The Next 15 UFC Fighters Who Will Retire, Leave or Be Cut

No other sport mirrors the kill-or-be-killed world of nature like mixed martial arts. Although inside the Octagon, it’s more like cut or be cut.

With new talent flooding the UFC in the wake of the Strikeforce and WEC purchases (and with the UFC's general ability to cherry-pick top prospects from promotions it doesn’t own), it makes sense that you'd have to thin the herd with some regularity. In addition, given the toll the sport can take, retirements are another part of the equation. And once in a while, fighters are even compelled to leave the promotion for other reasons entirely.

Here are 15 fighters who may be poised to retire, leave or receive their walking papers from the UFC.

15. Tyson Griffin

Ah, the weight-class change. The frustrated fighter’s final refuge. Not to beat a dead horse, but I bet LeBron James is wishing the NBA had weight classes right about now. Ba-da-BOOM!

After dropping three in a row and four of his last six, Griffin is taking his talents to the featherweight division (where he began his career) and will fight Manny Gamburyan at UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story.

Griffin could find success at 145, and his UFC departure may not be imminent given his 14-5 record and five Fight of the Night bonuses. Nevertheless, the weight-class change seems born out of desperation. We’ll see later this month if the Hail Mary connects against a tough opponent in Gamburyan.

14. Spencer Fisher

Sure, he puts on exciting fights. But at some point you need exciting wins, too. 

In three of his last four, The King has come up short. So he'll probably want to come up big against Thiago Tavares at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro.

13. Paulo Thiago

Thiago has dropped his last two fights, and is a lackluster 3-3 in his Octagon career.

With wins over Josh Koscheck and Jacob Volkmann in his pocket—not to mention a Fight of the Night bonus in his last fight—he may not be the next head on the chopping block. But his UFC 134 collision with David Mitchell could be a bellwether for his future in the promotion.

12. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Rampage reminds me of the disgruntled office worker who simply draws a paycheck until something better comes along. In Jackson’s case, that probably means a movie deal, but whatever it is, once it materializes he’ll be the proverbial smoke on the wind.

No word on whether he’s using the UFC fax machine to blast out his resume to Hollywood, or wantonly reproducing images of his sensitive quarters on the UFC copier.

11. Mac Danzig

Danzig has lost four of his last six going back to the fall of 2008. His last fight, a big knockout over Joe Stevenson, bought him some time, but he promptly gave it back after an injury kept him out of an anticipated grudge match with Donald Cerrone at UFC 131. 

If the tussle with the streaking Cerrone does come to fruition, and Danzig winds up on the bad end of the bout, how much longer will they keep him around?

10. Roy Nelson

Full disclosure: This one is purely my own speculation (even more so than the others).

I don’t believe Nelson is in danger of being released, but I can imagine him leaving the UFC for more wide-open spaces.

Why do I think that? Well, for starters, he’s clearly not UFC President Dana White's friend list. Tracing back to Nelson’s season-winning run on “The Ultimate Fighter,” the rotund heavyweight has simply rubbed White the wrong way. Further evidence came after Nelson’s UFC 130 loss to Frank Mir, when White took a big, wet, very public bite out of Nelson’s backside for putting on what White called a “terrible” and “embarrassing” performance.

A closed-door meeting followed, and speculation grew that White might ask (or demand) that Big Country find a way to drop a state or two. 

If I am reading the tea leaves of Nelson’s meeting recap correctly, it seems Nelson was—and is—not especially receptive to such a message, especially if it comes on someone else's terms.

And that’s the key here. Again, just one man’s opinion, but Nelson strikes me as the type who kinda sorta likes to do things his way.

Ditto Dana White.

Furthermore, Nelson seems like the kind of guy who, despite his devil-may-care posturing, believes he is not only a great fighter but a potential (or current) superstar in the sport. If another promotion offers him the chance to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, I’m not sure I see him turning that down. Especially if White keeps pouring on the hot water.

9. Matt Brown

A loser of three straight, Brown (11-10) will need to dig deep to make an impression when he tangles with John “Doomsday” Howard at UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story later this month.

8. Mirko Cro Cop

Cro Cop has said he wants to fight one more time. Fans may have heard a similar refrain from the icon before, but with one fight left on his current UFC contract, this time it might be for real.

Cro Cop, 36, never enjoyed success in the Octagon like he did elsewhere—not even close. And though he is a beloved fighter and an all-time legend of this sport, no one is interested in watching Cro Cop get smashed by younger and (let’s face it) more well-rounded fighters. Least of all Cro Cop.

7. Steve Cantwell

In his last fight with the WEC, Cantwell defeated Brian Stann for the light heavyweight title. After the WEC folded its 205 division, The Robot moved to the Octagon, where in his first fight he used an armbar to bend Razak Al-Hassan’s elbow backward like a flexy straw.

