{"id":360757,"date":"2026-07-04T07:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T02:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=360757"},"modified":"2026-07-04T07:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T02:23:02","slug":"ex-ufc-fighter-turned-comedian-was-told-hed-get-cut-if-he-didnt-accept-ultimatum-as-huge-underdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/ex-ufc-fighter-turned-comedian-was-told-hed-get-cut-if-he-didnt-accept-ultimatum-as-huge-underdog\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-UFC fighter turned comedian was told he’d get cut if he didn\u2019t accept ultimatum as huge underdog"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Follow us on Google Discover<\/span> <\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Eric Spicely didn\u2019t hesitate to simply accept an ultimatum from former UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fans called for UFC fighters to be cut just this past weekend in Baku following a dull opening to the cardboard.<\/p>\n

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Winning contained in the Octagon isn\u2019t at all times enough to maintain your spot on the roster, as Daniel Marcos recently came upon despite delivering what the promotion asked for.<\/p>\n

For Spicely, he was directly told that his UFC profession was on borrowed time, before he was in a position to defy the MMA leader\u2019s plans for him by pulling off an enormous win.<\/p>\n

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In case you were Dana White, who\u2019s the primary fighter you\u2019d cut from the UFC roster?<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Dana White attends the UFC 319 pre-fight press conference in August, 2025. Credit: Mike Roach\/Zuffa LLC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Eric Spicely was told he could fight Thiago Santos or get released after the UFC forgot to chop him<\/h2>\n

In 2016, Eric Spicely was eliminated within the semi-finals of season 23 of \u2018The Ultimate Fighter\u2019 before losing his Octagon debut to Sam Alvey.<\/p>\n

The previous fighter turned slapstick comedian recently recalled how after this fight, he received a call from former UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.<\/p>\n

Spicely said that Silva offered him each good and bad news, with the bad being that the UFC had decided to chop him.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the excellent news was that the promotion had been so busy with a stacked event schedule that they forgot to terminate his paperwork, giving him an ultimatum in the shape of a matchup with Thiago Santos in Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018So, you possibly can take this fight against the number 15 ranked guy in his home country or you can be cut.\u2019 So, I didn\u2019t even call my coach or my manager or anybody,\u201d Spicely said on The Shawn Johnson Podcast<\/a>. \u201cI just said, \u2018Okay, I suppose we\u2019re going to Brazil, I\u2019m in.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being around a +450 underdog when facing Santos, who would later challenge Jon Jones for the sunshine heavyweight title, Spicely left Brazil with a submission win in the primary round.<\/p>\n

He ended up making seven appearances contained in the Octagon across two different stints before competing in MMA for the ultimate time in 2023.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spicely can have kept his place on the roster by beating Santos, but he did have some rebuilding to do.<\/p>\n

Throughout the podcast, he added that his coach refused to work with him for the Santos fight and suggested that he should go to Bellator as a substitute to face lesser opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going see my coach later that night, we\u2019re actually at a fighting event, we\u2019re within the back room and I\u2019m like, \u2018Hey bud, they told me excellent news and bad news\u2019. I tell him and he doesn\u2019t look comfortable and I\u2019m like, \u2018What\u2019s up?\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018I feel it’s best to get cut\u2026 I don\u2019t wish to go to Brazil and watch you get knocked out on national TV, I don\u2019t wish to be an element of this.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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Follow us on Google Discover Eric Spicely didn\u2019t hesitate to simply accept an ultimatum from former UFC matchmaker Joe Silva. Fans called for UFC fighters to be cut just this past weekend in Baku following a dull opening to the cardboard. Winning contained in the Octagon isn\u2019t at all times enough to maintain your spot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":360758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[6984,7907,3009,7016,10065,2760,11261,1714,13674,10947,12532,9988],"class_list":["post-360757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-accept","tag-comedian","tag-cut","tag-didnt","tag-exufc","tag-fighter","tag-hed","tag-huge","tag-told","tag-turned","tag-ultimatum","tag-underdog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t