It is house cleaning time again for the world’s leading mixed martial arts promotion. It has been reported that the UFC has released veteran Rich Clementi (32-14-1) and ATT fighter, Luigi Fioravanti (14-5) from their contracts. The news comes just days after both fighters were defeated on the UFC Fight Night 17 card.
Clementi gave up a first round submission loss to Gleison Tibau and Fioravanti lost by TKO, also in round one, to Anthony Johnson. The loss was Clementi’s second in a row, having lost to Gray Maynard back at UFC 90 in the fall. However, before the two consecutive defeats, The Ultimate Fighter 4 cast member had won five straight fights including four in the UFC.
As for Fioravanti, his record in the UFC has been completely hit and miss. With nine fights throughout his career in the UFC, he won four and lost five. For the UFC to maintain their elite status of housing the best fighters in the world, a below .500 record within the organization is not going to cut it these days.
Other fighters who have also been given the boot recently are Derek Downy (10-4) who was one and done with a loss to Nick Catone also at UFC Fight Night 17 and Christian Wellisch (8-5) who just lost two in a row and was 2-3 in his UFC tenure. Finally, Eddie Sanchez (8-3) is also out of the organization having given up a loss in his last two appearances and was 3-3 during his time with the UFC.