Yushin Okami released from the UFC

[Dale]

Middleweight contender Yushin Okami, a staple of Zuffa's top-10 rankings for years, received his release from the UFC on Friday.

Promotion officials confirmed the news to MMAFighting.com.


Okami (29-8), the UFC's No. 6 ranked middleweight at the time of his release, departs on the heels of a brutal first-round TKO loss to former Strikeforce champion Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in early September. The loss snapped a three-fight win streak, which included momentum killing victories over Alan Belcher and Hector Lombard.

Dubbed "the best fighter to ever come out of Japan" by UFC President Dana White, Okami competed inside the Octagon for seven years, compiling a 13-5 record within the Zuffa fold.


After winning 10 of his first 12 UFC contests, Okami's career peaked in 2011 with a opportunity to challenge then UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Headlining the UFC's first event held in Brazil since 1998, Okami lost to Silva via second-round TKO.

Still just 32 years old, Okami exits the UFC having only stumbled against Silva, Souza, Chael Sonnen, Rich Franklin and Tim Boetsch. He holds notable victories over Mark Munoz, Nate Marquardt, Mike Swick, Evan Tanner, Belcher (x2) and Lombard.

May not have been an exciting guy to watch, but he had his place in actually filtering out who was a top contender in the division.

 

[Slim]

He'll be welcomed into Bellator with open arms.

yeah not the most exciting at all... but he was still pretty good.

 

[Fauche]

That's dumb. Dude has been a top guy consistently for years. He may not be a big draw in the west, and many would call most of his fights 'boring', but he's still one of the best middleweights in the world. Might not want to see him in a title fight again, but he was good for a gatekeeper. Look how much cred jacare and boetsch get for taking him out. He's a dude that could send guys back down the card if they could handle a top level grappler, and meant something to best. Plus it's always good to have top guys from other countries, right? I'm fine with 'exciting' dudes getting a lot of slack and 'boring' guys maybe not, but this seems ridiculous. Likely will get compared to Fitch, but he has a better record going out and a better attitude.

 

[The Cork]

Yushin Okami gonna be on IMPACT WRESTLING very soon.

His fights sucked so I don't care how unjust it is, he can fuck off to Bellator.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Boring fighter but still a top fighter. Wipes the mat with all but the top 5 at MW. Funny that Okami is cut but a overhyped and overpaid bum that he exposed as having no fight IQ in Lombard is still around.

 

[Deezy]

UFC sure likes dropping the guys who kill their plans for newbies. Suprised he lasted this long tbh.