Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos ripped the UFC for how they handled the final days and months of his tenure.
dos Santos is slated to face Kubrat Pulev at an upcoming Triller Triad Combat event next month. He was released by the UFC last year after a string of losses and alleged tensions with the brass and Dana White.
During a recent interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, dos Santos revealed how he and the UFC split with a fractured relationship.
“They are businessmen, they are good at doing that,” dos Santos said. “They don’t care about anybody, they care about making money and that’s it. I’m thankful for everything that happened to me and my career. When I took my last two fights they said ‘you take or you’re out’. After this last fight what he [Gane] did wasn’t legal. After that, the UFC called me with a fight on 20 days’ notice and I was like, ‘I just fought I can’t fight’. If you can’t fight, then you’re out. They do business and they don’t build anything for athletes and our careers. I was treated like that and they were trying to drain everything that I had, everything that I was so that they could keep everything for them.”
Some fans of dos Santos are concerned about this next chapter of his combat sports career. His next opponent, Pulev has an astounding 28-2 boxing record while dos Santos is making his boxing debut on the Triad Combat card.
dos Santos challenged for the UFC heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 211 but fell via first-round knockout. He would go on to win three straight before slumping with four straight defeats.
dos Santos isn’t the only former UFC fighter to allege wrongdoing by the promotion. Fighters such as former champions Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva have also criticized how the promotion conducts their business in the past.
For now, it appears that dos Santos is hell-bent on success in Triller, but his MMA future remains uncertain.
What do you think about Junior dos Santos’ allegations against the UFC?
