Two staples from the UFC’s heavyweight division are no longer in the rankings.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos and longtime rival Alistair Overeem have parted ways with the promotion.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the two heavyweights’ promotion departure after being removed from the UFC rankings on Wednesday, but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion was not officially announced.
UFC officials did not respond to a request from MMA Junkie for comment.
Dos Santos (21-9 MMA, 15-8 UFC) made his promotional debut at UFC 90 in October 2008. He immediately made a statement when he put Fabricio Werdum away with strikes in 80 seconds. The victory kicked off a winning streak of nine fights by ‘Cigano’.
In the run, two title fights were included: a performance and a title defense. In November 2011, at the UFC on FOX 1, Dos Santos Cain Velasquez finished with beats in 64 seconds to become the UFC heavyweight champion. He will follow up the show with a TKO victory in the second round of Frank Mir at UFC 146 in May 2012.
Dos Santos loses the belt to Velasquez by unanimous decision in a rematch at UFC 155 in December 2012. After a win over Mark Hunt in May 2013, Dos Santos got his trilogy opportunity, but was ousted by Velasquez in October 2013 defeated TKO at UFC 166.
For the next seven years, Dos Santos remained a heavyweight competitor. From 2018-2019, Dos Santos even scored a winning streak of three fights with victories over Blagoi Ivanov, Tai Tuivasa and Derrick Lewis.
Dos Santos followed up the series with a loss of four fights. Before his UFC departure, Dos Santos was rounded out in four straight fights – losses to Francis Ngannou, Curtis Blaydes, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane.
Overem (47-19 MMA, 13-8 UFC) has entered the UFC, already an established MMA star who has participated in numerous notable promotions, including Strikeforce, PRIDE and DREAM.
In December 2011, Overeem made his promotional debut at UFC 141 and ended Brock Lesnar with a body kick and punches. Over his next four fights, Overeem lost 1-3 with TKO losses to Antonio Silva, Travis Browne and Ben Rothwell.
Overeem, however, turned his bad luck around and beat a winning streak with four fights with wins over Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Junior Dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski.
Over the next 11 games leading up to UFC exit, Overeem will have its ups and downs. Before his departure, Overeem won rugby matches against Walt Harris and Augusto Sakai before finishing with fights with Alexander Volkov at UFC Fight Night 184 on 6 February.