Mehdi Baghdad ‘cut’ from the UFC

Mehdi Baghdad has been cut from the UFC for pulling out of his fight at UFC Manila where he was due to take on Jon Tuck. “I was in emergency the night before I gave the bad news that I had to pull out,” Baghdad told BloodyElbow.com’s The MMA Circus. “I called my manager, my manager called Joe Silva. And Joe Silva just answered back like, ‘You need to pull out? We cut you.’ And my manager said, ‘Come on, man, you can’t do that! The doctor said that he has to do surgery; he can’t fight. And then he force himself to fight? He can't! He has to do surgery.' So my manager let me know. 'They need you to go fight, or you are fired.’” Mehdi was introduced to UFC fans on TUF 22 where he found his only win in the UFC against Conor McGregor's training partner Artem Lobov. He then fought Julian Erosa and lost by decision. He was then signed up to the UFC by Dana white and since then has been on a two fight losing streak, most recently falling to Jon Makdessi at UFC Fight Night 90 Dos Anjos v Alvarez.