Cody McKenzie released from the UFC, looking to WSOF for fights

Cody McKenzie, whatever his faults has to be considered one of the oddest fighters to grace the UFC Octagon in recent history. As a fellow Alaskan, I can say with a fair amount of nostalgia that he embodies the crazy, risk taking, unpolished personality that often builds in the kind of isolation that being 1000 miles from the rest of the world provides. His UFC fights were often awkward displays of aggression, his frame giving fighters the assurance that they could run right over him, only to get choked out, or nearly so in the process. While he may have looked the part, he was hardly the worst fighter in the UFC... but boy did he look the part.

And after an especially noteworthy outing at UFC on FOX 9, in which McKenzie showed up in a pair of Nike basketball shorts he'd bought that same day, tags still on them (apparently due to sponsor issues with the UFC), and was later seen apparently throwing up and leaking blood post fight in the arena after downing a few drinks. There was really no way the UFC could justify keeping him under contract. At the time Dana White took the blame for McKenzie's apparel snafu, but on March 24, McKenzie announced he had been released from the UFC.

Well Iam back on twitter, no longer with the UFC, and looking for fights promoters get at me!

— Cody McKenzie (@TheCodyMcKenzie) March 24, 2014

It's kind of a shame, considering that as ugly as his fighting style looked, he didn't actually get beat that badly by Stout in his most recent loss. Still, there's no fault to be found with the UFC releasing a fighter who has that much trouble presenting a professional image of himself during events. Now, McKenzie is campaigning for a fight with Shinya Aoki and it looks like he's hoping to get some interest from the WSOF as well.

Whats up TWITTERS do me a favor and retweet im looking to fight Shinya Aoki cause I know there are some fans who want to watch that

— Cody McKenzie (@TheCodyMcKenzie) March 24, 2014

I will be fighting in three weeks at 180 the next month at 170 then iam open will take fights from 145 to whatever, get at me. #grinding

— Cody McKenzie (@TheCodyMcKenzie) March 24, 2014

Hey @SugarRaySefo you got a phone number so I can talk to you about fighting for WSOF?

— Cody McKenzie (@TheCodyMcKenzie) March 26, 2014

Hopefully he can string a few solid performances together and get his career back on track before he goes too far off the rails, although I'm not sure that taking fights at welterweight and above is the right way to do it.