UFC on Versus 4: Nate Marquardt and the 10 Most High-Profile Cuts in UFC History

Even though UFC on Versus 4 was a resounding success in terms of entertainment value, it’s difficult not to look back at what might have been an excellent main event between Rick Story and his scheduled opponent, Nate Marquardt.

But as we all now know, Marquardt failed a pre-fight medical examination and was not cleared to compete at the event. We still do not know exactly what happened to prompt the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission to revoke Marquardt’s ability to fight on the show due to the state’s medical privacy laws. Under the rules, neither organizations nor the Athletic Commission itself is allowed to reveal details about a fighter’s testing.

UFC President Dana White did give us a bit of insight, though, and has publicly stated that it was something so “disgusting” that he wasted no time cutting Marquardt from the UFC entirely.

Although this was a shocking turn of events given its proximity to a scheduled fight, it was not the first time in which a top-level fighter has been cut by the UFC. Perhaps Marquardt can take solace in the fact that he is one of the top 10 highest-profile cuts in UFC history.

Read on to find out who else made the list.

10. Frank Trigg

MMA Record:
21-8

UFC Record:
2-5

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
Frank Trigg first appeared in the UFC back in 2003 when he took his 10-1 record to the organization to fight then-champion Matt Hughes at UFC 45. The technical grappling bout between the two ended with Hughes securing a rear naked choke and spoiling Trigg’s debut.

Trigg bounced back, though, with two before getting another shot at Hughes at UFC 52. After connecting with a low blow on Hughes, Trigg quickly followed up with some punches and looked to finish the fight with a rear naked choke. But Hughes would not be taken down so easily. In memorably fashion, Hughes broke free and eventually slammed Trigg all the way across the cage before submitting him with a rear naked choke of his own.

Four months later, Trigg would lose his third UFC fight against future champion Georges St-Pierre, again by way of a rear naked choke. That was it for Trigg as his time was done in the UFC until over four years later when he made his return at UFC 103 against Josh Koscheck.

Trigg’s return came at 170 pounds, despite him having competed at and, admittedly, being more comfortable at 185 pounds. He lost the fight to Koscheck by first-round knockout and was subsequently also knocked out by Matt Serra in his final UFC appearance.

He later admitted that the drop to 170 pounds was not a wise decision.

“The biggest mistake I ever made in my career was trying to come back to the UFC at 170 and fight the top guys right away,” he told Bleacher Report. “When I came back, I tried to go down to 170 and I should’ve just fought at 185. I should’ve started slow, not fought on TV, tried to build myself back up physically. But I said, ‘Put me on TV, let me fight the best guys’ and it didn’t work out.”

9. Paul Buentello

MMA Record:
29-13

UFC Record:
3-3

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
Another fighter who actually got two runs in the UFC was heavyweight contender Paul Buentello.

After a nice run in King of the Cage which saw him win the organization’s heavyweight title, “The Headhunter” made his debut for the UFC in February 2005 at UFC 51. He would knock Justin Eilers completely out in the first round, solidifying his place in the organization for the time being.

It was his impressive submission victory over Kevin Jordan that earned Buentello a shot at Andrei Arlovski’s UFC heavyweight at UFC 55. But in highlight-reel fashion, the champion knocked out the challenger just 15 seconds into the first round of their fight.

Buentello did win one more fight for the UFC before his contract ran out and he moved on to fight for both Strikeforce and Affliction. But in 2009, he would get a second run in the UFC when he was given a fight against young up-and-coming heavyweight Stefan Struve. Struve edged Buentello out in a majority decision.

The loss he suffered to Cheick Kongo on his subsequent fight, though, was the final nail in the coffin for Buentello in the UFC. The organization quickly cut ties with him after the second straight loss. 

8. Karo Parisyan

MMA Record:
19-7

UFC Record:
8-4

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
For a time, Karo Parisyan was believed to be the man who was going to take Judo to the next level in prominent art for MMA. His victories over highly touted opponents such as Matt Serra, Chris Lytle, Nick Thompson and Nick Diaz proved that Parisyan was among the best 170-pound fighters in the world for a good number of years.

Unfortunately, things came crashing down when he was knocked out by Thiago Alves in April 2008. In his next fight, Parisyan actually defeated current welterweight contender Dong Hyun Kim by split decision, giving Kim the first loss in his professional career. It was later found out, however, that Parisyan had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and his victory was turned into a no contest.

