John Alessio (34-16 MMA, 0-5 UFC) has been cut by the UFC before, but it's his most recent release that particularly stings.
Alessio awoke this morning to find he'd been let go after an 0-2 run in his third stint with the promotion.
"I'm super upset," the 33-year-old vet today told MMAjunkie.com(
UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). "I worked so long and so hard to get back, and the UFC always puts all this pressure on you about being exciting, so I tried to change my style up to be crowd-pleasing.
"But then I get an opponent in my last fight, where … he just chose to hold me down to win the fight, and it's just depressing that that gets rewarded when all they talk about is exciting fights."
In his fifth UFC fight, Alessio was smothered and outpointed by Shane Roller at UFC 148 earlier this month. Before that, virtually the same happened against Mark Bocek at UFC 145, which was a fight he took on short notice.
Alessio went 12-3 in smaller promotions after a 5-2 run in the now-defunct WEC, where he lost only to now-interim UFC welterweight champ Carlos Condit and Brock Larson.
Alessio is unsure of where his career is now headed. He mentioned as possibilities HDNet-broadcasted promotions as well as ONE FC and Strikeforce. But he said he needed some time to clear his head.
In late August, he plans on shoring up his wrestling game by training with the Canadian national wrestling team.
"I really thought that I'd be spending more than a couple of months of 2012 in the UFC," Alessio said. "I thought I'd get one more shot. I don't know where I should go or what my options are."
Alessio acknowledged that he was bested by Roller and Bocek, but questioned why he wasn't given another opportunity to fight an opponent that might deliver a more exciting bout.
"I could have tried to make that fight really boring and just jab and move and never get taken down," he said. "But that's what I did against Diego Sanchez (at UFC 60), and the UFC was upset because it wasn't very exciting, because I tried to implement this game plan.
"It's contradicting and hard for the fighters because you want to win the fight, but you don't want to be criticized for being a boring fighter."
With that said, Alessio said he'd be willing to step in again on short notice.
"I'm always that guy that they can depend on," he said. "Put me in there with a striker, though."
