UFC Releases Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos

Two MMA legends and veterans, Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos, are no longer members of the UFC organization since Wednesday night. All parties have confirmed this news.

Both dos Santos and Overeem have left a massive legacy behind them, being one of the most popular UFC fighters during their time there.

Overeem’s (47-19 MMA, 13-8 UFC) quest to win the title didn’t end well, for one of the best MMA figures in history. The former Strikeforce, DREAM, and K1 champion couldn’t win the only belt missing and create arguably the biggest legacy in this sport.

The Demolition Man was one step away from the crown, back in 2016, once he met Stipe Miocic in the heavyweight title contest, which ended with the American knocking out the Dutch in the first round.

He would have a couple of chances to come back and challenge the champion once again, but all of them went to waste. The latest one was against Jairzinho Rozenstruik, in a match that decided who faces Frances Ngannou in a title-eliminator. Overeem was confidently controlling the situation and had a massive lead in the scorecards until four seconds to go once one desperate punch Rozenstruik sent ended on his chin.

From that moment on, it was obvious that Reem’s career went downhill. After that fight, he defeated Walt Harris and Augusto Sakai but lost against Alexander Volkov one month ago via dominant TKO. In his UFC career, Overeem holds wins against Andrei Arlovski, Stefan Struve, Frank Mir, Fabricio Werdum, Mark Hunt etc.

His career is one of the longest-lasting in this sport, with the debut taking place in 1999, against Ricardo Fyeet at It’s Showtime event.

As for dos Santos (21-9 MMA, 15-8 UFC), it seems that his refusal to take a short-notice fight against Marcin Tybura late this month was the reason for his release. Cigano was also on a four-match losing streak, with the latest one coming against Ciryl Gane in December. Previously, he lost to Rozenstruik, Curtis Blaydes, and Francis Ngannou, with all of this loss coming via TKO.

Unlike Overeem, he won the UFC title, back in 2011 against Cain Velasquez, had one successful defense vs. Frank Mir before losing it against Velasquez at the UFC 155. The Brazilian would challenge his big rival once more at the UFC 166, but suffer another defeat.

dos Santos received another opportunity to win the heavyweight title at the UFC 211 against Miocic, whom he beat before. Still, this time, Stipe hammered Cigano in the first round to score an easy TKO win.

“Thanks UFC, for a great 12 years! I fought through MMA’s Murderer’s Row to get my shot at the belt. Holding and defending it was one of the great honors of my life. Thanks to every opponent, thanks to every fan, and every critic. I’m going to spend some time back at the drawing board, but I’m excited to move on.”

dos Santos clearly indicated that he wishes to continue fighting, while in Overeem’s case, there haven’t been any comments about future moves.

Interestingly these two guys met in 2015, and Overeem defeated dos Santos via TKO in the second round.

This is a major loss for all the fans worldwide, but it was obvious that both of these guys were on the decline and that they couldn’t compete at the needed level anymore.

Stay tuned for more UFC News.