Cole Escovedo Released by UFC After Three Straight Losses

Cole Escovedo

Bantamweight has lost five of six

After three straight losses in the bantamweight division, Cole Escovedo has been cut by the UFC.

The California-based fighter broke the news Friday on his Twitter feed, where he also thanked UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Sean Shelby for the opportunity to fight in the UFC.

After a staph infection left him partially paralyzed several years ago, Escovedo (17-9, 0-3 UFC) was out of MMA for nearly three years. But he returned in May 2009 with a TKO win over Michael McDonald that started a five-fight winning streak, including wins for Strikeforce and Dream.

But after his win over Yoshiro Maeda at Dream 13, Escovedo hit his current slump of five losses in six fights. The lone win came against a pre-TUF 14 Steven Siler, and that win got him the call from the UFC earlier this year.

In the UFC, though, Escovedo ran into the red-hot Renan Barao, who beat him by unanimous decision at UFC 130. At UFC 135 in September, Escovedo, who has 10 of his 17 wins by submission, was knocked out by Takeya Mizugaki. And at the first UFC on Fox event last month, Escovedo dropped a decision to Alex Caceres in what was likely a win-or-go-home bout for each of them.

Escovedo’s career started in the pre-Zuffa WEC, and he went 6-2 for the promotion, including a notable win over current UFC fighter Bart Palaszewski. Escovedo started his career 11-1 before a string of three straight losses to Urijah Faber, Jens Pulver and Antonio Banuelos just prior to going on the shelf with the staph-related setback.