UFC have continued their brutal cuts by releasing the legendary duo of Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos.
Fans had noticed the duo had been removed from TSN's rankings on Wednesday night and speculation around their future begun.
TSN are a Canadian broadcaster who provide official rankings before UFC make any updates themselves.
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ESPN and MMA Junkie later confirmed the pair have been released at the ages of 40 and 37 respectively.
Overeem is a former Strikeforce and DREAM heavyweight champion, while also enjoying battles with Brock Lesnar and Stipe Miocic in the UFC.
Dos Santos, meanwhile, is a former heavyweight champion in the UFC but had been on a four fight losing streak - all of which were by knockout.
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Overeem's last fight came in a losing effort against Alexander Volkov at UFC Vegas 18 and he's yet to comment on the news.
Dos Santos has had his say on his release and stated on Instagram: "Thanks @ufc for a great 12 years! I fought through MMA's Murderer's Row to get my shot at the belt.
"Holding and defending it was one of the great honours of my life. Thanks to every opponent, thanks to every fan and every critic.
"I'm going to spend some time back at the drawing board, but I'm excited to move on."
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"It's not just Yoel," White told MMA Junkie at the post-fight press conference following UFC on ESPN 19.
"We're going to go through some serious cuts here at the end of the year. We're probably going to have 60 cuts before the first of the year.
"Yoel has lost four of his last five. He's 44 years old. Our roster is very inflated right now. We're going to have some big cuts coming before the end of the year.
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"You're going to see a lot of names going here in the next several weeks... These are the tough decisions you have to make."
Featured Image Credit: PA ImagesTopics: UFC, Dana White
