Dana White claims the UFC roster is too full. Is a purge coming?

Following his first round knockout victory over Darrell Montague at UFC 166, No. 2 ranked flyweight John Dodson pleaded with the UFC to give him a fight in the very near future.

Dodson's Knockout of the Night performance came in the opening fight of Saturday's pay-per-view card. It was Dodson's first fight since he dropped a decision to UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in January of this year. Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Dodson said:

Please don't put me on the bench. Don't put me on the bench for another six months. I want to go within one or two, one day. I don't care, just give me somebody I want to fight.
When asked why a fighter ranked so high in his division would be forced to sit so long between fights UFC president Dana White had some ominous words for the assembled media:

I keep telling you guys our roster is too full. Guys have to get fights and every time after a show when we cut a guy, people say ‘F--k you Dana White, you're an idiot.' Shut up the f -- k up and let us run our business. The roster is too full.

We want to be good to the guys who deserve us being good to. Guys like [Yushin] Okami. I like Okami. I like him a lot. He's a great guy, but when guys lose and are at a certain point of their careers or whatever the case may be, they have to be cut so guys like Dodson can continue to fight. We are in a situation where if a guy doesn't fight, we still have to pay them. That's not good either. Guys want to fight. Guys like Dodson want to stay busy and active. They want to fight.
White doesn't come right out and say it, but it sounds as if there may be a purge of the UFC roster on the horizon.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/10/20/4859226/ufc-166-dana-white-ufc-roster-is-full-fighter-release

Thought u said he was the greatest asian fighter ever not just a good guy.

No one forced you to add ten more divisions and hold 2-3 shows a month, you greedy piece of shit. your roster is too full? how the fuck did it get too full? on its own?

Its still relatively true but Dodson suffering comes from the fact that there are barely twenty guys in the UFC's flyweight division.

He has way too many junk fighters on the roster. Putting on too many shows = he has to fill out the cards with cheap labor. It all adds up and we see what happens as a result. It's pathetic. Terrible asset management.

Also lets keep in mind the TUF effect.

TUF hypejobs receive a lot of favoritism.

TUF was a good idea for like 5 seasons. After that it's extremely hard to find new talents. TUF isn't to find talent per-se. In my eyes it was always a way to take the dominant regional guys, and showcase them and promote the guy who wins. Now it's just a crapshoot on talent. I wish I had watched TUF at some point this late in the game so I could have a solid background on how it played out.

Imho, tuf has very little to do with finding talent and basically is about promoting a brand name. The fighters that come out are not hyped because of their talent but because of their familiarity to tuf viewers. Kind of like how they are chosen often probably as much for their personality as fighting ability. It's reality tv, so that goes without saying really.

I agree. Let's cut some fat. Let's let go of some useless dead weight. OK... now which UFC employee gets the biggest paychecks???

Quality over quantity .....

Get rid of all the females and the tuf guys

No one forced Dodson to sign a slave contract. He has no one but himself to blame for thinking Zuffa would treat him like a prince. What amazes me is the amount of people that sign contracts without hiring an attorney to read it first.

RussianTopTeam wrote:No one forced Dodson to sign a slave contract. He has no one but himself to blame for thinking Zuffa would treat him like a prince. What amazes me is the amount of people that sign contracts without hiring an attorney to read it first.

Sadly they probably do it because they believe the UFC is the only place that matters. It's really a shame but they probably feel being there is worth giving up their souls.

It's a shame they're a lot of ignorant fans out there who feel if a top fighter gets cut then they're past their prime because it would be nice to see the UFC cut some elite fighters and have other companies get a piece of the pie.

backdoor to zuffa wrote:He has way too many junk fighters on the roster. Putting on too many shows = he has to fill out the cards with cheap labor. It all adds up and we see what happens as a result. It's pathetic. Terrible asset management.

I agree my brother. A lot of those TUF fighter and mostly TUF Brazil fights (sans a few) seem like straight up cans.

They give them fights in Brazil against even shittier opposition to build them up and claim they are fight "the best in the world".

Fuck Dana. Anyone with any kind of remote clarity and judge of character can see through his bullshit.


MMA would be bigger by now if he stepped out of the spotlight a long time ago.

Too much small guys in UFC! Average card should have all divisions but UFCs is like
featherweight x4 bantamweight, lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight
There is too much fighters in UFC but not big fighters!

LEGENDMMA=PRIDEFC wrote:Too much small guys in UFC! Average card should have all divisions but UFCs is like
featherweight x4 bantamweight, lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight
There is too much fighters in UFC but not big fighters!

Because the talent pool is deeper sub 170

lol dane white eat own word !