UFC parts ways with Demian Maia, Jimmie Rivera

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Jeff Bottari / UFC / Getty

The UFC parted ways with Demian Maia and Jimmie Rivera after both fighters recently completed their contracts with the promotion, an official confirmed to MMA Junkie's John Morgan on Monday.

Maia, 43, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Belal Muhammad at UFC 263 in June. He dropped to 0-2 in his past two contests after scoring three straight wins.

The Brazilian veteran twice challenged for UFC gold during his lengthy tenure, most recently at welterweight against Tyron Woodley in 2017. Maia had been in the promotion since 2007.

Rivera nearly reached bantamweight title contention toward the beginning of his UFC career. He started his run in 2015 with five straight victories, including decisions over UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber and Thomas Almeida.

The 32-year-old fell off after that, going 2-4 across a stretch that consisted of wins over John Dodson and Cody Stamann and losses to current champ Aljamain Sterling, Petr Yan, Marlon Moraes, and, most recently, Pedro Munhoz in a Fight of the Night affair earlier this summer.

Maia and Rivera were ranked 11th and 13th in their respective divisions at the time of their departures.

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