Things have only gone downhill for heavyweight Robelis Despaigne since his victorious UFC debut this past April, culminating in his release from the promotion this week.
Despaigne arrived on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage this year with plenty of hype around him. That was owing to both his Olympic medal-winning success in taekwondo and violent start to his MMA career.
Off the back of four straight first-round knockouts that totaled just 37 seconds of cage time, the Cuban powerhouse debuted in the Octagon at UFC 299 in Miami this past March. He made an immediate impact, continuing his brutal run by stopping Josh Parisian in just 18 seconds.
Unfortunately for Despaigne, he peaked early. Two convincing defeats to Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Austen Lane followed, with “The Big Boy’s” expected grappling deficiencies being exposed in both.
And his recent setback opposite Lane at the Apex turned out to be all she wrote for his brief stint in MMA’s leading organization.
The promotion has parted ways with Despaigne, as first reported by @UFCRosterWatch on X and later confirmed by MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz.
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The UFC roster has been getting frequent purges as of late, seemingly to make room for the 42 fighters who earned contracts on this year’s edition of Dana White’s Contender Series.
And the latest saw Despaigne join six others outside of the organization, the most high-profile of which being top-10 flyweight Matheus Nicolau. The longtime contender had competed in the UFC since 2015, defeating the likes of Louis Smolka, Tim Elliott, Matt Schnell, and Manel Kape.
Elsewhere, Jessica Penna, Tamires Vidal, Vinicius Salvador, Charalampos Grigoriou, and Jesse Butler have all entered free agency.
