Veteran head coach, Javier Mendez has claimed many factors can be at play when the UFC decides to part ways with a fighter on their books. But the one reason that stands above all is how CEO Dana White and the brass feel about them.
Mendez, best known for his coaching of Islam Makhachev, the current lightweight kingpin, has also honed major talent at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. Namely, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Luke Rockhold, Daniel Cormier, and Cain Velasquez have also won championship spoils under his tutelage.
Having been associated with the promotion through proxy for a very long time, Mendez knows a little something about how White operates and had a little something to offer to fans miffed about the release of Irish bantamweight, Caolan Loughran.
Loughran last fought Nathan Fletcher at UFC London in March to a split-decision win, but it simply wasn’t enough to save his job. While fans continue to ask why some fighters stay on despite losing or being inactive while some are asked to move on, Mendez believes he has the answer.
“Number one, it could be that you’re a company guy, you’ve been there for the company,” Mendez told WOLFpak during an interview. According to the AKA striking coach, if a fighter is a long-time employee of the promotion, the UFC generally tends to look out for them, a courtesy they do not offer “a non-company fighter“.
“It’s a money business, it’s money first, you know. So a famous fighter that still draws a lot of attention like, you know, Tony Ferguson. He was on a seven-fight losing streak. And they still kept him around, he explained.
Asserting that since Ferguson had reached a level of celebrityhood within the MMA community, the bosses simply wanted to mint the love loyal fans had for ‘ElCucuy’.
Another reason he explained behind some fighters never getting cut was that they would keep winning. Notably, there have been some exceptions to this rule, however.
Undefeated flyweight British prospect Mohammad Mokaev was let go last year after his outside-of-the-octagon antics had proven to garner more attention than his in-ring performance. The reason the UFC brass gave the media was that the matchmakers just had too many problems with him.
Another infamous case arose back in 2010 involving British fighter, Paul Daley, which White took into his own hands immediately.
Daley axed after sucker punch
Boasting a 2-0 record in the promotion ahead of his Octagon swansong, Daley was arguably involved in one of the biggest post-fight scandals in the history of the UFC.
Having dropped a decision loss to the outspoken, Josh Koscheck, Daley would sucker punch the former title challenger after the buzzer at UFC 113, before he was corralled by an angry, Dan Miragliotta.
Later in the night, White confirmed Daley had been handed his walking papers with immediate effect, further insisting that he would never step foot inside the Octagon again.
“He’s done,” White said of Daley after UFC 113. “ I don’t give a sh*t if he’s the best 170-pounder in the world. He’ll never come back here again. There’s no excuse for that,” White added.
Asserting that the fighters inside the octagon are professional athletes and nobody should ever hit another fighter after the bell, no matter how frustrated they are.
“It was probably one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen because he is a talented guy. And he is one of the best 170-pounders in the world“, the UFC boss regrettably noted.
