Aug 13, 2009 - 8:31:33 AM By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Dana White [photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch]
One fight after competing for the Middleweight Title in one of the worst Title fights in UFC history, Thales Leites finds himself out of the organization. Leites was cut this week following loss to Alessio Sakara at UFC 101 according to multiple published reports.
It's a curious cut only because of the comments made by Dana White at the post-fight press conference for the Philadelphia event. When asked if Leites was in danger of being cut following his loss, White said "No. Absolutely not." He went on to say if a fighter has a bad performance he'll let them know about it but it doesn't mean they'll be cut. Apparently that wasn't the case here.
Leites came under fire from all angles after his fight with Silva. The Nova Uniao fighter wanted no part of Silva's stand up game, yet couldn't get Silva to the ground either. He flopped to his back multiple times in an attempt to have Silva follow him down, but the Champ did not comply, toying with him throughout the entirety of their five round bout. Both drew heavy criticism for the fight, but much of it was directed at Leites. After a less than adequate follow up performance at UFC 101, Leites not only lost back to back fights for the first time but looked bad in both.
Two others were cut following their losses at UFC 101 as well. Ultimate Fighter contestants George Roop and Dan Cramer are both out of the UFC. Roop was heavily outmatched against George Sotiropolous en route to a nasty kimura loss, and Cramer in only his second professional fight split his record with a loss to Matt Riddle on the undercard.
Penick's Analysis: The Roop and Cramer cuts weren't very surprising, but given White's comments at the post fight presser I'd assumed we would see Leites getting one more chance. That turns out not to be the case but the cut makes as much sense. He looked terrible against Silva in April and again against Sakara in a fight he should have won. Usually in the UFC, if you lose but you have an exciting fight or put on a great performance, your job is going to be safe. However, if you lose and look terrible doing so, they're not going to keep you around, and that's where Leites finds himself now. He's still a 14-3 fighter and will find a home elsewhere, but he's going to need to look a lot different in his next few fights before he'll get another go of it inside the Octagon.
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Forrest should have been cut, not because he lost, nor because he looked
bad during the fight, but because he didn't display proper sportsmanship
and left the octagon before the official announcement was made. No, post
fight interview, nothing and in my eyes was just as bad as Brock's post
fight antics in 100.
Jared
13 Aug 2009, 17:13
Actually, I didn't believe Dana when he said Leites wouldn't be cut. When
answering that question, he rubbed his ear and body language like that can
be a pretty good indicator of not being honest. His words "No. Absolutely
not." appear to be definitive, but the way he said it sounded hesitant or
unsure combined with his body language made it obvious that he wasn't as
sure as he was portraying. Nonverbal communication is much informational
than verbal.
Besides, what was he going to say even if he knew for a fact that Leites
was going to be cut? "I haven't told him yet, but since you asked, yes he
is being cut." I highly doubt he's going to let someone go that night, and
I wouldn't think it's a stretch to say there's no way he's going to tell
the public of someone getting fired before telling them personally.
Ha! I called this shit right after his fight with Silva. Told my friend he
would lose his next fight and immediately be cut. Knew I should've made a
wager on that one.
