Two staples from the UFC heavyweight division are no longer on the roster.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos and eternal contender Alistair Overeem split from the promotion.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the promotional exits of the two heavyweights after their removal from the UFC ranking on Wednesday, but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion did not officially announce the changes.
UFC officials did not respond to MMA Junkie’s request for comment.
Dos Santos (21-9 MMA, 15-8 UFC) made his promotional debut at UFC 90 in October 2008. He manifested himself immediately when he knocked Fabrício Werdum away with blows in 80 seconds. The victory started a sequence of nine consecutive victories for “Cigano”.
In that race, there were two title fights: a decisive performance and a defense of the title. In November 2011, at UFC on FOX 1, Dos Santos submitted Cain Velasquez with punches in 64 seconds to become the UFC heavyweight champion. He would follow that performance with a second round TKO victory over Frank Mir at UFC 146 in May 2012.
Dos Santos lost his belt to Velasquez by unanimous decision in a December 2012 rematch at UFC 155. After a victory over Mark Hunt in May 2013, Dos Santos had his trilogy opportunity, but was defeated by Velasquez via UFC technical knockout. 166 in October 2013.
Over the next seven years, Dos Santos continued to be a heavyweight contender. From 2018-2019, Dos Santos also established a three-game winning streak with wins over Blagoi Ivanov, Tai Tuivasa and Derrick Lewis.
Dos Santos followed the sequence with a four-game skid. Before his departure from the UFC, Dos Santos was finished with blows in four consecutive fights – defeats to Francis Ngannou, Curtis Blaydes, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane.
Overeem (47-19 MMA, 13-8 UFC) entered the UFC already an established MMA star who competed in numerous notable promotions, including Strikeforce, Pride and DREAM.
In December 2011, Overeem made his promotional debut at UFC 141 and submitted Brock Lesnar with a kick and punch in the body. In his next four fights, Overeem went 1-3 with TKO defeats to Antonio Silva, Travis Browne and Ben Rothwell.
Overeem changed his bad luck, however, and broke a four-game winning streak with wins over Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Junior Dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski.
Over the next 11 fights that led to the UFC’s exit, Overeem would have its ups and downs. Prior to his match, Overeem won consecutive fights against Walt Harris and Augusto Sakai before being finished off with punches from Alexander Volkov at UFC Fight Night 184 on February 6.