Gerald Harris Released After UFC 123

Added on Nov 24, 2010 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

The news was confirmed by Gerald Harris on twitter that he was being released from the UFC. There were echoes throughout the MMA community on why this happened, and how could it be. Harris had won his last 3 fights, but lost via decision in a rather boring fight.

The fight has some controversy around it already, because of a short round in the first frame. Harris’ opponent Falcao had him wrapped him up in a tight rear naked choke, and was literally saved by the bell. A bell which came SEVEN seconds to soon. Falcao went on to win the fight, and basically coasted through the last round because he knew he had won the first two. He was criticized by UFC President Dana White in the post fight press conference.

In my best guess, as someone who has watched man deals evolve over the years, I would say this was a simple matter of money. Harris was coming off a loss, and his contract was ending after his four fights were up. I am sure he told the UFC “hey I am 3-1 in the UFC, its time to up my pay scale.” I am also assuming the UFC didn’t think the new money was worth it when you consider the last fight he was in, and how the fight ended.

This seems odd the UFC would take this action on Harris. Matt Brown has lost his last 3, we are also hearing that Tyson Griffin will be back who hasn’t won in a year(his last loss was a complete robbery I should note,) and I even confirmed with Mike Lullo last night he will be back(Lullo was a late replacement, and lost to some punching kicks.) Karo was immediately released from the UFC after his first round loss via TKO to Dennis Hallman, and now Harris will not be coming back.

I promise you this, Gerald Harris will be back in the UFC. This is a guy who has two knock out of the night awards, and was having an off night. I see him going out and beating someone handily, and coming back to the UFC by mid-2011. He is even playing his exit strategy in the right way. Some twitter campaigns have started asking Dana and the UFC to let Gerald Harris back. Dana has said it won’t do anyone any good, but Harris also tweeted “”If u are a fan, please be respectful in your choice of words towards @danawhite & @ufc – voice your opinion in a positive manner.” That is a classy comment to make on his behalf.