He was scheduled to fight at UFC 106, but had to be removed from the card just two days prior. UFC President Dana White was not happy and memorably tweeted that Parisyan will “not be fighting Saturday or ever again in the UFC!!”

Parisyan’s camp later divulged that it was an addiction to painkillers which caused Karo to drop out of the fight.

Dana White and the UFC did open their doors one final time to Parisyan, who lost to Dennis Hallman at UFC 123. The loss led White to announce that Parisyan was, again, through with the UFC.

7. Mark Coleman

MMA Record:
16-10

UFC Record:
7-5

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
Mark Coleman actually made his MMA debut all the way back at UFC 10 where he would go on to win the tournament at that show, defeating the legendary Don Frye in the finals. Two months later, he would go on to win his second tournament at UFC 11.

“The Hammer” was born and continued on his path of destruction by submitting then-”Superfight” champion Dan Severn to become the very first UFC heavyweight champion.

But after losing the title to Maurice Smith in just his next fight, Coleman skidded in two more losses and eventually left the organization in 1999.

Then, after a decade out of the organization, Coleman made his return at UFC 93, fighting this time as a light heavyweight, against a man he had defeated before in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Coleman fought hard despite his old age, but was finally knocked out in the third round.

Though he would go on to defeat Stephan Bonnar by decision at UFC 100, Coleman’s fate was sealed in his final UFC appearance against Randy Couture at UFC 109. The fight marked the first time that two Hall of Famers had fought one another after their inductions. Coleman was submitted, though, and subsequently released by the promotion due to him dropping two of his three fights with the promotion. 

6. Keith Jardine

MMA Record:
17-9-2

UFC Record:
6-6

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
Though he had lost a decision to Stephan Bonnar earlier in the year, Keith Jardine broke into the perceived-to-be elite part of the light heavyweight division when he crushed Forrest Griffin by knockout at UFC 66. Then, under a year later, Jardine won the biggest fight of his career by edging out former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell by split decision. 

It seemed that Jardine’s place in the UFC was more than secure as he was suddenly a marketable face and name for the organization, fighting in arguably the most stacked division in the sport at the time. But that all fell apart when he lost by brutal knockout to Wanderlei Silva in his next fight. 

From that point on, we never quite saw the same Keith Jardine.

Though he edged out a split decision over Brandon Vera, Jardine would go on to lose each of the final four fights of his UFC career against Rampage Jackson, Thiago Silva, Ryan Bader and finally Matt Hamill; before finally being cut.

Everyone could tell that the decision to get rid of Jardine was not an easy one for the UFC to make, but they had to do it in order to keep the light heavyweight division moving in the right direction. 

5. Brandon Vera

MMA Record:
11-5-1

UFC Record:
7-5-1

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
Brandon Vera was once touted as the future of the UFC heavyweight division when he burst onto the scene and won four straight fights, including knocking out former champion Frank Mir. But when he lost two straight fights to bigger opponents in Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum, Vera, who was an unusually small heavyweight, decided to officially drop to the light heavyweight division.

He enjoyed immediate success there, winning three of his first four fights in the division before he took back-to-back humiliating losses against Randy Couture and future champion Jon Jones.

But even those losses weren’t enough for the UFC to cut Vera. It wasn’t until he was embarrassed in his third straight loss, this time to Thiago Silva, that the UFC made the decision to terminate the contract of the once highly regarded prospect.

Thankfully for him, Vera’s job was actually saved when it was later revealed that his opponent, Thiago Silva, had handed in a falsified urine test for the fight. The official result of the fight was changed to a no contest and Vera was rehired by the UFC.

4. Fabricio Werdum

MMA Record:
14-5-1

UFC Record:
2-2

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
Fabricio Werdum was widely considered one of the top heavyweight fighters in the world going into his recent bout against Alistair Overeem, but the UFC didn’t see it that way, releasing him following his loss to Junior dos Santos at UFC 90.

Werdum, who had defeated Brandon Vera and Gabriel Gonzaga in back-to-back fights going into that night, was expected by most to mow through the young and relatively inexperienced dos Santos. But those plans were foiled when the future UFC heavyweight No. 1 contender caught him with an uppercut to the jaw, ending the fight by knockout early in the first round.

After the loss, the UFC inexplicably released him, causing much confusion from the Brazilian who didn’t understand what was going on.

“I still have four more fights left on my contract that runs until 2010. From what they told me I should fight in February, July, November and April of 2010,” Werdum was quoted as saying. “In fact, I’m moving to the U.S. to prepare for those fights with Rafael Cordeiro.”

