Todd Duffee released by UFC (UPDATED)
Posted on September 8, 2010, 08:55 AM by Daniel CassidyIn a rather shocking turn of events, Heavyweight prospect Todd Duffee has been surprisingly released by the UFC. While no official reason has yet been given, Duffee is currently unavailible for comment, however his manager texted the Sports Illustrated's Josh Gross with a rather unusual message:
“Well, I’m not sure exactly what the problem or problems were. I tryed [sic] hard to avoid, but Dana wasn’t listening. It unfortunate.”
The news broke during last night, and came as quite a surprise, given the heavy handed Duffee held a UFC record of 1-1, following a 7 second KO of Tim Hague, then a 3rd round shock loss to Mike Russow. Duffee's 7 second KO remains one of fastest knockouts in UFC history. Overall he is 6-1 in his MMA career.
As expected, it seems Strikeforce are interested in aquiring the services of the Heavyweight, manager Gross confirmed he had been contacted by Scott Coker's company.
UPDATE:
Speaking to MMAJunkie, Duffee spoke about his shock and hurt at being dropped by the UFC:
“I’ve had every emotion there is to have. Right now, I’m just kind of numb. I don’t know what happened. I first heard from my manager, Alex Davis, about a week ago that I might get cut. I have some friends that fight for other organizations, and they actually told me they had heard a rumor that I was about to be released, too. On Tuesday, I got the confirmation email saying I had been cut because I lost my last fight.”
“Emotionally, I’m hurt. I’m hurt more than anything because I don’t know why. As a man, you just want to hear why so you can understand. They had talked about me fighting Madsen. I asked if I could get some time. I had a knee injury going into the Russow fight. I’m not making any excuses because I lost that fight, and all props to Mike, but I definitely feel like it affected my gameplan and my mentality going into the fight. I didn’t want that to happen again with Madsen. I wanted to be able to go out there and fight to my full potential instead of just boxing, basically. I asked for more time, and as far as I knew, they had granted it to me. Maybe I rattle off three more wins real quick, and the UFC changes their mind and decides to re-sign me.”
Source: MMAJUNKIE
Comments
Some are speculating that it was comments Duffee made via Twitter stating that he was broke and needed a part time job that may have led to his release. Furthermore, he has been working on a movie, the sequel to Never Back Down... Maybe conflicts of interest? Either way, he should have a bright future regardless. Apparently, Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou said there is some interest in Duffee.
Never Back Down is doing a sequel awesome!
that movie is the best MMA movie to date.
i knew Strikeforce would get Duffe. bad move from the UFC.
Looks like another real challenge for Fedor "The Last Emperor" Vladimirovich "Vladdy Vlad" Emelianenko.
I was absolutely thinking that there HAS to be some reason that White cut him other than performance. This guy has abright bright future somewhere but I actually predicted him to be a top HW contender going into 2011.
Not whit that chin..
The timing was fourtunate for them though. He couldn't finish his last fight and got knocked out by a short right hand and I'm sure Dana will use that
No, he was KO'd by that vicious hammer fist :P
That was the girliest hammer fist ever. haha. Guess he didn't really wanna hit him but since the ref hadn't got to him yet he felt like he had to do something.
Have you ever seen the movie Red Belt? Not as much action but it was good.
yea red belt is a really good movie but never back down was a pile of shit tbh.. hate that type of movie.
saying that was the best MMA movie to date is like saying your turd looks more delicious then other peoples turds.....Never Back Down was definitely a piece of turd
I have never seen a good MMA movie, they are all pieces of garbage (so far anyway)...
this could be a good signing for Strikeforce, i dunno wat happened between him and UFC/Dana but this could come back to bite dana in the ass
Sign with Bellator!
http://www.fightofthenight.com/news/todd-duffees-manager-hints-at-attitude-problem-prompting-ufc-release/
This goes further than Duffee Tweeting he is near broke and in need of a part time job. Duffee can known to be a arrogant and a bit of a smart-ass in public ( or at least this is what i've read on a few occasions).
To see DW's reaction and the manager mentioning that DW not wanting to hear anything more, tells me there is a good chance Duffee let some words fly at DW and or the Zuffa boys directly.
He wouldn't have been the first fighter to publically say how the UFC holds them back making money in different areas.
You can never argue with a man's decision making process when it comes time for him to feed the mouths of himself or family.
