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Despite my being critical of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, there is no better MMA organization in which to find oneself in most cases. Not because of the pay in absolute terms, which is on par with Bellator MMA, nor mainstream fame, as speaking with casual fans, they are often aware of fewer fighters than the organization has champions. Rather, it’s partially connected to the biased opinion that even “hardcore” fans have of UFC fighters compared to those in other organizations, which I’ve written about before. As the following cases will demonstrate, plying one’s trade outside the UFC is just as hard, if not harder, and usually comes with less reward.
Impa Kasanganay
This is a particularly sad case. A talented but raw young fighter, Kasanganay impressed with his toughness in upsetting heavily favored Kailin Hill on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019 and then looked even better triumphing on the same show against Anthony Adams in 2020. Eager to make the UFC happy, he fought just 18 days later, scoring a nice victory in his UFC debut against Maki Pitolo. Fighting again just six weeks after that, Kasanganay was famously knocked out by Joaquin Buckley. He rebounded nicely with a win over Sasha Palatnikov, but after being stopped by Carlston Harris, Kasanganay, despite being only 27 years old and showing consistent improvement fight after fight, was summarily cut. Kasanganay’s next match was against Raimond Magomedaliev at Eagle Fighting Championship 46 earlier this year. Magomadeliev might not be a familiar name and he has the type of grinding wrestling style that UFC President Dana White despises, but he is significantly better than the average UFC welterweight and arguably better than anyone Kasanganay had ever faced except maybe Harris. In essence, Kasanganay was facing a better, more difficult opponent than he had in the UFC for less money and recognition than he would in the organization. After missing weight by a large amount and then dropping the split decision, Kasanganay’s future is uncertain. By contrast, had the UFC kept him after the Harris loss, Kasanganay could have comfortably alternated wins and losses while enjoying a level of financial compensation and recognition that is impossible outside the organization. Life is tough outside the UFC cocoon.
Anthony Pettis
This same logic applies to a declining former champion like Pettis. While it was obvious to me that Pettis simply hasn’t been a very good fighter since 2019, if not earlier, due to a combination of early decline and not keeping up with the evolution of the sport, he was able to mask this reality in the UFC. Pettis even left the organization on a two-fight winning streak in 2022, edging out Alex Morono and Donald Cerrone in close battles, the latter aided by a timely eye poke in Round 3. Within the UFC cocoon, his reputation far exceeded his actual abilities, and had he re-signed, this might have continued for some time with proper matchmaking. Instead, Pettis signed with the Professional Fighters League. Despite Clay Collard being on a similar level to Morono and an old “Cowboy,” Pettis was a monster -600 favorite. As we all know, Collard brutally exposed him, and a short while later, Raush Manfio did so again, defeating Pettis despite the former UFC champion being a roughly -300 favorite.
Yoel Romero
Romero proves that we see a similar effect even with those fighters who jump to Bellator. Weight issues aside, consider that Romero was arguably 2-0 against the last two reigning UFC champions he faced— Robert Whittaker in their UFC 225 rematch and then Israel Adesanya in the UFC 248 headliner—in most people’s eyes, if not those of the cageside judges. In fact, the championship bid against Adesanya marked his last UFC appearance. In Bellator, his first showdown was against Phil Davis, a fighter with far less hype these days, but considering the weight advantage, he was perhaps superior to Whittaker or Adesanya. Davis became the first person since Rafael Cavalcante early in Romero’s career to decisively defeat the ageless, legendary Cuban. Now, rather than title fights in the main event of UFC PPVs that he arguably won, Romero faces unheralded but tough guys like Alex Polizzi on Bellator co-mains for less fame and fortune. Indeed, as I have noted before, most recent UFC departures to Bellator are habitually overrated, while recent Bellator departures to the UFC are typically underrated. Anyone who has taken advantage of these betting trends in recent years has made a pretty penny. While there have been a few former UFC fighters who have had even more success in Bellator (Sergio Pettis, Liz Carmouche and Ryan Bader) there have been far more relative failures. (Benson Henderson, Rory MacDonald, Frank Mir, Quinton Jackson, Wanderlei Silva).
Dustin Jacoby
Lastly, we end on a peculiar case, which shows that even when fighters get back to the UFC for a second stint, they often have to prove themselves more thanks to their initial failure. In other words, exiting the UFC cocoon in the past still weighs heavily against them. Jacoby joined the organization far too early as a 23-year-old with only six fights under his belt, and after going 0-2, he was promptly cut. It took him nine years, almost an entire decade, and becoming a world-class kickboxer to make it back. In the process, Jacoby had become five times the fighter he had been the first time around. Yet, that hasn't been reflected in his opportunities at all. Despite being an unbeaten 5-0-1 in his return—including impressive victories over solid names like Maxim Grishin, Darren Stewart and Michal Oleksiejczuk, as well as a barnburner that ended in a draw against Ion Cutelaba—Jacoby has been stuck firmly on the prelims for all but one of his bouts. With the UFC perhaps feeling he is damaged goods, the No. 15-ranked Jacoby hasn’t been given the opportunities or hype that a world-class striker who is 5-0-1 in a weak light heavyweight division would otherwise receive. This trend continues in his next scheduled bout against Da Un Jung, an unranked 205-pound competitor who is 4-0-1 in the league but faced much weaker names. Once again, we see how much leaving the UFC hurts, even when it really shouldn’t matter.
Hopefully, I’ve shown why staying in the UFC is even more desirable than getting there in the first place. Being let go leaves a fighter with a difficult, uncertain world to navigate regardless of status, without the security and knowledge that one’s success will be rewarded higher than it would on any other canvas.