Lesnar, Larkin among dozens of fighters removed from UFC roster

The UFC is trimming some fat from its disorderly roster.

According to a series of tweets from UFCFIGHTERSINFO, the world's preeminent promotion removed over 30 fighters from its website on Friday, with Brock Lesnar leading the casualties. The WWE superstar's removal puts his one-year, USADA-sanctioned suspension on hold, but he'll have to serve the remaining five months if ever he chooses to return to the Octagon, as would the provisionally suspended Francisco Rivera and banned Adam Hunter, who were also given the axe.

Welterweights Lorenz Larkin and Rick Story were removed following reports they and light heavyweight Misha Cirkunov had turned down newly offered deals. Cirkunov lost his spot in the divisional rankings, but remains on the promotion's roster.

The rest of the cuts proved a mixed bag of recent retirees - including Dan Henderson, Miesha Tate, Urijah Faber, Tim Kennedy, and Aisling Daly - and relative newcomers who produced lackluster results in their few Octagon appearances.

Bantamweights Erik Perez and Taylor Lapilus appear to have been handed their walking papers, despite coming off wins over Leandro Issa and Felipe Arantes, respectively. Fellow 135-pounder and WEC holdover Takeya Mizugaki has been treated to the same fate after being finished in four of his last five fights.

Rounding out the noteworthy deletions were longtime flyweights Ali Bagautinov and Zach Makovsky, as well as former heavyweight title challengers Gabriel Gonzaga and Antonio Silva.

- With h/t to Bloody Elbow