Luke Sanders, Anthony Birchak Among Five Fighters to Exit UFC Roster

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has parted ways with five fighters, including Luke Sanders and Anthony Birchak.

In addition to those two, Aalon Cruz, Jordan Griffin and Ray Rodriguez are no longer on the Las Vegas-based promotion’s roster. MMAjunkie.com confirmed the news after Sherdog.com's Tom Feely and TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter pointed out that none of the above athletes were eligible for fan rankings online. The aforementioned departures don’t necessarily mean those fighters were cut; it could indicate that their existing contracts expired and they did not receive new deals.

Sanders exits the UFC after losing three of his last four bouts, including a decision defeat against Felipe Dias Colares in his most recent outing at UFC on ESPN 23. He went 3-5 during his promotional tenure.

Birchak went just 2-5 over two separate stints with the organization. During his second go-round, “El Toro” was finished in back-to-back fights by Gustavo Lopez and Tony Gravely.

After earning a contract on Season 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series, Cruz suffered back-to-back TKO defeats in his first two Octagon appearances against Spike Carlyle and Uros Medic.

Griffin earned a deal on Season 2 of the Contender Series but proceeded to lose four of five promotional outings. Most recently, he dropped a three-round verdict to Luis Saldana at UFC on ABC 2.

A veteran of multiple regional organizations including LFA, Combate Americas, Fury FC and the Contender Series, Rodriguez went 0-2 in the UFC, suffering submission losses to Brian Kelleher and Rani Yahya.