Brock Lesnar was reportedly removed from the UFC’s active roster as part of a roster purge on Friday.
A Twitter account called UFC Fighters Info runs a webscript that produces notifications when UFC.com deletes fighters from its roster. Over 40 fighters were marked as deleted Friday. These can be fighters whose contract with the UFC expired, or ones who retired or are no longer competing for the organization for another reason.
The biggest name included in the roster purge is Lesnar, who was one of the company’s biggest stars.
Lesnar, 39, first joined the UFC in 2008 and fought Frank Mir, losing via first-round submission. He bounced back and won two in a row, including a second-round TKO of Randy Couture to become the UFC heavyweight champion. Lesnar successfully defended his title twice in a row before losing consecutive fights, leading him to step away from MMA.
After a four and a half year absence from MMA, Lesnar made a surprising return to the octagon in July to face Mark Hunt. Lesnar did not have to go through all the drug testing that is typical for a fighter to get cleared to re-join the UFC. He ended up testing positive for PEDs before and on the day of the fight.
Lesnar is currently serving a one-year suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission stemming from his positive drug tests. The suspension is set to end in July.
In addition to Lesnar, Tim Kennedy is another notable fighter who was removed from the roster. Kennedy announced his retirement last month.
H/T Bloody Elbow
