25 UFC Fighters Who Will Be Looking for Work by 2013

It's a cold, cruel world, MMA. One day, you're in the big, bad UFC. You're on TV. You're earning bank. You're traveling the country. The next, you're in a tent fighting someone's grand-pappy at the state fair. You're being paid in fried butter. And your van just tossed a gasket.

Such is life when you're an independent contractor trying to live as a professional pugilist. You can get cut by Dana White, the doctor, Father Time. No shortage of axe-wielders. 

Here are 25 guys currently signed to the UFC, but who—because of release, injury or retirement—may not stay that way into 2013.

25. Daniel Roberts

When Roberts lost to Charlie Brenneman in January, it was his third straight defeat—a dreaded threshold that often means UFC walking papers are in the mail.

Roberts wasn't cut, but it's probably safe to say he's living fight to fight right now.

(Photo credit: Rob Tatum - MMADieHards.com)

24. Christian Morecraft

The Morecraft is 1-3 in the Octagon. One more loss would be three in a row.

23. Chris Cope

WOO! Actually, the news for Chris Cope isn't so "WOO"-nderful of late, if you take my meaning. Sad woo.

Matt Brown outclassed him at UFC 143. It's hard to see where C-Murder goes from here. Might I suggest a career in bird calling? He seems to have some aptitude in that area.

22. Manny Gamburyan

The prickly Armenian-born judoka owns a UFC O-fer after moving over from the WEC. In December, he dropped his third consecutive contest (and second in the Octagon) courtesy of Diego Nunes.  

21. David Mitchell

Welterweight and Ben Affleck look-alike Mitchell once had one of the brightest futures and interesting back stories in the division.

The latter distinction still holds. But after losing each of his first two UFC fights, to T.J. Waldburger and then Paulo Thiago, the former no longer seems the case.

(Photo credit: MMALinker)

20. Tim Credeur

It was good vibrations all around when, at age 31, the Louisiana middleweight finally earned his shot in the UFC.

Three years later, though, he has lost two in a row, most recently a 50-second TKO to Ed Herman. At the same time, a litany of injuries are hampering his ability to get back on the right side of the column.

19. Mike Swick

More importantly than his two straight defeats is that the fact that Feb. 6 marked the second anniversary of the last Octagon appearance for this one-time welterweight contender. 

A difficult stomach condition and a serious knee injury are to blame for the extended layoff. For his part, Swick himself expects to return "soon." We shall see, but either way, I'm not holding out hope that the now-32-year-old can regain top form. Not entirely his fault, of course, but no one said any of this was fair.

18. Jon-Olav Einemo

Not only has he lost three of four and both his fights in the UFC, but his management team is Golden Glory, with whom Zuffa feuded last year and over which Einemo was released (apparently).

He was later reinstated, and all was ostensibly forgiven. At the same time, though, Dana White appears to have a long memory. If all other things are equal, that previous acrimony could be a tiebreaker that doesn't break in Einemo's favor.

17. Matt Brown

Brown once again stayed the executioner's hand when he beat Cope at UFC 143.

An alum from season seven of The Ultimate Fighter, Brown is an exciting and relatively well-known welterweight. But as a loser in four of his last six and still as prone to the submission as anyone in the promotion, his hold on the Octagon remains tenuous.

16. Leonard Garcia

Some questionable judging and a let-Joe-Silva-sort-it-out cage philosophy have conferred unnaturally long life on Garcia's UFC career.

He's 2-4 in the Octagon and has now dropped two straight in his second tour with the promotion. His UFC 144 bout with Tiequan Zhang was scrapped when Garcia bowed out with an injury.

His next fight has not yet been scheduled. But as you can probably tell by his inclusion here, I don't see it ending favorably for the fan fave.

15. Ben Rothwell

I have never seen a fighter more exhausted than Big Ben Rothwell was in the rarefied air of UFC 135 in Denver.

After stumbling to a loss against Mark Hunt (which itself followed a 15-month injury layoff), Rothwell, now a loser in three of his last five, gets Brendan Schaub at UFC 145. Why don't we just say my hopes for Rothwell in that one are not as high as the Colorado Rockies.

14. Cody McKenzie

The founder and sole black belt of The School of The McKenzietine is just 1-2 following his TUF stint. Interestingly, his last two fights were submission losses, both coming by second-round rear-naked choke. It just goes to show how far one-trick ponies get in today's UFC.

McKenzie is eminently likable, but it doesn't seem realistic to expect a professional evolution far or fast enough to save his Octagon career. That would be like walking fish to fruit bat in six months flat.

13. Spencer Fisher

I respect this gritty lightweight as much as the next guy. But at 35 years old and a loser against his last four non-Curt Warburton opponents, it looks like The King might be dead.

12. Steve Cantwell

In 2011, the former WEC light heavyweight titlist pulled out one of the wiliest tricks known to UFC thread-hangers: the ol' weight class switcheroo.

