Just when you thought all the madness following the recent unexpected firing of 16 fighters on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster was over, which included former No.1 welterweight contender Jon Fitch, company head honcho Dana White says nope, not even close.
Though the fiery president justified releasing Fitch the best he could, White revealed there are plenty more cuts to be made in the coming weeks because simply put, the UFC has way too many fighters on its payroll and they just can't keep everyone on the roster.
The outspoken White issued a warning at the recent UFC 157 pre-fight media scrum, saying that "the blood has not all been spilled yet."
His words:
"We have 470-something guys under contract, okay? We have over 100 guys too many. We have over 100 guys too many on the roster right now, okay? So, what's going to happen is, when you lose, listen the blood has not all been spilled yet, there's more coming."
Bottom line, there are too many fighters and not enough events to accommodate everybody and keep them employed, even if the promotion has been putting on shows at a record pace since last year.
It's important to note White did say he would keep guys who "have heart" such as Dan Hardy and Leonard Garcia because they "put it out there every time" and "come to fight." He also offered a word of advice to the guys on his roster who want to hold on to their place in the company:
"You better fight your fucking ass off, make it good and win. That's the only way people want to see you. People want to see you when you're exciting, you know? Unfortunate, sucks, it would be nice if you could just go lay on a guy for three rounds and people would love it and want to buy all your pay-per-views (PPV). Welcome to the fucking real world guys, that's not how it works."
In short, if you lose, make sure you at least went out swinging and tried your hardest to put on a show or "the hungry kids" from Strikeforce like Bobby Green -- who defeated Jacob Volkmann, a fighter who was also released, at UFC 156 -- will take your position.
With the implementation of new weight classes, the new women's division, absorbing plenty of fighters from the now-defunct Strikeforce organization and giving all of the contestants on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 17 a chance to fight again inside the Octagon at season's end, did anyone not see this coming?
Will the added pressure to perform and win produce more exciting fights from the athletes in the upcoming events?