The UFC has been adding a lot of talent lately, and whenever that happens it’s usually a bad sign that cuts are coming too. And now it appears the shoe has dropped for five fighters on the UFC’s roster, as their names were removed from the UFC.com lists of active fighters. That’s not always a definitive sign that a fighter has been cut, but more often than not, that’s the end result.
The fighters seemingly caught up in this months’ round of roster trimming are Mehdi Baghdad, Elizabeth Phillips, Leandro Issa, Horacio Gutierrez, and Cristina Stanciu.
Baghdad is perhaps the most notable of those names, not for star power, but because he had just been scheduled for a fight at the now cancelled UFC Manila event. He pulled out of the fight, due to injury, before the event was cancelled. So, it’s a little odd to see him getting the axe here. He is coming off a pair of losses to Chris Wade and John Makdessi.
Otherwise, there’s not too much of note. Elizabeth Phillips is a loss to an already thin women’s bantamweight division, but she’s struggled to find winning form in the UFC, with close losses to Valerie Letourneau, Milana Dudieva, and Raquel Pennington, with a scrappy win over Jessamyn Duke inbetween. Considering how early she is in her career, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see her back in the UFC with a few wins under her belt.
Likewise, Romanian slugger Cristina Stanciu dropped her first two UFC bouts, with losses to Maryna Moroz and Cortney Casey. At just 23-years old and a pro career that started in late 2014, there’s plenty of time for Stanciu to get back on track and make a return to top competition.
Baghdad and Issa are both a bit older and quite a bit further along in their own careers in the cage. Since the UFC seemed ready to give Baghdad another fight, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him as a late replacement on a future European card or something similar.
Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more updates and information on the latest UFC roster news. And remember you can find full lists of all the active UFC fighters currently under contract right here.