Jesse Taylor punched a ticket back into the UFC when he picked up a second round submission win over Dhiego Lima in the finals of the UFC Ultimate Fighter 25.
However, a second opportunity in the UFC wouldn’t happen after the fighter was suspended a year by USADA for a failed drug test and then found out he was recently cut by the promotion.
“I kind of laughed,” Taylor said to Bloody Elbow. “I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ I was giving [the UFC] sh-t, like, ‘Hey, give me a fight, or let me know what’s going on.’ And that’s what I got — an email.”
Taylor has been free to fight again since last month and it now appears that return to action will happen outside of the Octagon.
If there is one thing the fighter learned, it is that the UFC released him once the suspension was served as a way to play the power game.
“I think they’re making the guys sit out the whole suspension to show, ‘Hey, we’re boss,’” Taylor said. “It’s a power game, I guess, to make you sit out the whole time when they’re going to release you, anyway. For them to do this, to actually cut me, I think that’s some Nazi sh-t. I think it’s pretty crazy. They’re crucifying people at the stake that are innocent. And that’s when you gotta speak up, you gotta say, ‘Hey, there’s something wrong here.’”
A free agent Taylor has a 1-1-0 record in his two runs with the UFC, as that other fight was a loss to CB Dollaway at UFC Fight Night 14.
