After over eight calendar years since his debut fight in the UFC, lightweight and welterweight veteran Yancy Medeiros has been released by the organization.

Medeiros (15-8, 1 NC MMA, 6-8, 1 NC UFC) last fought on June 26, 2021. His defeat to Damir Hadzovic proved to be his last Octagon appearance. He competed in the UFC from 2013 until August 17, 2021, when news of his release was made public. He fought twice under the Strikeforce banner, going 2-0, but did not officially win in the UFC until his fourth try.

In the UFC, he fought at lightweight and welterweight. After losing a main event fight against Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at 170 in 2018, he moved back down to 155, but could not conjure success. He lost three straight and leaves the promotion on a four-fight skid. Unluckily, he lost both the Cerrone fight and his lightweight return against Gregor Gillespie in the closing seconds of a round.

Since 2018, Medeiros has only fought once per year. Each of his last two bouts have come after layoffs of over a calendar year. He has faced names like Cerrone, John Makdessi, Jim Miller, and Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira, with whom he shared Fight of the Year honors in 2017. He earned five bonuses during his UFC tenure.

Medeiros’s last MMA win was against Oliveira. At that time, he had won three straight fights and six of his last eight. He had cracked the official UFC welterweight rankings in time for the main event against Cerrone.