Who would have figured that would key a downhill run of frustration and failure that continues to this day?

Since that UFC debut, Cantwell has spent two and a half years wandering through an MMA wasteland, which has included three losses and a rash of serious (and strange) injuries.

It may not be fair, but Cantwell nonetheless may be operating on borrowed time.

6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

I know he’s an icon of the sport. I know what he has accomplished.

But the sun sets on every athlete.

Maybe it’s the relative newness of MMA as a sport that makes a fighter’s decline and eventual departure so tough for so many to accept, but it’s reality. And the reality is that Big Nog may be ready to ride into the sunset.

Nogueira just turned 35, but you’d never know that to look at him. In fact, I think he’s aging in dog years. And I’m only half joking there.

He has lost two of his last three fights, with the lone victory coming in 2009 over now-retired, then-46-year-old Randy Couture. His previous fight, in February 2010, ended with a brutal first-round knockout from Cain Velasquez. Afterwards, Nog decided to get knee surgery. And while he was at it, he went ahead and has his balky hips repaired as well.

These are not the actions of a man whose best years are ahead of him.

If Big Nog loses to Brendan Schaub in Rio this August (or even if he wins), he should take the opportunity to hang it up in front of tens of thousands of his supporters and countrymen. With his pedigree and prominence at the vaunted Black House gym, something tells me he would have plenty to do in a coaching capacity if he were to decide he'd seen enough action with live bullets.

5. Joe Stevenson

I don’t know whether you noticed this, but the next UFC Live event is oddly stacked with fighters who are on three-fight losing streaks and, come June 26, may literally be fighting for their jobs.

You know what that means: great TV. And in the end, isn’t that all that matters?

Joe Daddy is the third and perhaps highest-profile of these combatants (Brown and Griffin, seen earlier on this list, are the other two). He’ll be dropping down to featherweight (sound familiar?) to face Javier “Not the Pitcher” Vasquez on the cable TV card. Here's hoping, for Stevenson's sake, that 145 suits him well.

4. Kendall Grove

After yet another loss, it appears Da Spyder’s Octagon future is hanging by a single gossamer thread protruding from his own nether regions.

May's loss to Tim Boetsch runs Grove's losing streak to three, and his overall UFC record to 5-6. I know I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC wanted to evaluate whether the rangy middleweight will ever deliver on his once-considerable promise.

UFC President Dana White has not said whether Grove will stay or go, but his next opponent hasn’t been named, either. For Grove’s part, he said in 2010 that he plans to retire in three years. Maybe Dana could help him with that. After all, who doesn’t want to retire early?

3. Dan Hardy

One thing is for sure: Dan Hardy knows what he’s doing outside the Octagon.

After being out-wrestled and beaten down by Georges St. Pierre, Carlos Condit and Anthony Johnson, it has become clear that Hardy doesn’t have quite as robust an array of tools in the old toolbox as some of his welterweight contemporaries. And all the while, that win over Mike Swick, on which he has hung his bandana for a year and a half now, seems to get mushier by the day.

Hardy knows all this. He also knows where his strengths lie: his left hand, and his mouth. He moved these two chips to the middle of the table when he called out fellow brawler Chris Lytle this winter. Lytle took the bait (or called the bluff) and will meet Hardy on August 14.

Hardy probably needs to win to save his UFC career, but if he can't pull it off, it will be a spectacular wreck. The Outlaw wouldn’t want it any other way.

2. Tito Ortiz

Today’s obligatory "When The Hell is Tito Ortiz Going To Leave?" slide is brought to you by Isotoner Gloves*. Those things will help you hang on to anything.

Seriously, though, Ortiz is starting to resemble a bad party guest. No one remembers inviting him, no one remembers talking to him, and yet there he is, sitting in the corner licking guacamole off the end of an empty champagne bottle.

I don’t know of many pundits who believe Ortiz stands much chance against Ryan Bader at UFC 132. If Ortiz can’t pull the upset, it will extend his winless streak to six.

He has held on this long because of his pioneer status in the sport. But at some point, it becomes natural to wonder whether his continued involvement holds up to any kind of cost-benefit analysis you'd wish to run.

*Not really

1. Brandon Vera

Ice doesn’t get much thinner than the stuff currently underneath Brandon Vera’s skates. In fact, upon closer review, I think he may be walking on water.

After a brutalization from Thiago Silva brought Vera’s losing streak to three and his recent record to 3-6, the UFC dropped Vera rather unceremoniously.

But then Silva failed a drug test, and Vera was reinstated.

His next opponent has not been announced, but if there was ever a must-win situation in the UFC, Vera’s next fight will be it.