Fighters Desperate For A Win To Avoid Release

Stakes are high in every fight in the UFC. Sometimes, the stakes can be even higher for fighters who are in must-win situations.

Saturday’s show at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas is chock-full of fighters who need to win in the worst way. Some or all of them could find themselves released the following week without a victory.

Here are the six fighters desperately in need of a victory.

Cody Brundage

The 30-year-old from Chaplin, South Carolina needs to show something on Saturday against Julian Marquez. Their fight is the co-main event because it could be a great scrap, and not because either man has a great chance to become a contender.

Brundage hasn’t won a fight since his spectacular slam KO victory over Zach Reese in December 2023. However, Bo Nickal easily handled Brundage at UFC 300 in April 2024, and the latter might have found a way out of another loss to Abdul Razak Alhassan in July 2024.

Brundage took an elbow to the back of the head while grounded, and he told the referee and doctor he was unable to continue. There was some speculation that Brundage took the bail out to avoid another loss.

On Saturday, he’s got to find a way to come up with a win. If a loss doesn’t get him released, it likely puts him one more defeat away. Brundage’s current record in the UFC is 4-5-1.

Julian Marquez

It would appear Marquez is definitely in a win-or-go-home situation. He’s currently riding a three-fight losing streak, and all of the defeats came via KO. If he loses to Brundage, Marquez’s record will fall to 9-6 overall, and that’ll be 3-5 in the UFC.

That’s not a good look.

Austen Lane

Job security for fringe UFC heavyweights has been fragile—to say the least. No division has seen as many ranked fighters released in the past year—let alone the unranked combatants who have been given their walking papers.

Lane, 37, won his last fight, as he is the man who hammered the final nail in Robelis Despaigne’s UFC coffin. However, before that, Lane had lost two in a row and was on a three-fight winless streak.

If Lane loses to talented newcomer Mario Pinto, he might be indirectly losing his spot on the roster.

Andrea Lee

In perhaps the most up-and-shut case on the card, Lee, who faces JJ Aldrich, is sitting on a nasty five-fight losing streak. The 36-year-old hasn’t won a fight since November 2021. A six-fight losing streak for a 36-year-old flyweight is arguably the clearest formula for release in the UFC.

Montana De La Rosa

De La Rosa is still pretty young at 30, and she beat Lee in her last fight back in June 2024. However, De La Rosa’s 13-9-1 record is going to look even worse if it gets to 13-10-1.

Double-digit losses for a 30-year-old are a tough resume. De La Rosa draws Luana Carolina, who is on a three-fight win streak. You have to think it’s possible—if not likely—that De La Rosa is out if she doesn’t win.

Here is a look at the complete card for UFC Vegas 103.

It is set for March 1, and the fights start at 4 p.m. ET.

• Manel Kape vs. Asu Almabayev – Flyweight
• Cody Brundage vs. Julian Marquez – Middleweight
• Nasrat Haqparast vs. Esteban Ribovics – Lightweight
• Austen Lane vs. Mario Pinto – Heavyweight
• William Gomis vs. Hyder Amil – Featherweight
• Danny Barlow vs. Sam Patterson – Welterweight
• Ricardo Ramos vs. Chepe Mariscal – Featherweight
• Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. John Castañeda – Bantamweight
• Andrea Lee vs. JJ Aldrich – Flyweight
• Lucas Almeida vs. Danny Silva – Featherweight
• Montana De La Rosa vs. Luana Carolina – Flyweight
• Charles Johnson vs. Ramazan Temirov – Flyweight