Babalu gone from the UFC
by: Average Joe 1 year, 1 week, 1 day, 5 hours, 22 minutes ago 3
Email Article Print ArticleUFC President Dana White confirms the release of Renato “Babalu” Sobral after his actions at UFC 74.
According to MMA Weekly UFC Lightheavyweight competitor Renato “Babalu” Sobral has been released from his current UFC contract after his behavior in the fight against David Heath this past weekend at UFC 74: RESPECT.
UFC President Dana White confirmed Sobral’s released, however White also said that he has not ruled out the possibility of bringing Babalu back to the organization in the future. White also followed up by saying that Sobral made a huge mistake with his disregard for the rules at the event.
NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer stated that he would be re-watching the Sobral/Heath fight and would make a decision then as to whether or not he would file a formal complaint against the Brazilian fighter at that point.
Babalu also didn’t help his case when he made his post fight comments and said that he wanted to “teach him a lesson” in reference to his actions against Heath.
Sobral is expected to appear in front of the NSAC this coming Friday, where is official punishment is expected to be handed down.
It’s nice to see Dana step up and take some action against fighters who act out of order. I only wish he’d be as ballsy when it came to stripping Sherk of his title after he tested positive for steroids.
I agree. Although it ended up not being that bad, it’s the act of defiance of the rules that needs to be punished, not the result.
Sherk still has due diligence to be done.. then he will be stripped unless he can find that his supplements were spiked (very unlikely).
I honestly don’t think the UFC will strip him of his title even when it is ruled that he took the steroids under his own consent. I think they’ll create an interim title for the time being and have the winner of that belt face Sherk when he returns in a year.
What cracks me up is that Sherk will have had that belt for almost 2 years and only will have defended it once by the time he comes back.
The lightweight division has got some of the best fighters in the UFC, and I would be pissed off and most of all insulted if I were them at the lack of punishment being handed down to Sherk simply because he’s friends with Dana White. Seems to me like White is playing favorites.