Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos is not worried about the possibility of getting cut by the promotion.
Dos Santos is currently on a career-first three-fight losing skid following consecutive knockout defeats to Francis Ngannou, Curtis Blaydes and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Oddsmakers believe “JDS” will suffer his fourth defeat in a row when he takes on young prospect Ciryl Gane at UFC 256 this weekend.
It wouldn’t be the most ideal scenario for dos Santos, especially after Yoel Romero was recently released from the promotion with UFC president Dana White claiming as many as 60 fighters would be cut before the end of the year.
While the possibility of getting released is something he has thought about before, the Brazilian isn’t focusing too much on it at the moment — especially as the UFC can release fighters whenever they want.
“Well, I have to say no,” Dos Santos told TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter when asked if he was worried about getting cut. “I cannot deny that we think about it if they are releasing all these guys — maybe we can be one of them, I don’t really know. I’m not worried about that, I’m not thinking about that right now because man, in the UFC you have no options. They can release you from your contract the moment they want.
“We are employees here and we just have to do our best to keep working. They can release you any time they want. Now they are planning to do this in a big way by releasing more people. It’s kind of strange. I don’t really stop to really think about that. I don’t really agree with the way that things happen with these guys or whatever, but this is a business. They are doing their business, that’s what they think is going to be good for them — go ahead and do it.”
Many have criticized White’s plans to cut fighters such as Romero as they believe it’s an opportunity for him to continue filling up cards with lower-quality talent or names who don’t have large contracts like the established fighters.
What needs to be restructured is the Contender Series. If these cuts are the result, I really don't care to see the series more than 1-2 times annually. Four years ago I recognized every fighter on the roster by name. Now I barely remember undercard fighters. https://t.co/xjdHiRvENc
— Alex Scaffidi (@alexscaffidi_) December 6, 2020
Dos Santos seems to agree with the criticism as he believes the quality of the fighters matter more than just having fights.
“The show is made by the fighters, not the UFC itself,” he added when asked why he didn’t agree with the planned cuts. “It’s kind of strange because sometimes people don’t really understand about fighting, so they just want to see two guys throwing punches at the face of each other — they don’t really care about who’s fighting or the technical points of that.”
You can view the full snippet below:
dos Santos: "The show is made by the fighters, not the UFC itself… Sometimes people don't really understand about fighting, so they just want to see two guys throwing punches at the face of each other, they don't really care about who's fighting or the technical points of that" pic.twitter.com/PB5mkoU8lf
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) December 9, 2020