Welterweight free agent Rory MacDonald removed from UFC rankings

We haven't heard much about Rory MacDonald's free agency negotiations over the past two months. The perennial UFC welterweight contender and one-time title challenger had intended to explore the free agent market after his UFC Ottawa main event bout vs. Stephen Thompson.

As of Wednesday, August 24th, MacDonald's status as the #3 contender in the UFC's welterweight rankings is no more. He's been removed from the list, as you can see in the accompanying screenshot. (H/T Chamatkar Sandhu of MMAjunkie)

The UFC had once removed Mark Munoz from its rankings during free agency negotiations, then re-inserted him after he had signed a new contract. However, Aljamain Sterling was never pulled from the rankings while he sorted out his future (he obviously stayed in the UFC). With the past admission of failed negotiations with the UFC back in March, this definitely can lead one to believe that MacDonald's UFC days are over.

Following MacDonald's lackluster unanimous decision loss toThompson, both Bellator MMA and ONE Championship confirmed they were in talks with the 27-year-old. Leading up to the Wonderboy fight, UFC executive Tom Wright said that the promotion encouraged Rory to go into the open market.

Bloody Elbow has reached out to the UFC for comment but has not received a response at the time of this article's publish.