DaMarques Johnson announces his release from the UFC

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Welterweight DaMarques Johnson has been released from the UFC following three straight losses. The Ultimate Fighter runner-up revealed the news on Twitter overnight.

"And the hits keep on coming... No longer a UFC fighter," Johnson wrote.

Johnson entered the UFC in 2009 out of the ninth season of TUF. He fell short of winning that tournament with a submission loss to James Wilks. Johnson bounced back and won four out of his next six fights in the Octagon, two of which earned him fight night bonuses.

However, after that stretch, Johnson lost three straight fights in 2012, getting finished in all three. First up was an armbar loss to John Maguire in April. He was then knocked out by Mike Swick in August at UFC on Fox 4. He turned around in quick fashion as a replacement opponent at last month's UFC on Fuel 5 event, and was submitted by Gunnar Nelson after coming in overweight.

Penick's Analysis: Johnson shouldn't have been booked for the UFC on Fuel card, and it was unfair of UFC President Dana White to go off on him about the weight issue considering he took the fight on short notice. He had no business fighting that soon after getting knocked out, and even though a loss is a loss, and three in a row typically leads to a release. It's unfortunate, and he was put in an impossible spot with the most recent fight.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_14617.shtml

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