Add heavyweight Juan Adams to the increasingly lengthy list of fighters who have been released from the UFC in recent days.
Adams suffered a first round KO loss to Justin Tafa on Saturday night’s UFC 247’s main card and that signalled an end to his time in the promotion.
“Spoke with the manager and I’m not in the ufc anymore,” Adams stated on Twitter. “As easy as it would be to give up, I’m going to keep going. I made the changes too late and now i have to pay for that but i have the right pieces in place now. I will continue Hoping and working for the best moving forward.”
Adams first made his way into the UFC via the Contender Series in the summer of 2018, at which point he was just 4-0 in his fledgling MMA career.
Adams would go on to win his official UFC debut against Chris De La Rocha in December of that year, but has since lost three times in a row, with his other defeats coming against Arjan Bhullhar and Greg Hardy.
Just hours before he heard the news about his release, Adams had released a lengthy statement talking in detail about how his latest fight with Tafa had gone and the events leading up to it.
“Thank you, everyone, for the support I received leading up to and following my last fight. I made a lot of changes in my life over a very short period of time to give myself the best chance for last Saturday’s fight. With everything aligned for a great outcome, the ending wasn’t what we planned for. The disappointment stings, highlighted by the fact that I feel like I let a lot of people down, myself included. There’s still a lot left in me. So wherever the next chance may appear, I am already prepared to do more and be a better version of the fighter I already am. In the meantime, I express sincere gratitude to everyone who has been in my physical and metaphorical corner. As a result and before Saturday’s fight in Houston, I had a very unique and emotional moment. For the first time in a long while, as I was doing my final preparations for a fight, I had no turmoil surrounding me or my team. Everyone was on the same page — my coaches, my trainers, me, and my closest people — we were all focused on the same thing, which made me truly happy. Look at the tape of me entering the ring and you’ll see how happy I was. I couldn’t stop smiling. My preparation was top-notch, as I received the type of support every MMA fighter dreams of receiving as they prepare for a fight. While I fully trust my @jacksonwink_mma team, my coaches, and my partners, I simply failed to execute on Saturday night, and that’s entirely on me — I own it. As this journey continues, I have it within me to learn, improve, and grow as a professional MMA fighter. Finally… thank you to the @ufc staff for their participation in my journey. Each fight I’ve grown a little closer to each of you, and each experience with you has been truly remarkable. Thank you to everyone at the UFC for making me feel like the main event, no matter where I am on the card. . . . . #ufc247 #mma #ufc #ufcstaff #chosenjuan285 #jacksonwink #ufctraining.”
