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Despite fourth straight loss, Dana White says Leonard Garcia's job secure

Despite fourth straight loss, White says Leonard Garcia's job secure | News

http://www.mmajunkie.com/files/thumb/58407/0

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LAS VEGAS – Leonard Garcia still has a job, and perhaps emphatically so, despite another loss.

Garcia (15-10-1 MMA, 2-6 UFC) on Saturday dropped a split decision to Max Holloway (7-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at UFC 155, his fourth straight setback. But after the fight, UFC President Dana White said Garcia's job is secure.

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"Sean Shelby, one of our matchmakers, came to me during the fights tonight and said, 'Dana, I don't want to cut this guy,'" White said. "And I said, 'There's no way in hell we're cutting Leonard Garcia.'"

The support from White and Shelby comes on the heels of yet another exciting fight for Garcia, whose swing-for-the-fences-style has long made him a fan favorite.

Three straight UFC losses typically gets a fighter a pink slip. A fourth is almost a guarantee, though in the recent past exceptions have been made beyond just Garcia. Dan Hardy lost four straight fights, but had the support of White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta because of his style of always coming to fight.

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"I always say it: The guys who go and lay it all out on the line, those are the guys we like to have," White told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps). "Believe me, there's a lot of guys that love to do that push-against-the-cage s--- all night that I'd love to cut on a win."

Garcia said he believed he did enough to win on Saturday in the fight with Holloway, which took place on the preliminary card of UFC 155 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The fight streamed on Facebook before additional prelims on FX and a main card on pay-per-view.

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"I think I did enough to win and it was a good fight, but I can't let it go to the judges," Garcia said. "I've been fighting long enough to know that. Max is a skilled fighter, but I feel I was able to match him or be better than him in every part of the game. I feel I got the most takedowns, I had better octagon control and he doesn't hit hard, so I was able to stand in there with him and I think that should have been enough to get the victory."

Garcia, who trains at Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., has had a rough run the past four years or so. Since a first-round "Knockout of the Night" win over Jens Pulver at WEC 36 in November 2008, Garcia has gone 3-7-1.

His three wins in that stretch all have been by split decision, and split calls over Nam Phan and Chan Sung Jung were controversial, to say the least. Both led to eventual rematches, both of which he lost in 2011.

But for now, it appears Garcia will get one more shot.

Crazy. I like Garcia, and ill admit that I missed his fight . . But 4 straight losses and a 3-7-1 record in his last 11 since 2008 is pretty terrible at that level of competition. It's times like this I wish Strikeforce/WEC played as a "farm-league" to the UFC so he could get a few wins under his belt with closer competition and then come back up to the UFC level.

He should be 1-9-1 in his last 11 fights. His wins against Phan and TKZ was awful judging.

I made the joke that him dropping this decision was just karma for the other bad split decisions that have gone his way. I actually had this one going for him though. He got screwed this time.

He has had a rough go and not a very good streak, but I am happy Dana is doing this. I'm glad he wants to reward the fighters that go in there and always put on an exciting fight. Now he just needs to cut a couple who won that were boring as shit in doing so to set an example.

I'd rather have a bunch of fighters like Garcia than guys like, Jon Fitch, Phil Davis, Derek Brunson, and Aaron Simpson.

I have nothing against wrestlers and it's a very important part of MMA, but I am just getting tired of their styles. There's no doubting these guys are athletic and gifted individuals, it just seems like the last few years the majority of talent coming into the UFC are all using the same base.

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Originally Posted by the_dark_angel_4ever (Post 995396)

Can;t really speak for Brunson haven;t seen much of him but the other guys you have mentioned have all had matches that I really enjoyed watching. They just need to be matched up against guys that make them work and don't give up the take downs easily or know how to sweep and get up. Those guys are no different then the rest they need game opponents to have exciting matches and when they don't have them they use what works well for them to win.

As for rather having Garcia then them to each their own, but Garcia should be considered for a cut. The few victories he has in the last few years have been controversial split decisions. His matches aren't particularly great the swing for the fences stuff gets old and he blows his cardio doing it.

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Originally Posted by Rise (Post 995398)

True enough. Maybe better match making is required then. When a guy can secure a takedown with ease and isn't threatened from the bottom i guess it's very easy to just ride out the win. Less risk of a loss or an injury that might prevent them from fighting/making money.

I can totally respect that these guys have some fans out there and those fans are certainly entitled to their opinions. The only fights I remember enjoying from any of those 4 guys were GSP/Fitch and BJ/Fitch. Meh to each their own though.

At the end of the day, glad I get to see Garcia fight atleast once more.