Bye! UFC Parts Ways With Seven Fighters Including Title Challenger And Mega-Hyped Prospect

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continues to make room on its massive roster of mixed martial arts (MMA) talent.

UFC Roster Watch revealed today (Tues., Oct. 29, 2024) that seven more fighters were released from their respective contracts and/or the promotion decided not to extend them. Four of the seven fighters released came from UFC Vegas 99.

The fighters who lost their spot on the roster include:

• Jessica Penne
• Robelis Despaigne
• Matheus Nicolau
• Vinicius Salvador
• Tamires Vidal
• Jesse Butler
• Charalampos Grigoriou

The biggest head-scratcher on the list is Nicolau, who is currently a Top 10 Flyweight. However, he is riding a three-fight losing streak—even though all three of those losses have come against Top 15 opponents. Also, he was 30 minutes late to the weigh-in scale ahead of UFC Vegas 99. The Brazilian ends his UFC career with a 7-4 record.

The most accomplished fighter on the list is Penne, who fought for the UFC Women’s Strawweight championship against Joanna Jedrzejczyk and lost via third-round TKO. Following her title shot, Penne lost five out of seven fights and had a chunk of her career taken away due to a USADA suspension. Penna went 3-6 inside the promotion.

The last notable name that got the ‘UFC axe’ is super (overly) hyped Despaigne. The 36-year-old Cuban fighter came into UFC dispatching his last three regional opponents in under 20 seconds combined. While Despaigne met some expectations in his UFC debut, knocking out Josh Parisian in 18 seconds (watch), his next two fights were dreadful as he got controlled on the ground for most of the fights. “The Big Boy” went 1-2 inside UFC.

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