Paul Buentello (27-12 MMA, 3-3 UFC) has not received his official UFC release, but his representative is preparing for the worst. "We've had discussions with the UFC about moving forward with Paul," Ellis Pacheco, Buentello's manager, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today. "Have we received any paperwork? No." Buentello dropped his second consecutive UFC fight when he met Cheick Kongo at UFC on Versus 1 in March. In a one-sided affair, Kongo dominated the fight on the ground before Buentello submitted unexpectedly in the third round. His cornerman, Trevor Wittman, later confirmed the former heavyweight contender had suffered a dislocated finger in the fight's first round and was unable to continue due to the pain of the injury. "It was very frustrating because of how well Paul had done in training camp with takedown defense and wrestling," Pacheco said. "He had lost 26 pounds for the fight." The UFC's official Web site still lists Buentello on its heavyweight roster.
I'm not a huge fan of fat fighters. Buentello did real well but I wasn't keen on him tapping from strikes. He seemed so tough prior to that. Buentello is proper low level fighter, not sure he is good enough for the UFC.
I don't know that he'll be released. I believe he'll be in the running to face Toney, if Toney fights as a heavyweight.
I would be more surprised if he wasn't released than if he was. He looked lousy in both of his fights.
Buentello was brought in for a gatekeeper and to entertain, at his age he's not on the rise and his game hasn't evolved at all. Being taking down by Kongo over and over should tell you something. I was surprised Kongo didn't want to stand with him, I guess he wanted to make sure he got the win.
You know what was even funnier? When Mir said the same thing. Now thats hilarious. Can you imagine the violence? Perish the thought.:admin
Yeah, as said earlier, he's the ideal guy to give to Toney probably. So they'll maybe keep him around for that reason.
