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"I've had every emotion there is to have. Right now, I'm just kind of numb... I don't know what happened. I first heard from my manager, Alex Davis, about a week ago that I might get cut. I have some friends that fight for other organizations, and they actually told me they had heard a rumor that I was about to be released, too. On Tuesday, I got the confirmation email saying I had been cut because I lost my last fight...
Emotionally, I'm hurt. I'm hurt more than anything because I don't know why. As a man, you just want to hear why so you can understand.
They had talked about me fighting Madsen. I asked if I could get some time. I had a knee injury going into the Russow fight. I'm not making any excuses because I lost that fight, and all props to Mike, but I definitely feel like it affected my gameplan and my mentality going into the fight. I didn't want that to happen again with Madsen. I wanted to be able to go out there and fight to my full potential instead of just boxing, basically. I asked for more time, and as far as I knew, they had granted it to me...
I've lost a lot of things this year. I went from losing the biggest fight of my life to losing my dad two weeks later to losing my best friend a week after that. I lost a coach, and now I've lost my job. At this point, it isn't the worst thing that could ever happen to me. There are people who would kill to be in my situation, and I just have to stay positive and keep moving forward – tuck your chin and keep moving forward...
I know the UFC is running a business, and they're going to do what's best for them at the end of the day. I'm not going to harbor any hard feelings or anything like that. I'm just going to roll with punches. It's been a year of a lot of tough losses, but I think you grow from that. It's been a good run of bad luck. I'm just trying to stay positive and learn from these life experiences."
-Todd Duffee talks to MMAJunkie.com about his unexpected release from the UFC.
Penick's Analysis: I don't know that we'll ever actually know the UFC's reasoning behind this release. It appeared it could have been an attitude issue when SI.com's Josh Gross tweeted a quote from Duffee's manager last night saying that Duffee was an "ass," but Gross had to clear it up today because Davis' text actually said Duffee was an "asset." Two very different things, there. So while attitude and injuries could have played into it, the release still seems premature and plain odd. But, if Duffee can put together a string of wins and can stay healthy enough to compete often, he may find himself back in the Octagon sometime next year.
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