Dean Lister Granted UFC Release
Dean Lister
Middleweight Dean Lister has been granted his release from the UFC after requesting that the promotion let him go, MMAWeekly.com reports.
Lister’s release was widely expected following his loss to Yushin Okami on the preliminary card of UFC 92 in December, however most felt the UFC would cut the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Perhaps sensing his inevitable release, Lister successfully requested to be cut and is already in talks with several other promotions, including Affliction and Dream.
“The Boogeyman”, who appeared as an assistant coach on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, holds an 11-5 professional record, including a 4-2 mark in the UFC. After winning four of his first five fights for the promotion, losing only to middleweight contender Nate Marquardt while earning victories over Alessio Sakara, Yuki Sasaki, Jordan Radev, and Jeremy Horn, Lister was matched up against Okami. The matchup fizzled as Okami dominated Lister en route to a unanimous decision victory and a likely title shot. Regarded as one of the best ground fighters in MMA, Lister’s style has failed to produce exciting bouts that keep fighters in the UFC despite subpar performances. Rather, his abundance of decision victories, capped by the decision loss in December, sealed Lister’s fate, forcing him to look for work outside of the octagon for the first time since 2005.
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i believe the question is wat took them so long?
He knows he can’t hang in the UFC. Lister wants to work in another promotion while his name still has value. He wants to make as much money as he can before he retires.
the fight between okami and lister was not a number one contender fight. this fight was “hey lets give okami someone who cant strike to get him back on track after being hurt.” id say that even if okami had won this fight wit a spectacular ko or lister had won wit a flying gogoplata neither one would b fightin for the title in his next fight. now if okami were to fight someone who is actually considered a contender then u could put the label of #1 contender fight but they didnt and if anything the fight wit lister hurt okamis chances of gettin that shot. the only reason he was even in talks to fight silva was cuz he koed evan tanner. see heres the formula exciting wins+talented fighter=championship fights sry okami and machida
ya deans ground game is topnotch! striking did not improve, he could not beat upper 185ers! boring fighter but he will land another job fightin 4sure.
Have any of you ever watched a lister fight? My god is it dull. He has thee worst stand up I’ve ever seen by a pro fighter. And if you are that one dimensonal you aren’t gonna win many fights especially if that 1 dimension is the ground game. I’ve seen fight where he couldn’t even put together a 2 punch combo to get close enough to shoot on the guy…that’s sad. Some of you guys make it sound like he’s gonna go somewhere else and dominate. He won’t even be a contender in lesser orgs like affliction or dream. Get over it, UFC dumped a boring fighter.
Not to mention he has one of the 70’s porn facial hair.
Wow i just watched dean listes first fight with jeremy horn last night how ironic. (him being released i mean)
i love you dean…but come on you gotta start going to the ground if you wanna be exciting
I think it was a number one contender match for Okami, but a keep your job match for Lister. The UFC has a tendency to get rid of less than exciting fighters, and to be honest I don’t blame them. Fight promotion is a business, and you make money in that business by getting people to pay to watch fights, if your fights are boring, no one wants to pay for them. The UFC wants to see fighters try to win fights, not try not to lose fights.
re: “possibly the best BJJ practioner in the MMA world”
Would you put Dean Lister ahead of Demian Maia, Frank Mir, BJ Penn, Big Nog, KenFlo, Pauhlo Filho (the real one), Miguel Torres, or any Gracie?
Besides, you should be happy, your vaunted Affliction can pick up another fighter, that way they’ll have 27 fighters instead of just 26…
If you can put upwards of ten people as being better BJJ practitioners in MMA than someone, that means that its not really possible they are “the best”… “one of the best” yes, “among the best” yes. “possibly the best” no.
@justin sorry which one of those guys won ADCC?
Oh yeah Dean Lister.. so yes he is the best BJJ guy in the ring. With the possible exception of Vinny Magalhaes now.
“Ok so you put a dude in a apparent number one contender match which to be fair he bombed in and then cut him?”
No, but if he asks for permission to quit, you sure as heck don’t stop him…. Please, don’t let the facts get in the way of your temper tantrums.
now DbiZ is keeping things calm it must be monday, good to have you back
Scott,
Which one of those guys is the first ever American to win the World Jui-Jitsu Championship in the black belt category…. oh yeah BJ Penn… I can fact drop too, mate.
dbiz,
It is good to have you back.
“scott says:
January 5, 2009 at 1:51 pm
@justin sorry which one of those guys won ADCC?
Oh yeah Dean Lister.. so yes he is the best BJJ guy in the ring. With the possible exception of Vinny Magalhaes now.”
ADCC != UFC or even MMA. Do you really need that explained to you? If I’m not mistaken, he didn’t have to deal with getting punched repeatedly in ADCC, did he? Therefore…”possibly the best BJJ practicioner in the MMA world” isn’t necessarily true. Note he said “in the MMA world” not “in the world.”
Furthermore, he won it in 2003. 6 years ago now. There’s been a lot of grappling done since then (and he’s not been a factor in any of it) and even more MMA…and he’s not been a factor in that either. If you’re going to try to prove a point with 6 year old numbers, I can show you that Couture is p4p best….
*ducks to avoid flying objects*
dbiz,
(that was just for dbiz…everyone else can ignore it)
I can show that Fedor is p4p best….with six year old numbers
But I’d much rather watch Demian Maia or Shinya Aoki on the ground that Dean Lister…
he would have to learn to do stand up in order to keep up in the MMA world…just ask a Werdum how being a ground ace worked against AA…it made a boring fight since AA avoided the ground at all costs. You have to be well rounded to survive and while Lister is a Top notch BJJ guy with out any stand-up at all he gave boring fights because guys would just tie him up on the ground to negate the BJJ until the ref stood them up. Also Dbiz is very right let’s not forget he ASKED to be released. Japan may be the best place for him.