Deron Winn has been released from his UFC contract ahead of Christmas after a freak accident at the promotion’s own Performance Institute in Las Vegas recently led to his fight being cancelled.
Winn had been set to fight Julian Marquez at UFC Fight Night 216 in the promotion’s final event of the year on December 17th, but was forced to withdraw after he suffered a minor concussion as the result of an accident in which he passed out and fell down stairs at the UFC’s PI facility while cutting weight just a few days before the bout.
“Being released after a freak accident on their property the week before Christmas,” Winn wrote yesterday. “Man “it’s business not personal” has never been more real 🤦🏾♂️.”
Winn has since released a follow-up video in which he explains more about what happened and what he plans to do next.
“Tuesday I got a phone call from Hunter Campbell and the UFC and I guess we decided to part ways,” Winn said. “He just explained some things to me about my resume and my career that adds up, but I also said a few things to try to defend myself and I just feel like this wasn’t the reason to let me go. I think that they’ve had reasons in the past to let me go, but I just wished that I could’ve went out on my shield. I would’ve rathe went out on a loss or even a boring win. Just such an accidental freak accident situation that happened to me at the UFC PI. They have it on camera. Their employees are the ones that took care of me, they withdrew me from the fight.
It’s kinda sh*tty. I feel sh*tty about it. I just wish it would’ve happened a different way. But that being said, UFC will never define me or who I am as a person and a man. I do believe it’s a highlight of my life and something that I did and just another dream that I accomplished. But in reality, UFC was never my childhood dream. It was more wrestling and trying to make the Olympic team and stuff like that.
I don’t think I’m done. I’m going to sit down with (Daniel Cormier) and others and see what my options are going forward in this free agency time. I’m definitely willing to fight in the future.”
The 33-year-old Winn had lost three of his last four fights in the UFC, including being TKO’d by Phil Hawes in what would prove to be his last appearance in the Octagon back in June.
That leaves Winn with a 2-3 record in total during his time in the promotion, though his overall career record remains 7-3.
