Dana White claims the UFC roster is too full. Is a purge coming?

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Following his first round knockout victory over Darrell Montague at UFC 166, No. 2 ranked flyweight John Dodson pleaded with the UFC to give him a fight in the very near future.

Dodson’s Knockout of the Night performance came in the opening fight of Saturday’s pay-per-view card. It was Dodson’s first fight since he dropped a decision to UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in January of this year. Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Dodson said:

Please don’t put me on the bench. Don’t put me on the bench for another six months. I want to go within one or two, one day. I don’t care, just give me somebody I want to fight.

When asked why a fighter ranked so high in his division would be forced to sit so long between fights UFC president Dana White had some ominous words for the assembled media:

I keep telling you guys our roster is too full. Guys have to get fights and every time after a show when we cut a guy, people say ‘F–k you Dana White, you’re an idiot.’ Shut up the f — k up and let us run our business. The roster is too full.

We want to be good to the guys who deserve us being good to. Guys like [Yushin] Okami. I like Okami. I like him a lot. He’s a great guy, but when guys lose and are at a certain point of their careers or whatever the case may be, they have to be cut so guys like Dodson can continue to fight. We are in a situation where if a guy doesn’t fight, we still have to pay them. That’s not good either. Guys want to fight. Guys like Dodson want to stay busy and active. They want to fight.

White doesn’t come right out and say it, but it sounds as if there may be a purge of the UFC roster on the horizon.

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About the author

Trent Reinsmith

Trent Reinsmith is a freelance writer based out of Baltimore, MD. He has been covering sports for more than 15 years, with a focus on MMA for most of that time. Trent focuses on the day-to-day business of MMA — both inside and outside the cage — for Bloody Elbow.