Franca, Wilson, Aurelio, and McCully Likely Cut From UFC
The UFC has likely released Hermes Franca, Chris Wilson, Marcus Aurelio, and Justin McCully, as MMA Survival notes that all four have been removed from UFC.com.
Franca (19-8), a former WEC lightweight champion, has lost 3 of his last 4 fights, including a second-round TKO loss to Tyson Griffin last month at UFC 103.
A veteran of the IFL, Wilson (14-6) has also lost 3 of his last 4 inside the Octagon, most-recently losing back-to-back fights to John Howard and Mike Pyle.
After leaving the UFC following two-straight losses to Tyson Griffin and Franca in 2008, Aurelio (18-8) returned in August to suffer a split decision loss to Evan Dunham at UFC 102.
McCully (9-5-2) was unimpressive in four UFC bouts, going 2-2, including a unanimous decision loss to newcomer Mike Russow in August.
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Pictured: Hermes Franca
Tags: Chris Wilson, Hermes Franca, Justin McCully, Marcus Aurelio
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i don’t think aurelio should be cut, the dude has graet jiu-jitsu and a good chin, he’s unfinishable. these guys are out for sure i knew that awhile ago
He might be good. But all the fights I’ve seen him in are soooo terribly boring. Like the fight with Guida he didn’t do anything till the last minute and then alls he did was make himself look dumb
Being “good”, or even great in any particular area of MMA isn’t going to be enough to keep you employed with the UFC as we head into year’s end, 2009.
MMA has attracted too many quality athletes, too many quality coaches and trainers, and has evolved both externally into a mainstream entertainment commodity and internally into a fully-integrated combat sport to tolerate fighters that just dont win, but win impressively, and much more importantly, in a style that Dana White finds appealing and marketable.
As good as Demian Maia is, if he loses a second fight in a row his job will be in jeopardy, maek my words.
Dana isn’t that enamored of grapplers, coming from a boxing background, and Maia isn’t exactly Mr Personality in front of the camera.
A guy like Marcus Aurelio is a prime exmaple of a fighter who probably wouldn’t have been cut 5 years ago, unless there was some extenuating circumstance.
Ditto Justin McCully.
McCully is a Team Punishment guy, so I thought that with Tito returning he might get one more fight, but after losing to Russow Dana had seen enough, and the UFC once again has the best MMA HWs on the planet.
IMO McCully isn’t all that bad, has a lot of experience for a man with under 20 fights, and should probably hit up Scott Coker for work, or maybe do a stretch in Japan to work on polishing his game.
Five years ago Dana desperately needed HW’s to challange Arlovski, Sylvia, and Couture. Now, AA and Timmy are plying their trades in the minor leagues, and Couture is finishing out his legendary career at 205.
Says a lot about the sport in general and the UFC in particular, and goes a long way to explaining how men like Franca and Aurelio find themselves unemployed…
Franca has been around for so long that it’s kinda wierd to see him cut but the lw division has too many young up and comers to keep him in there after losing 3 of his last 3. Good luck to the hair dye trademark!
Wilson was a decent fighter. He totally dominated the stand up in the fitch fight but ever since hasn’t really “impressed”. Good guy though and I wish him well expecially after that incident in brazil.
i’m not surprised by these cuts because of what jcohl said, this is a new time not only for the UFC but MMA, things are changing fast and Dana White has zero tolerance for guys who will not “better” the UFC. Now that there are plenty of young guys who are “impressing”, the older guys have but one option and that is do not lose and keep winning and try not to win by decision as much.
Sucks to see Chris Wilson out, I’ve been a fan of his for a while. I was worried Steve Cantwell would get cut too, but I’m glad they’ve kept him on the roster. Steve Cantwell is a sick fighter, and young as hell.
Cantwell does have a real future IMO, and his loss to Brian Stann was at least in part due to the fact that it was the third time in like 2 years that they’ve hooked it up, and Stann quite honestly has Cantwell’s number at this stage of their careers, in addition to having an enormous mental and physical edge considering his Marine Corps/war hero background.
Stann also has superior coaching and training, considering as how he’s worked out at Greg Jackson’s and with Roberto Travern, not to mention his USMC duties.
Cantwell will be back, and probably with a higher level training camp than the one he’s currently with.
I think the upshot here for the sport is that as the UFC continues to weed out the good fighters from the great ones, other smaller regional promotions now have access to a higher level of fighter than they ever did before.
For exmaple, Justin McCully lives out in Hawaii. Now that he’s out of work, a small local MMA outfit like Kingdom MMA has a shot at signing him to a deal, even if its a single appearance.
Good stuff, all around.
Also, some org like Bellator sees all of these “name” fighters suddenly available for their roster, and maybe it makes it eaiser for them to secure a “second season” deal from the Ocho or whoever.
Lots of angles to consider and play here, now that the already rich in talent [the UFC] have grown SO bloated on talent in SO many weightclasses, other promotions can’t HELP but find their talent pools slowly but surely rising.
I believe it was Sun Tzu in the Art of War that first said, “your enemy grows strong on what you leave behind” or something to that effect, so maybe the UFC should be aware that the more talent they jettison, like Franca, the more they strengthen the relative positions of potential competitors, like Strikeforce and its allied promotions…