Hatsu Hioki leaves the UFC with an Octagon record of 3-5. | Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has significantly trimmed its roster, as the Las Vegas-based promotion recently released 14 fighters.
The other fighters no longer with the UFC include: welterweights Wendell de Oliveira Marques, Dhiego Lima, Luiz Jorge Dutra Jr. and Brian Ebersole; lightweights Justin Edwards and Lipeng Zhang; flyweights Josh Sampo, Bentley Syler and Nolan Ticman; and strawweights Jessica Rakoczy and Lisa Ellis. Ebersole announced his retirement following his most recent bout, a loss to Omari Akhmedov at UFC Fight Night on June 6.
Hioki was regarded as one of the world’s top 145-pound talents upon signing with the UFC. The former Sengoku champion scored victories over George Roop and Bart Palaszewski in his first two outings, but won just one of his next six bouts in the Octagon, including a head kick KO loss to Daniel Hooker in his final Octagon appearance.
A former Maximum Fighting Championship titlist, Jimmo debuted in the Octagon with a seven-second knockout of Anthony Perosh at UFC 149, but the Canadian known as “The Big Deal” would only have mixed results thereafter. Jimmo ended a 3-4 UFC tenure with back-to-back losses against Francimar Barroso and Ovince St. Preux.
Peralta, meanwhile, went 4-3 with one no contest in the UFC. “Problems” leaves the promotion on a two-fight skid, having fallen to Thiago Tavares and Clay Guida in his last two appearances.