UFC releases Dos Santos, Overeem

Two heavyweight legends are no longer on the UFC roster.

The promotion has released former champion Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem, officials told ESPN's Brett Okamoto. Dos Santos confirmed his departure in an Instagram post Wednesday.

"I'm going to spend some time back at the drawing board, but I'm excited to move on," Dos Santos wrote.

Dos Santos was recently offered a fight against Marcin Tybura at UFC 260 on March 27, sources told ESPN's Ariel Helwani. He reportedly turned down the bout because it was on short notice, and the UFC ultimately decided to cut him.

Dos Santos, 37, had competed in the UFC since 2008 and recorded 23 fights with the promotion. He won the belt in 2011 with a first-round knockout of Cain Velasquez and recorded one defense before dropping it to Velasquez in a rematch. Dos Santos exits with a 15-8 Octagon record.

Overeem, 40, made his UFC debut in 2011 and finished former champ Brock Lesnar. He reached a title shot in 2016 against Stipe Miocic but lost by first-round TKO. The former Strikeforce champion stepped into the Octagon 20 times, recording 12 wins and eight losses.

Dos Santos left the promotion riding a four-fight skid, while Overeem is coming off a February loss to Alexander Volkov and is 2-2 in his past four outings.