After some of Conor McGregor’s well-documented antics, you wonder if the UFC fighters are immune from getting a ban to do their business in the octagon. As it stands, there is such a thing as a ban from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and there are 10 fighters that have been on the receiving end throughout the years.
10 UFC Fighters Banned For Life From The Octagon
While we feel this number should probably be more significant (again, McGregor’s bus attack brawling and all kinds of other antics), the current list of bans that the UFC has handed to fighters stand at ten. The following ten UFC fighters certainly derived getting cut, although, it seems, bans are almost completely a decision of Dana White (or USADA).
Paul Daley
Paul “Emtex” Daily is a British MMA fighter that fought in the UFC in the early 2010s. He started off good, and quickly got a match with Josh Koscheck who was a contender and a title challenger at the time.
The trash-talking of Koscheck, which went on even during the match, rattled Paul Daley so much, that after Koscheck outwrestled him to a decision, “Semtex” found it prudent to sucker punch Koscheck well after the bell rung.
That was all it took for Dana to ban him, which led Daley to a successful career in Bellator, but no chance of ever stepping back in the octagon.
Matt Riddle
Riddle was one of the most promising UFC fighters to come out of the Ultimate Fighter 7 series. His offense was that he got popped for marijuana several times, which led to an angry Dana White calling him a moron that couldn’t stay off it even when he knew testing was coming.
He was cut from the UFC and went on to have a successful WWE career instead.
Rousimar Palhares “Paul Harris”
A culprit well-known to our readers, Palhares was the original leg reaper that everyone feared. His technical knowledge of leg locks was above everyone at the time, but he had the unfortunate habit of holding on to submissions for too long.
One such offense came at UFC 111, where he earned a second-round submission victory over Tomasz Drwal, but ended up with a90 day suspension for holding on to the submission past the taps.
He did the same at UFC Fight Night: 29 after Mike Pierce tapped 8 times before Rousimar let go. He was immediately cut from the UFC and banned.
It turned out the UFC made a good decision there because he did the same thing in the World Series Of Fighting against Jake Shields later on.
Ruslan Magomedov
The Russian heavyweight could’ve been an early Dagestani celebrity before Khabib, but had several run-ins with USADA for the use of anabolic steroids. They got him suspended multiple times.
The final drop was Ruslan declining to provide a sample out of the competition. which earned him the first-ever USADA ban issued to UFC fighters.
War Machine
Johnathan Copenhaber si unfortunately more known for his actions outside the octagon, rather than in it. He fought just twice for the UFC before getting cut for turning down a fight and issuing insensitive comments about the tragic death of Evan Tanner.
The Ultimate Fighter 6 member then got charged with 29 felony counts over an assault on his girlfriend Christy Mack which ended with a 36-year prison sentence.
BJ Penn
A name who you might have thought should not be on this list, BJ Penn made headlines and broke records during his prime. Unfortunately, he did not know when to stop and went on a 7 fight-losing streak, before ending on the wrong side of a bar brawl that got recorded.
At that point, Dana White said “He is done, it’s a wrap”.
Randy Couture
Couture was a favorite of Dana White for a while and is the most decorated UFC champion to this day. he beat the who-is-who of UFC fighters in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Unfortunately, after retiring, he signed a contract with Spike, which brought about the anger of Dana White, because Spike was at the time in relation with Bellator, the UFC’s main competitor.
Dana banned Couture from cornering his son Ryan Couture in a UFC bout in 2013 and went on to say that Randy couldn’t even buy a ticket for the UFC if he wanted to.
Kalib Starnes
The Canadian Ultimate Fighter 3 cast member, looked to have a promising UFC career. However, his very first UFC bout earned him the nickname “running man” after he spent three rounds literally running away from his opponent Nate Quarry at UFC 38.
He was quickly removed from the UFC fighters roster after that, but went on to fight and had a solid career.
Thiago Silva
Thiago Silva was a scary fighter with a bright future but got derailed by domestic violence charges involving his estranged wife and coach Pablo Popovitch. Thiago was released and cleared f charges, and UFC re-hired him, only to let him go again when a video emerged from the original incident, clearly showing Thiago was at fault.
Jason “Mayhem” Miller
Already a hot head before coming to the UFC, known for appearing on Bully Beatdown, and an epic Strikeforce brawl with the Diaz brothers, Mayhem did not seem like he really had a place at the UFC.
He got a chance to coach at the Ultimate Fighter, losing to opposing coach Michael Bisping in the finale. He later lost to CB Dollwoay too, and WhIte let him go stating that the “clown was done for good at the UFC”. When asked to collaborate, Dana said “something happens backstage that I don’t want to talk about.”