I am always the first to moan about how the UFC treats its fighters. But in reality, the fighters theirselves are to blame to some degree. they could all get together and demand a union or boycott UFC but they wont bite the hand that feeds them, and they are stupid enough to sign their rights away in the first place. Fedor wouldn't and look how much grief the guy gets because of it, but Duffee isnt the first to grumble about money, but his name aint Lesnar so he been dropped.
theres a reason all fighters (except fedor) want to be in the ufc, its the pinnacle of achievment in mma and unless a fighter is simply in it for the money then they want to be the best, and the best fight in the ufc...why do u think karo has been brown-nosing dana so much? he doesnt wanna f**k around in the little leagues, he wants to be the best just like duffee (which is why duffee is immediately talking about getting re-signed) ....fedor seems to be the exception to this because he seems to be a hungry motivated guy whose in for the love of the sport and not the money...thats why it really mystifies me as to why hes not signing for the ufc....i tot hed be craving the competition
but its not just americans that fight in the ufc, the best fighters from all over the world come to fight there! and he fights in strikeforce which is also based in america, the difference being that while strikeforce holds events ONLY in america, the ufc come to all parts of the world...plus surely if fedor wants to promote russian talent then becoming the ufc champion is the most sensible option, as he gains access to a much larger fan base and could encourage other russians to join the sport, or for more ppl to support russian talent..1 other thing aswell is that IF fedor joined the ufc they could actually bring the ufc TO russia, with fedor headlining and lots of local talent on the card....that would surely help russian mma more than anything else?
also i dont agree with what u say about the ufc....i refuse to believe that dana white is not a fan of mma...he watches every fight on every card (including the undercard) so he clearly loves the sport, why else wood he have been so pissed off with AS performance at 112? i do agree that he makes a lot of money, but he bought the company when it was nothing and make it a worldwide success, so from a business sense i think hes earned it!
Dana and the UFC treat their non-superstar fighters like crap. They were even trying to hype Duffee up.
Duffee got quite a bit of hype heading into his last fight....
Such BS. Duffee is a very entertaining fighter to watch and he def. didnt get cut just cuz he lost one fight that he was dominating for 2 and a half rounds. Very stupid move by the UFC
I want to see Dufee vs Rogers, can you imagine those two throwing their hads against each other?
Dont be a smart ass I guess....I think that was the hand that feeds you huh??
@T666: Your so eloquent and your speech is so fresh and different with any post you make...
Anyway, theres more to this story than we know. His manager was blaming him from being released not the UFC. Apparently he is prone to injuries because he does stuff in his private life that lead to that. The guy has potential, they wouldnt cut him without a reason, specially because Dana himself had hyped him before.
Thats the thing with the UFC, they demand theire fighters to be tottally professional about things, thats why they have cut Nick Diaz, a fighter that I think hes very good and entertaining, and Paul Daley. Like it or not, the UFC is the only organization out there pushing for the sport internationally, trying to take it to every corner of the world.
As we know, mostly due to ignorance, people judge our sport as barbaric and our fighters as mindless beasts. We need to prove them the contrary, thats why the UFC is so strict with theire rules and moral judgment. Im not saying I agree with that mind you (I like to smoke a spliff like Diaz now and then), im saying I do understand theire reasons and I approve theire global view of the sport.
Theres no biggie really, he will join Strikeforce and if he wins, he will go back to the UFC. Lets pretend this was a league, he was relegated to the second division. He now has to win to go back to the premier league!
What says above is just from one source. You can search the net for more so you know what youre talking about. Ill do some quotes for you and youll get a better meaning of things:
Duffee knew that something was going on, something he did or failed to do: "I first heard from my manager, Alex Davis, about a week ago that I might get cut."
Then his manager said this to MMAJunkie: "Davis has said that it was an unfortunate one, but Todd's "an ass". This was the first comment his manager sent when he got confirmation his client was released. Clearly he blaims Duffee for it.
If you search around the web youll discover that Duffee had previous problems with the UFC. Apparently he got angered with Dana by the way they presented him in UFC 102. He twited about that and the organization got upset. He deleted thous twitters and the problem got buried. Recently he entered a movie production and got hurt on it. Instead of canceling the movie, he canceled his fight with the UFC. As you know, this is a bad move for a young star just appearing in a big organization like the UFC, he should expect this reaction from the bosses of the business, thats why he doesnt blame the UFC and his manager his real made with him...
Theres always two sides of each story. As a MMA fan, you shouldnt be biased towards any fighter or organization. I get it, you dont like the UFC. At least recognize they arent that bad and sometimes they do good stuff. Just a though really...
Sure man, I like the dude, from his interviews I thought he was, as you said, a down to earth guy. All im saying is that he was cut for some reasons, and for what it seems it was as I wrote above, its not as if Dana White fired him for spite or whatever. They have strict policy concerning theire fighters. Duffee made a mistake in choosing his priorities, hence his manager got upset with him. Hes a real fighter thou, and has he said, he will be back to the UFC for sure.
NO CHIN NO FIGHTS GOOD CALL
does your name stand for" Totally wasted Answer" ?
Coker says: :WhooHoo"
That guy is the shit. Walked out of the boston garden after 118 and he was trying to get a cab. We walked around boston talking about his relationship with dana and his last fight and it was all positive. I think he will be back. He's to good.