By Jonathan King The Clinch Report
Contributions by: Mathew Castella
Recently, the UFC cut 16 fighters from their growing roster of over 400. Immediately social media sites latched on to one marquee name, Jon Fitch, who was ranked #9 in the division. The decision to remove Fitch from the roster, as we reported, and Dana White confirmed was purely financial. With his longevity in the promotion Fitch made a significant purse, and at #9 in the division and coming off a loss, he was a long way from any title shot, or even significant contention.
The other fighters that received the hangman’s sentence seemed to be based on performance. With one glaring exemption. Paul Sass (13-2 MMA) and owner of one of the sickest triangle chokes in the history of MMA, burst on too the UFC scene as an undefeated submission ace with an extremely bright future.
Unlike many fighters, Sass shined under the spotlight. Sass won his first three fights (earning 2 Submission of the Night bonuses along the way!) in the UFC and seemed destined to climb the rankings. Next up for Sass was Matt Wiman, in his home country of England. Unfortunately Wiman was able to secure an arm, and forced the Brit to tap in front of the Nottingham crowd.
In his next fight, Sass faced the grinding assault of Danny Castillo. Castillo utilized his size and superior wrestling to smother the submission game of Sass, earning him the unanimous decision. The consecutive losses, and sheer size and depth of the lightweight division obviously contributed to the decision to remove Sass from the roster. However it seems to many to be very premature to many fans, prompting some to create social media pages dedicated to demanding Sass’s return to the UFC.
The Clinch Report was contacted by a high school student from New York named Matthew Castella who created a social media site asking for Paul Sass’s return to the UFC.
Please check out the link below to join the cause!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Paul-Sass-back-to-the-UFC/349160368529984
started by Matthew Castella a high school student from Long Island New York.
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