The rumors were true, however, and Werdum found himself fighting for Strikeforce in his next bout. Not all was lost, though, as it was in Strikeforce when he earned by far the biggest victory of his career when he defeated the legendary No. 1 heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko, by submission. 

3. Paul Daley

MMA Record:
27-10-2

UFC Record:
2-1

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
English fighter Paul Daley was released from the UFC following what was one of the craziest moments in recent MMA history immediately following his welterweight bout with Josh Koscheck.

The fight was largely dominated by Koscheck, who used his superior wrestling to essentially lay on top of Daley for the better part of 15 minutes and avoid the striking of the heavy-handed “Semtex.”

Koscheck, who is well-known as one of the best trash-talkers in the business, had been verbally harassing Daley throughout their fight when the two fighters were in close proximity. As the story goes, Koscheck said something very personal about a member of Daley’s family right as the fight was coming to a close.

This, in addition to being essentially dry-humped for the last three rounds, set Daley off. He responded by walking right up to Koscheck while he was going back to his corner, and punching him straight in the face one time before the referee was able to break things up.

Of course, this type of physical reaction was not taken lightly by UFC President Dana White who announced immediately after the event that Daley would no longer be with the UFC.

“He'll never come back, I don't care if he's the best 170-pounder in the world,” White said. “He's never coming back here. There's no excuse for that. You never hit a guy like that after the bell.”

Daley later apologized for the incident, but was still given a 30-day suspension and was officially released of his UFC contract. 

2. Kimbo Slice

MMA Record:
4-2

UFC Record:
1-1

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
Kimbo Slice is proof that a fighter doesn’t necessarily have to be great to be memorable.

After starting off his career 3-0 in EliteXC, the hype for the former street fighter looked like it might actually have a bit of legitimacy to it. But UFC President Dana White was extremely vocally skeptical about Slice, who he believed was a complete joke and did not have the chops to compete against anyone in the sport who actually had talent.

EliteXC closed its doors not long after Slice lost for the first time in his fourth professional fight. The shocking knockout loss to Seth Petruzelli was a wake-up call to the world that, while Slice was certainly tough, he was not physically skilled enough to be competing against any of the top dogs in the UFC.

White repeatedly stated that there was no way he would even allow Kimbo Slice in the UFC unless it was as a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter. Months later, Slice obliged and became a cast member on Season 10 of the hit reality series.

Not surprisingly, that season did record-breaking numbers of views with most of the attention going to Slice, who was ready to make his UFC debut eventually. As one would expect, given his obvious pre-existing popularity, a red “x” was painted on Kimbo’s back throughout the entire show, with most fighters noting that they would like to fight Slice more than anyone else in the house.

Though he did not win the show, Slice did not embarrass himself and was given a catchweight fight on the show’s finale against fellow heavy-handed striker Houston Alexander. Slice surprised some by defeating Alexander in a judges’ decision, but he would not be quite as fortunate in his final fight for the organization at UFC 113.

Fellow TUF cast-mate Matt Mitrione knocked Slice out in the second round of their fight in what was just Mitrione’s second professional MMA fight. Dana White and the UFC saw this as an opportunity to cut ties with the grizzly brawler and released Slice from his contract the following day.

1. Nate Marquardt

MMA Record:
31-10-2

UFC Record:
10-4

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back:
Former UFC middleweight No. 1 contender Nate Marquardt had long been wanting to get back in the title hunt. But with losses to Yushin Okami and Chael Sonnen, as well as Anderson Silva, Marquardt was, at best, the fourth best middleweight in the UFC.

He decided to make the cut to 170 pounds and try his luck at welterweight. Unfortunately, as we now know, something happened medically and he was unable to get cleared for his scheduled welterweight debut at tonight’s event against Rick Story.

UFC President was so disappointed and, as he said, “disgusted,” that he immediately decided to cut Marquardt, leading to the last two days of chaos from the MMA community as we all scramble to figure out exactly what happened.

The actual situation has not yet been disclosed, but Marquardt has stated that he will officially address things on Tuesday.

Regardless of the situation, this has to be considered the craziest roster cut in UFC history. Marquardt is still widely considered to be one of the top handful of fighters in the world at middleweight—if weight was not an issue, as we are now being told it wasn’t, he was expected to be a pretty good welterweight as well.

Bellator has to be on pins and needles as they wait to find out exactly what happened in this very unique situation.