Lightweight and Team Alpha Male veteran Danny Castillo and welterweight Mike Pierce are among 11 fighters who have been released from the UFC.
That's according to a Friday report from Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting. Though Castillo (17-10) and Pierce (17-7) are both known and respected by the MMA community, both have fallen on bad fortune in recent years, losing their last six bouts combined and missing significant time with injury.
Based on record, "Last Call" Castillo has the worst of it, dropping four straight in the UFC since August 2014. Three of the losses, however, came by split decision, which may help explain why the UFC kept Castillo, a durable lightweight with a wrestling background and a tendency toward grinding, after he lost his third in a row—the unofficial threshold at which the UFC often cuts competitors.
Castillo has trained with Team Alpha Male, the Sacramento, California, fighting camp spearheaded by Urijah Faber, for many years. Although the 36-year-old Castillo has had difficulty, he also has career wins over fighters like Dustin Poirier, Ricardo Lamas and Joe Stevenson.
Pierce has several solid wins on his own resume, over welterweights like Seth Baczynski, Aaron Simpson and Paul Bradley (twice). In recent memory, though, Pierce is probably better known for a loss.
Under the World Series of Fighting banner, a certain welterweight named Rousimar Palhares submitted Pierce with a heel hook, but not before Pierce sustained knee and ankle injuries. Pierce didn't fight again for more than two years.
If there's a bright side to that injury, it's that it may have been the beginning of the end for Palhares, who had a lengthy history of holding submissions too long. The move earned Palhares his release from the UFC. Last August, Palhares got his WSOF walking papers, as well, and was subsequently suspended and fined by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
In any case, the 35-year-old Pierce got a chance in the UFC upon returning from the injury, but he dropped a decision in December to Ryan LaFlare.
The other nine fighters reportedly released are Marcio Alexandre, Akbarh Arreola, Konstantin Erokhin, Hayder Hassan, Steven Kennedy, Leo Kuntz, Valmir Lazaro, Steve Montgomery and Marcin Wrzosek.
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