Elias Theodorou, Wilson Reis, Marcelo Golm and Eric Shelton have been released by UFC . The news were confirmed after an initial report by Brazilian MMA media outlet “Combate.com”.
Theodorou (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC), a middleweight, had won three straight fights and five of his past six before a decision loss to Derek Brunson earlier this month at “UFC on ESPN+ 8” in Canada.
Theodorou started his pro career 11-0, including a TKO win over Sheldon Westcott to win the “TUF: Nations” edition of “The Ultimate Fighter in April 2014. He then had wins over Bruno Santos and Roger Narvaez before his loss to Santos.
BREAKING: 🇨🇦 Elias Theodorou released from the UFC. @TSNUFC's @aaronbronsteter has MORE: https://t.co/xuRT3WC0uo pic.twitter.com/kn7kSQWUnx
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 26, 2019
Reis (23-10 MMA, 7-6 UFC) only is about two years removed from fighting for the UFC’s flyweight title. After a streak that saw him win five of six fights, the Brazilian got a shot at then-champion Demetrious Johnson’s title. Bad news for him, Johnson submitted Reis with a third-round armbar.
That set off a stretch of three straight losses for the pro fighter. After the Johnson setback, current champion Henry Cejudo stopped him with a second-round TKO at UFC 215. Then he dropped a decision to former title challenger John Moraga. He bounced back with a win over Ben Nguyen, but a TKO loss to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 236 in April proved to be, for now, his final fight in the UFC wit four losses in his past five fights.
Justin Willis denies being released from the UFC – Mixed Martial Arts News – https://t.co/YlHJnHVFLP pic.twitter.com/qllHFlvlBT
— Boxing News Now (@Boxing_NewsNow) May 26, 2019
Golm (6-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC), a heavyweight, has lost three straight fights. After starting his pro career 6-0, including a first-round submission over Christian Colombo in his UFC debut in 2017, he dropped decisions to Timothy Johnson and Arjan Bhullar in 2018. In April, Sergey Pavlovich stopped him with a 66-second knockout at “UFC on ESPN+ 7″.
Shelton (12-6 MMA, 2-4 UFC) came to the promotion from Season 24 of “The Ultimate Fighter”, which sought an opponent for then-champ Johnson. He went 2-1 in the “TUF” house, but lost in the semifinals to eventual winner Tim Elliott. Shelton fought to six decisions in the UFC – with split-call losses to Pantoja and Jarred Brooks and unanimous-nod setbacks to Alex Perez and Jordan Espinosa, the latter coming at UFC on ESPN+ 6 in March.
