With just about 35 names in the UFC heavyweight division, hearing an announcement on more cuts wouldn’t make sense. It couldn’t stop the promotion’s head honcho, Dana White, though. After Andre Muniz and ‘Russian Ronda’, Irina Alekseeva, in October, his latest target includes one of the heavyweight fan favorites, Chris Barnett. 

According to their latest roster update, the UFC has cut the 39-year-old.

Barnett has a career record of 23 wins and 10 losses. In his short UFC career, he was 2-4 in six fights. The last couple, though, may have decided his fate in the promotion. He first suffered a devastating defeat against Kennedy Nzechukwu via first-round TKO. Then, he had a unanimous decision loss to Hamdy Abdelwahab at UFC 321 on October 25, 2025, in a lackluster performance.

After the fight, his fans expressed that the fight lacked his usual explosiveness and was a flat performance. Adding his back-to-back losses, where he couldn’t perform his best, he was one of the names in the latest round of cuts from the UFC. Interestingly, Abdelwahab, too, was cut from UFC’s roster.

While Barnett hasn’t given any statement on the decision yet, his fans can rest assured that he will find a way out of this problem.

That begs the question, what can be his next steps?

With his talents, Barnett can find success in other areas after UFC, from Bare Knuckle FC, where his striking flair would fit perfectly, to potential appearances in other combat promotions.

Barnett suffered a massive emotional blow in 2022 when his wife lost her battle to cancer and tragically passed away. The tough and entertaining UFC heavyweight fighter who was up for every fight thrown at him in the Octagon was not ready for this emotional battle. Thirty hours before the Buday fight, Barnett claimed he had to make a tough decision regarding his critically ill wife; she tragically passed away weeks later in May 2022.

Dana White recently wrapped up the ninth season of the Contender Series, where he offered contracts to more than forty new fighters. The UFC is trying to make room for more signings, and that’s why they are letting go of fighters who have had underwhelming performances inside the octagon.

Neither of the releases went unnoticed, but when a fan-favorite heavyweight departs, it’s natural for social media to get inundated with messages. The same happened with Barnett.

Messages of Support Flood In after Barnett departs from UFC

Over the years, the fans have loved multiple aspects of Barnett. Whether it is quick pace despite his physique, dancing entrances, or the optimistic vision, he has always given his best for the audience. However, his outrageous spin kick KO win over Gian Villante will always be the one that everyone will remember. So, just when everyone was beginning to move past his two back-to-back defeats, they were struck with the devastating news.

The middleweight professional fighter Bruce Xavier, also known as “The Red Wolf,” expressed his shock upon hearing the news. “My honest reaction to waking up and finding out the UFC has cut Chris Barnett RIP Sweet Prince, thanks for the memories,” Xavier tweeted.

Replying to him, almost answering, was a fan who simply stated, “He will get picked up by another promotion quite quickly I reckon.” Of course, Barnett has a good experience outside of the UFC, and he can continue his journey as a fighter elsewhere now.

Sports Broadcaster Ben Davis was also devastated by the news. “The UFC has officially cut Chris Barnett,” Davis tweeted with a crying emoji.

But the messages in support of Barnett weren’t confined to his professional loss, as fans remembered what Barnett had gone through in the last two to three years. A fan mentioned Barnett’s personal struggle as well while mentioning the shocking news of his UFC departure: “Damn man, he lost his wife to cancer then got cut from UFC, feel bad for him.”

Barnett has also been dealing with a rough patch in life.

Barnett suffered a massive emotional blow in 2022 when his wife lost her battle to cancer and tragically passed away. Thirty hours before the Buday fight, Barnett claimed he had to make a tough decision regarding his critically ill wife; she tragically passed away weeks later in May 2022.

Another X user didn’t forget to mention the other two names that have been removed along with Barnett: “Chris Barnett, Kiefer Crosbie, and Kurt Holobaugh have been removed from the http://UFC.com roster.”

White is on the path to bring in new talent and revive the slowly dying division in the UFC. However, is it worth it if the fans will still miss the previous fighters? Barnett will be a free agent after his release from the UFC after 4 years and 5 months in the promotion. Although it’s a big setback for him, he knows how to bounce back when life isn’t fair, and fans will be hoping he will do the same now.