Unfortunately, it didn't do the trick for Cantwell, who lost by unanimous decision to Mike Massenzio in his middleweight debut. A late-February date with Riki Fukuda could determine his fate, though a win probably won't buy him more than another chance to fight for his job.

11. Tyson Griffin

Griffin's scintillating string of Fight of the Night performances now seems like a distant memory. That's probably in large part because it is; his last FON bonus came almost three years ago. That's like four Chinese dynasties in MMA years.

Since then, Griffin has lost four of six and dropped back to featherweight, where he promptly missed weight and got knocked out by Bart Palaszewski.

10. Eddie Wineland

Wineland is as journey as journeymen come. And I mean that as a compliment; the 27-year-old has compiled an 18-8-1 record while competing in, by my count, 14 different promotions. That, my friend, is a solid career.

So far in the UFC, though, Wineland is 0-2. He fought top guys in Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez, but he took a unanimous decision loss in both. A recent injury forced him off the UFC on Fox 2 card; his next fight hasn't been announced.

9. Dan Hardy

Dan Hardy is like the Darrell Hammond of the MMA hot seat. He seems downright comfortable there. And it's starting to look like he'll never leave.

But it's a testament to Hardy (or the British MMA media market) that he hangs around like this. He has come up short in four straight bouts, none of which were particularly close. And while a brawling style and a punk rock ethos will get you a long way, it won't get you all the way. I think the axe finally falls this year.

(Photo credit: Sports Illustrated)

8. Sean Sherk

Sherk, who you will recall lost the lightweight title after testing positive for steroids, has been pummelled by injuries over the past few years.

His return date keeps getting pushed back like the Patriots' offensive line (bada-BOOM!), but spring is apparently the target now. At least it is for Sherk; no actual fight appears set. Even if something does materialize, Sherk said in the same interview he probably only has one or two left in him.

And to top it all off, he seems to believe a couple more wins would get him to the Hall of Fame. Let's see...Gracie, Couture, Penn, Liddell, Sherk...yep, sounds about right.

(Photo credit: Caged Insider)

7. Brandon Vera

It was only a thin stream of Thiago Silva's flaming-hot urine that rescued Vera from Waivetown on a chilly New Year's Day in 2011. 

Vera then prolonged things a little more with a win over the immortal (and now cut) Eliot Marshall.

A spring rematch with Silva was shelved after Vera went down with an injury. Whenever he gets back in the cage, his margin for error is membrane thin.

6. Rich Franklin

The oft-injured Franklin has seemed rudderless for quite some time now. I think 2012 is the year he finally finds a port.

(Photo credit: Sherdog)

5. Forrest Griffin

After getting smeared by Shogun Rua at UFC 134, Griffin's pre-fight comments came into sharp relief. You know, the ones where he said he wasn't having fun anymore in the sport and didn't really see himself getting any better?

Plus, he became a father not long after the event.

Plus, he's a successful author who probably has a broadcasting job whenever and wherever he wants it.

Taken together, it's all pretty illustrative. Maybe he'll get in there one more time for a rubber match with Ortiz (a Winner-and-Loser Leave Town fight?). Maybe he'll fight someone else. Regardless, I think the writing's on the wall: Forrest Griffin is not long for the cage.

4. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

It's not that Jackson can't still win fights. But after Jon Jones picked him apart, put him back together and then choked him out at UFC 135, it's clear Rampage is no longer functioning at a championship level.

His fight with Ryan Bader at UFC 144 at Saitama Super Arena—the site of some of Jackson's greatest MMA achievements—will be telling. But here's guessing the Hollywood veteran's wandering eye finally gets the best of him once and for all.

3. Dan Henderson

Every list needs a curveball.

Mark it down: Dan Henderson will fight Jon Jones this year. He will lose. And then he will leave active MMA competition.

I know he just made his big triumphant return back to the UFC. And yes, I saw that majestic five-round war he won against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, which earned him the title fight with Jones.

But the guy is 41 years old. He's been training in some flavor of combat sport for a quarter of a century now. He has said he doesn't want any other fights between now and Jon Jones, and is content to wait his turn in line while the champ sets his sights on Rashad Evans. Are those the actions of someone with a full gas tank?

Henderson is a surefire Hall of Famer. And he can still fight at a high level. But every road ends somewhere, and I perceive that Hendo is the type to go out on his own terms. He'll take one more stab at the hardware, and if it doesn't go his way, he'll hang up his spurs. 

2. Matt Hughes

The 38-year-old former welterweight champion has said repeatedly he wants to go out a winner (I'm convinced he would have retired in the cage had he beaten Josh Koscheck last year). But he has also repeatedly said he doesn't want a charity fight.

At this stage of his career, I'm not sure Hughes can have it both ways. Eventually, everyone will have to figure something out here. Whether his next opponent is good, bad or nonexistent, 2012 will be the end of the line for Hughes' illustrious career.

1. Tito Ortiz

Tito himself said he has only one fight left. So this is about as tight a lock as you can get.