez (3-2 UFC)

Bermudez was another controversial cut as he had a winning 3-2 record in the Octagon. A former top bantamweight prospect, Bermudez was forced to move up in weight after several weight misses at 135lbs. He once again missed weight in his featherweight debut, and the UFC decided to cut ties despite his obvious talent.

Andre Soukhamthath (2-5 UFC)

Although he was involved in some fun fights, Soukhamthath’s 2-5 record in the UFC just wasn’t cutting it. After losing two straight fights to Montel Jackson and Su Madaerji, the UFC had enough and released him.

Henry Briones (1-4 UFC)

Briones won his UFC debut back in 2014 but lost four straight fights. Surprisingly, he is now doing color commentary for the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL.

Derrick Krantz (0-2 UFC)

Krantz lost to Vicente Luque on short notice in his UFC debut then lost a unanimous decision to Song Kenan. His two fights were exciting and most figured he would get one more shot in the UFC, but that’s obviously not the case.

Thomas Gifford (0-2 UFC)

Gifford was beaten to a pulp by Mike Davis in his last fight at UFC Tampa in one of the most controversial fights of the year. With an 0-2 record in the Octagon, the promotion decided he wasn’t UFC caliber and cut him.

Kyle Stewart (0-2 UFC)

Stewart lost back-to-back fights to Chance Rencountre and Erik Koch to get his walking papers from the promotion.

Danilo Belluardo (0-2 UFC)

Belluardo was finished by Joel Alvarez and Mark O. Madsen and didn’t look like he belonged at this level of the sport.

Nohelin Hernandez (0-2 UFC)

Hernandez was finished by Marlon Vera and Jack Shore in his two UFC bouts. To be fair to him those were two tough opponents, but he didn’t get the job done and the UFC cut ties.

Yoshinori Horie (0-1 UFC)

Another strange cut here as Horie only had one fight in the UFC, losing by head kick TKO to top prospect Hakeem Dawodu. He likely should have been given one more chance.

Maia Stevenson (0-1 UFC)

Stevenson only fought once in the UFC and lost via stoppage to Polyana Viana in February 2018. If anything, it’s a surprise that she managed to stay on the roster this long.

Azamat Murzakanov (0-0 UFC)

Murzakanov was suspended by USADA before he even made his UFC debut. The promotion rarely keeps around fighters who fail their drug tests before even stepping into the Octagon, so this was an easy cut by the matchmakers.

What do you make of the 12 fighters the UFC has released, especially the release of former top-ranked welterweight Curtis Millender?