Heavyweight stalwarts Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem are no longer under contract with the UFC.
Both heavyweight stars were removed from the official UFC rankings on Wednesday. Someone familiar with the situation confirmed the news to MMA Junkie, but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has not yet announced the releases.
"Cigano" — a former UFC heavyweight champion — confirmed his release on Instagram.
dos Santos (29-8) is riding a four-fight losing streak with all four fights ending via knockout or TKO within 10 minutes. Those losses are to Ciryl Gane, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou.
Overeem is one of the most decorated combat sports heavyweights in history. He is a former Strikeforce heavyweight and DREAM heavyweight champion, and a K-1 World Grand Prix winner. He is the first fighter to hold world titles in both K-1 and MMA.
Overeem is coming off a second-round knockout loss to Alexander Volkov; however, he finished Augusto Sakai and Walt Harris in his two prior bouts.
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