Lightweight Danny Downes Released by UFC

Danny “Boy” cut after going 0-2

Danny Downes has been released by the UFC after going 0-2 with the promotion in 2011.

The Chicago native, who trains at the Duke Roufus camp in Milwaukee, on Friday made the news official through his Twitter account. “To those asking, Zuffa has ‘exercised its right to accelerate the term of its promotional and other obligations.’ In other words I’m cut,” Downes wrote before continuing, “I guess this means they won’t be giving me a Christmas present this year …”

Downes came to the UFC as part of the merger with the WEC at the beginning of the year. After starting his career 6-0, Downes got a short-notice call to make his WEC debut against Chris Horodecki at WEC 49 in June 2010. Despite just a few days notice, Downes took Horodecki into the third round before tapping to a rear naked choke. He rebounded at the final WEC event, WEC 53, to beat Tiequan Zhang by unanimous decision.

Downes took one fight outside the promotion in May, winning a local fight by triangle, before making his UFC debut at the TUF 13 Finale in June. But he was dominated by Jeremy Stephens in a unanimous decision loss, including a pair of 30-26 scores. At UFC 137 in October, Downes dropped a unanimous decision to Ramsey Nijem, again coming out on the short end of lopsided scores that included a 30-25 and a 30-26.

After breaking the news, Downes said on Twitter he was concerned he might be cut after his loss to Nijem, but it took a while before he was released. “I was afraid it might happen, but then a month passed and I thought I was safe. I guess not,” he said. He implied on his account that he will now begin looking for his next fight. With Zuffa-owned Strikeforce likely out of the running, Downes’ next upper-tier option would be Bellator, which has a lightweight tournament planned for its sixth season, which starts in 2012.

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