Thales Leites

UFC veteran Thales Leites (14-3) has now signed to Canadian MMA organization Maximum Fighting Championship.  MFC promoter Mark Pavelich made the announcement on TapouT Radio that Leites has signed a deal with them, and is scheduled to debut at MFC 23 on December 4th.

Mark Pavelich stated, “He lost a split decision that many people thought he won, and the UFC cut him.  I think he’s mad now.

Thales Leites will enter MFC coming off back-to-back losses to Anderson Silva and Alessio Sakara. Traditionally there would be no shame in losing to either fighter, but Leites was very lackluster in both bouts. If Leites wants to get back in the good graces of mma fans, he will need to put on an exciting fight or at least a spectacular submission that the brazilian jiu jitsu black belt is known for.

Now, Leites will be apart of a stacked middleweight division that includes the likes of Jason MacDonald, Travis Lutter, Dean Lister, and Trevor Prangley.

Thales Leites - via MMA Junkie

Both Thales Leites (14-3) and Tandam McCrory (11-3) were given their walking papers yesterday by the UFC.  Kevin Iole of Yahoo sports is reporting that, UFC president Dana White was unaware of such a decision and has stated he will reverse that decision.

*Update* Both Leites and McCrory were in fact cut by the UFC and while Dana White has stated that he would reverse the decision, neither Leites nor McCrory have received any word bringing them back into the mix.  In fact, McCrory has already started fielding offers for his next fight with organizations.

Tamdan McCrory was undefeated when he first debuted in the UFC and has gone on to go 3-3 while inside the octagon.  McCrory recently stated that he felt he was too big to be able to fight in the welterweight division and would like test the waters in the middleweight division.  His most recent loss to John Howard at “UFC 101: Declaration” was a split decision which many had McCrory winning.

Thales Leites fought four months ago in the main event against Anderson Silva.  While he was the first fighter ever to go all five rounds, his performance upset many fans.  Hoping to win fans back in his last fight, Leites took on Alessio Sakara where he, like McCrory, lost a split decision.  The fans again did not like his performance and booed heavily during the contest.

Dan Cramer

Wednesday was a bad day for several fighters who lost at “UFC 101: Declaration”.  After learning about Tamdan McCrory being cut, UFC officials have also given pink slips to Thales Leites, George Roop and Dan Cramer.  Leites comes as a shock to most as Dana White stated at the post fight press conference that Leites was not in danger of being cut.

Thales Leites went 5-3 in the UFC losing his last two.  Leites became heavily critized following his title fight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.  Leites wanted nothing to do with Silva’s superior striking and had no solution on getting the fight to the ground.

George Roop best known for his time on season eight of “The Ultimate Fighter” has gone 1-2 losing to Shane Nelson and most recently George Sotiropoulos.

Dan Cramer was part of season seven’s “The Ultimate Fighter” and only has two professional fights under his belt.  At UFC 101 he lost a decision to Matt Riddle on the un aired preliminary portion.

“UFC 101″ took place on Saturday August 8 from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA.  Dana White announced at the post-fight press conference that 17,411 fans attended for a record $3.55 million live gate.

In the night’s main event, BJ Penn solidified his stance as the lightweight champion by submitting Kenny Florian at 3:54 in the fourth round.  Florian looked to implement a similar game plan as Penn’s previous adversary, Georges St. Pierre, however he wasn’t as successful.

The co-main event featured middleweight champion Anderson Silva fighting in the light heavyweight division for a second time.  Forrest Griffin had no answers for Silva’s crisp and accurate strikes and was knocked out at 3:23 in the first round.

The full results of “UFC 101: Declaration” below:
MAIN CARD
•    B.J. Penn def. Kenny Florian via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 4, 3:54 (to defend lightweight title)
•    Anderson Silva def. Forrest Griffin via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 3:23
•    Aaron Riley def. Shane Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
•    Johnny Hendricks def. Amir Sadollah via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 0:29
•    Ricardo Almeida def. Kendall Grove via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 20-27)
•    Kurt Pellegrino def. Josh Neer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS

•    John Howard def. Tamdan McCrory via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
•    Alessio Sakara def. Thales Leites via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
•    Matthew Riddle def. Dan Cramer via unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-27)
•    George Sotiropoulos def. George Roop via submission (kimura) – Round 2, 1:59
•    Jesse Lennox def. Danillo Villefort via TKO (cut) – Round 3, 3:37