By Bleachereport
May 11th, 2011
According to Maiquel Falcao’s manager, the controversial middleweight is one-and-done as a UFC fighter. Although they inked a contract to face Tom Lawlor at “UFC: Silva vs. Okami,” Marcelo Brigadeiro claims his client was given his walking papers via email by UFC matchmaker Joe Silva on Monday.
In a message to TATAME.com late Tuesday night, Brigadeiro cited “legal problems” as the cause for Falcao’s termination.
“This news got us by surprise and left us very shocked … Besides the sadness, we respect UFC’s decision and hope to return to the biggest event on the planet soon,” Brigadeiro wrote. “I think this type of thing happen to make us think about a lot of things, to learn and move on, and you can be sure that Maiquel Falcao will move on.”
Falcao cruised to a unanimous decision victory over highly touted Gerald Harris at UFC 123. The talented grappler bumped his record to an impressive 26-3 mark in his big league debut, but was sentenced to 18-months probation shortly after in Brazil stemming from a 2002 assault charge.
Brigadeiro said he was already on the horn with multiple fight promotions regarding Falcao‘s employment.
In other UFC news, middleweight Chael Sonnen was issued a second suspension by the California State Athletic Commission after pleading guilty to money laundering. He will also have to clear up the inaccurate testimony he gave the commission when they reduced his UFC 117 drug ban in December.
Sonnen is expected to stand before the CSAC on May 18th.
.