Four fighters removed from UFC in latest roster update, including two former champions

UFC 283 went down in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this past weekend (Sat., Jan. 21, 2023) and it featured the retirement of two mixed martial arts (MMA) legends: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Glover Teixeira. Both of them laid their gloves down in the Octagon after suffering defeat inside Jeunesse Arena.

Now, UFC has removed them from its active roster list.

Also removed from the roster: Kyle Daukaus, who lost his last two fights via violent knockout (watch one). Daukaus — younger brother of UFC Heavyweight, Chris Daukaus — was not released by UFC. His loss to Eryk Anders in Dec. 2022 was the last fight on his contract, and now he becomes a free agent. Whether that’s his choice or UFC’s isn’t clear at this time, but Kyle certainly knows there’s adjustments to be made in his professional fighting career.

“The road to success is always under construction,” he wrote on Twitter. “And you will need to drive through the towns of failure, adversity, self-doubt and critics to arrive at your destination of success.”

Daukaus leaves UFC with an 11-4-1 record (2-4-1 UFC).

UFC Heavyweight, Shamil Abdurakhimov, was also removed from the roster after suffering his fourth loss in a row at UFC 283 to Jailton Almeida. Abdurakhimov entered UFC in 2015 and started with a decently strong 5-2 record with wins over lower-ranked athletes. But, wins against upper-level competition like Curtis Blaydes, Chris Daukaus, Sergei Pavlovich and now Almeida just wouldn’t come.

He also had a lot of issues stepping into the cage. Abdurakhimov has eight canceled bouts on his Tapology record over the past three years, and his bout against Almeida had to be rescheduled twice before finally going down in Brazil.

Teixeira retired in the cage at UFC 283 after losing a tough five round decision to Jamahal Hill for the vacant Light Heavyweight title. Hill set a new 205-pound record for most significant strikes landed in the division, pulverizing his opponent’s face. “Old Man Glover” recognized that at 43 years old, he was probably, “too tough for my own good.”

But, Teixeira is already aiming to be avenged by his pupil and Middleweight champion, Alex Pereira.

“I’m gonna focus my energy on Alex Pereira, on ‘Poatan,’” Glover said during his retirement speech. “He’s going to keep his belt for a while then go up to Light Heavyweight.”

Teixeira took UFC’s Light Heavyweight belt off Jan Blachowicz in Oct. 2021, losing it to Jiri Prochazka in a “Fight of the Year” winner several months later.

Mauricio Rua won the infamous PRIDE 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, and won UFC’s Light Heavyweight title off Lyoto Machida in 2010 before being defeated by Jon Jones in his first title defense.

Thirteen years later, and he’s finally had his final fight.

“Shogun” was removed from the roster on Weds., Jan. 25, 2023, after losing to Ihor Potieria via technical knockout in the first round. It was his third loss in a row and definitely time for the 41-year-old to stop competing. His last fight was a big bummer — UFC really needs to stop the public executions of legends like Rua and Frankie Edgar. Why it couldn’t pit him against a fellow aged competitor is a question without answer.

All we’re saying is: if the guy who beats Rua busts out a Fortnite emote immediately after, he’s definitely too young to fight “Shogun.”

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