The addition of the featherweight and bantamweight divisions have led to even less room for error for fighters in the UFC. While fans have gotten used to the fact that fighters get cut in the wake of each event, the fighters on the bottom end of the card are in more of a contractual life and death situation than ever before. With that being said let’s take a look at some of the fighters who are most firmly on the chopping block this Saturday.
Jason Reinhardt – Reinhardt’s record is an impressive on the surface 20-1 but he’s had a chance in the UFC before. Reinhardt got trucked by Joe Lauzon at UFC 78, being submitted in just 74 seconds. He is getting a second chance after beating Marcus Herman (2-11 in his career, never made it out of the first round) and Cody Larson (0-5 in his career, Reinhardt was his pro debut). To make matters worse, Reinhardt hasn’t had a pro bout in three years. Make no mistake, Reinhardt is being brought in to lose to Zhang Tie Quan and will be released once that happens.
Zhang Tie Quan – He’s not in a ton of danger simply because he is Chinese and that’s a market the UFC really wants to break into. Still, Zhang lost his last fight to Danny Downes and is now dropping down to 145 to fight Reinhardt. A loss to Reinhardt would be a pretty horrible thing because Reinhardt has very few wins against anyone of quality and is coming off that three year layoff. There may not be the room on the roster for a guy who loses two in a row and drops a fight to a guy that is being brought in specifically to give him a win.
Mark Hunt– Hunt hasn’t won an MMA bout since 2006, going 0-6 since that time. Most of those fights have been against name fighters but he got tooled by Sean McCorkle at UFC 119. It’s pretty likely that Chris Tuchscherer takes him down and keeps him down until either a submission or decision. Even in a relatively shallow heavyweight division there just isn’t room for a guy who hasn’t won in five years.
Anthony Perosh – Perosh took an extremely last minute fight against Mirko Filipovic in his last fight and no doubt earned some good will from the promotion for doing so. Still, he has never won in the UFC and if it wasn’t for his willingness to take that last minute fight he probably wouldn’t be fighting at UFC 127. Tom Blackledge is also not the kind of fighter that you get a pass for losing to. Perosh is likely fighting for his UFC life.
There are some other guys who may be at risk heading into the event but those are the four names who most can not afford a loss in my eyes. Who am I missing?