UFC Cuts Middleweight Xavier “Professor X” Foupa-Pokam
The UFC has cut middleweight Xavier “Professor X” Foupa-Pokam following back-to-back losses inside the Octagon.
Foupa-Pokam’s agent, Ken Pavia, confirmed the release with MMAjunkie on Monday.
After a December 2007 loss to Murilo Rua, Professor X won seven-straight bouts before signing with the UFC. In his UFC debut, Foupa-Pokam suffered a unanimous decision loss to Denis Kang at UFC 97 in April. Just one week after the loss, he was tapped to replace an injured James Irvin and take on heavy-handed Drew McFedries on May 23 at UFC 98. McFedries needed just 38-seconds to knockout Foupa-Pokam, sending him packing from UFC just over one month after his debut.
According to Pavia, Foupa-Pokam could return to the UFC for a European event, but the main priority is for Professor X to “regain his confidence” with wins outside of the Octagon.
[Pictured: Xavier Foupa-Pokam]
Tags: Xavier Foupa-Pokam
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Seems like more of a mutual “Leave of Absence” to me. At least, I hope so. I mean, the guy took his second UFC fight on a weeks notice?? I thought this was the kinda thing the UFC rewarded.
He did get his a$$ knocked out pretty bad. Poor guy.
While there is no shame in getting knocked out by Drew McFedries, I think that maybe the 40 second fight duration had more to do with Professor X’s “separation” from the UFC, rather than the fact that he caught his second “L”…
Looks like Professor X’s Mutant Powers couldn’t cut in the Octagon. But it was a mutual split, he should have used his mutant telepathy to score some wins.
Seriously the guy is good and has a decent record, hopefully he can go get a few wins somewhere else and come back better in the future.
Ya and i see those few wins coming from strikeforce cards. Pokam has had a taste of the big show now and will likely not want to go back to the realy small shows. At the same time Its obvious that strikeforce is allways looking to add depth to their roster. Which their definately gonna need if they plan on putting on a show every 2 months.
Plus pokam is a middleweight which right now is one of their strongest divisions.