UFC releases fighter after withdrawal from event due to COVID

The long, strange saga of Antonio Braga Neto’s UFC career appears to have come to a close. A multiple time BJJ world champion, Braga…

By: Zane Simon | 2 years ago
UFC releases fighter after withdrawal from event due to COVID
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

The long, strange saga of Antonio Braga Neto’s UFC career appears to have come to a close. A multiple time BJJ world champion, Braga Neto first hit the Octagon all the way back in 2013, picking up a knee bar victory over future light heavyweight title contender Anthony Smith.

Injury scrapped an expected quick return against Derek Brunson, but the Brazailian was back in the Octagon a year later, in 2014, to take on Clint Hester for a hard fought decision loss. After that, fans could be forgiven for thinking that Braga Neto had walked away from MMA altogether.

Following a scrapped 2015 fight against Zak Cummings, Braga Neto returned to the UFC two years later for a fight with Trevin Giles—a third round KO defeat. 2018, 2020, and 2021 all saw bouts for Braga Neto fall apart, each time with the world-class grappler being the one to withdraw from the fight.

MMA Fighting now reports that the UFC has decided to part ways with the 33-year-old, following his withdrawal from a UFC Vegas 35 booking against Abdul Razak Alhassan. Alhassan would go on to face Alessio Di Chirico, winning the bout via first round KO.

While the Endeavor-owned promotion’s move to end Braga Neto’s contract may not be surprising given that he’s had just three bouts in eight years, it seems somewhat cynical considering Fighting’s confirmation that his most recent booking was apparently cancelled due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.

Alongside that news, Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz reports that the UFC has also parted ways with women’s flyweight prospect Liliya Shakirova. The Uzbekistani was recently on the receiving end of a two-year USADA suspension for meldonium. The result of an out-of-competition drug test collected shortly after her debut loss to current title contender Lauren Murphy.

The anti-ischemia medication was forefront in the news back in 2016 when WADA moved to ban the drug, which was a fairly common prescription (with somewhat unclear potential PED implications) in former USSR states. In the UFC Islam Makhachev, Daniel Omielanczuk, and Abdul-Kerim Edilov all tested positive for the substance. However, Makhacehv and Omielanczuk were both cleared of wrongdoing, as their tests came before WADA’s announcement. Edilov, however, was handed a 15-month suspension.

In Shakirova’s case, her harsher suspension appears to have come, at least in part, due to her failure to disclose past use of the drug when filing her “onboarding” paperwork with USADA and the UFC.

Share this story

About the author
Zane Simon
Zane Simon

Zane Simon is a senior editor, writer, and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. He has worked with the website since 2013, taking on a wide variety of roles. A lifelong combat sports fan, Zane has trained off & on in both boxing and Muay Thai. He currently hosts the long-running MMA Vivisection podcast, which he took over from Nate Wilcox & Dallas Winston in 2015, as well as the 6th Round podcast, started in 2014. Zane is also responsible for developing and maintaining the ‘List of current UFC fighters’ on Bloody Elbow, a resource he originally developed for Wikipedia in 2010.

More from the author

Bloody Elbow Podcast
Related Stories