Junior dos Santos let his feelings be known regarding the UFC’s roster cuts and the company’s decision to release Yoel Romero.
At UFC 256, Junior dos Santos capped off 2020 with his third loss of the year when he fell to Ciryl Gane via TKO in the second round. And overall, this made for his fourth consecutive loss. So when you consider Dana White’s recent remarks that there would be massive roster cuts on the way, it would make sense for Junior dos Santos to be a possible name on that list. Leading into the UFC 256 pay per view, Junior dos Santos spoke freely about the upcoming roster cuts, including the possibility that releases such as Yoel Romero’s may have been done for financial reasons.
“I thought Romero’s release was really weird and even unfair,” dos Santos told MMA Fighting. What you mentioned about Romero possibly being expensive for the UFC, that’s definitely far from any reality. Nothing is expensive for the UFC. The UFC can’t say any athlete is expensive.
“Everyone has their own relationship with the UFC, their story, and athletes are the ones who make the show. There’s no way an athlete is expensive for the UFC. (The UFC) might want to benefit from signing cheaper athletes, but not that a fighter is expensive for the UFC because the show is always made by the athletes.”
Junior dos Santos could possibly be on the chopping block after his fourth consecutive loss, but he has not been losing sleep over receiving walking papers himself, even in light of the sudden release of a perennial title contender like Yoel Romer.
“I thought this Romero situation was really weird, but I haven’t thought much about it,” he continued. “The way our contract is (structured), the UFC can release us or cancel our contracts at any moment, so that’s constant in our careers. Maybe they are planning massive cuts now, but that can happen at any moment. It’s part of our run in the UFC.”
Do you believe Junior dos Santos will be released from the UFC after losing his fourth straight fight at UFC 256?
