New Year's Day setbacks for Brandon Vera, Marcus Davis, Antonio McKee and Phil Baroni turned out to be their last appearances for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, at least for now.
UFC released the four fighters this week, their camps confirmed with various news outlets. All of them suffered defeats at UFC 125 last weekend, and three already had multiple losses over the past 18 months.
Vera arguably has gotten more leeway than most fighters. Once a fast-rising star in the heavyweight division, he has a 4-5 record since returning to UFC in 2007 after a lengthy contract dispute. Including Saturday's one-sided loss to Thiago Silva, Vera has now lost three in a row despite moving down to the 205-pound weight class.
The 37-year-old Davis dropped four of his last five. He moved down to lightweight for UFC 125 and initially looked sharp against Jeremy Stephens, outboxing him for more than two rounds. But Stephens knocked him out in the final round with a single right hand.
Baroni's downward spiral continued last weekend. He knocked down Brad Tavares early in the first round, but could not finish him and soon after found himself on a receiving end of a brutal flurry of punches that only ended when the referee stopped the bout. It was Baroni's third loss in a row, and sixth in nine fights.
McKee hoped to make a splash in his UFC debut after years of domination in smaller organizations. He instead lost a split decision to Jacob Volkmann, ending a 15-fight unbeaten streak going back to 2003. At age 40, McKee only has a remote chance of another run in UFC.
The need to win could be heightened this year for UFC's talent because of the brand's absorption of World Extreme Cagefighting. The influx of new names cuts into the available roster space.
