One of light heavyweight’s most promising up-and-comers will have to find a new home.
Misha Cirkunov fought out his UFC contract in his last fight, which was a first-round submission win over Nikita Krylov at UFC 206 this past December. He recently implied that he planned on re-signing with the UFC, but according to UFC president Dana White, that will not be the case.
“I met with Misha and his wife — good people and everything else. But he ended up really flaking out on the deal,” White told TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter in Brooklyn, New York ahead of UFC 208. “So I’m not interested. I’m done. He knows I’m done. I’ve made it very clear I’m done.
“You’ll see him somewhere; it just won’t be here.”
Cirkunov (13-2) made his debut in the organization in August 2015 and picked up a first-round finish over Daniel Jolly. Cirkunov, who’s 4-0 in the UFC, also holds stoppage wins over Alex Nicholson and Ion Cutelaba.
The 205-pound division is widely regarded as one of the UFC’s shallowest divisions, and Cirkunov was one of its only up-and-comers who appeared to be a future contender. It appears that top light heavyweight Ryan Bader will not be re-signed to the UFC, either.
It is not clear at this time where Cirkunov will sign.