UFC releases Rogerio Bontorin after botched weight cut scrapped Manel Kape fight

Rogerio Bontorin’s days in the UFC are over. MMA Fighting reports that the Brazilian flyweight was let go by the promotion after a bad…

By: Mookie Alexander | 11 months ago
UFC releases Rogerio Bontorin after botched weight cut scrapped Manel Kape fight
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Rogerio Bontorin’s days in the UFC are over.

MMA Fighting reports that the Brazilian flyweight was let go by the promotion after a bad weight cut by Bontorin hospitalized him and cancelled his UFC 275 matchup with Manel Kape. It’s the second time Bontorin has had issues making weight, having missed the bantamweight limit for a short notice fight against Matt Schnell.

Bontorin (16-4, 2 NCs) was signed through Dana White’s Contender Series Brazil and won his UFC debut by split decision over Magomed Bibulatov. A cuts stoppage TKO over Raulian Paiva soon followed, but that turned out to be his final win inside the Octagon. He dropped a unanimous decision to Ray Borg in early 2020, then suffered a dramatic KO defeat to Kai Kara-France. His win over Schnell was overturned after testing positive for the banned substance hydrochlorothiazide, although he did receive a reduced suspension after it was ruled he ingested a tainted supplement.

His final UFC bout was a split decision loss to Brandon Royval at UFC Vegas 46 in January, dropping his UFC record to 2-3, with the no contest vs. Schnell.

The plan for Bontorin is to go to bantamweight, which given how the Kape weight cut went seems like the wise move for the 30-year-old.

MMA Fighting also confirmed that women’s strawweight Gloria de Paula was not re-signed after her loss to Maria Oliveira last week, and men’s bantamweight Timur Valiev was surprisingly released from his contract after a defeat against Jack Shore back in March.

Share this story

About the author
Mookie Alexander
Mookie Alexander

Mookie is a former Associate Editor for Bloody Elbow, leaving in August 2022 after ten years as a member of the staff. He's still lurking behind the scenes.

More from the author

Recent Stories