Forgotten UFC Fighters – What Ever Happened to Them?

The Long Island native took on Kevin Lee at UFC 244, who himself was coming off two straight losses. It was seen as a lay-up for Gillespie, who was riding momentum against Lee, who was struggling through a difficult run of form. Lee, however, would upset the odds and score a brutal, vicious headkick knockout of Gillespie, handing him his first professional loss.

Gillespie would take 19 months out of the octagon before returning, taking on and beating Carlos Diego Ferreira, earning him fight of the night honours again. In 2022, he claimed that he was still a part of the UFC, however, he hasn’t been booked for a fight since. At 37 time is running out for Gillespie. Will we ever see him in the UFC again?

Zabit Magomedsharipov

Ah Zabit Magomedsharipov. What an amazing prospect we had on our hands throughout his short but exciting UFC career. Debuting in 2017, Magomedsharipov held the ACB title, a prestigious promotion outside of the UFC. He burst onto the scene in emphatic fashion with two straight finish victories, both earning performance of the night bonuses.

Not only this, but his fighting style was like something out of a video game. We hadn’t seen striking like his since the glory days of Anthony Pettis’ showtime kick. On top of this, his ground game was solid. What made Magomedsharipov so interesting, however, was that his cardio appeared to be a flaw. He seemed to fatigue late in fights due to his exciting, explosive style.

At 6-0 in the UFC with four post-fight bonuses to his name, it’s a shame we never saw the Russian compete with the very best. He was scheduled in 2020 to face Yair Rodriguez, however, the fight never came to fruition. His coach, Mark Henry, stated he was set to return to action in 2021, however, that didn’t happen. Due to health issues, Magomedsharipov announced his retirement from the sport in 2022.

Mairbek Taisumov

Mairbek Taisumov had a smashing career, literally. He ultimately retired with a record of 27-6 with an incredible 24 finishes. In the UFC, his career didn’t quite get off to the best of starts, going 1-1 in his first two bouts.

After this, Taisumov went on an epic run of form, notching five straight knockouts, which ties him for the fourth most consecutive knockouts in UFC history. On this run he won three performance of the night bonuses.

He accepted a six-month suspension from USADA for banned metabolites found in his system and after this suspension, he clashed with Carlos Diego Ferreira, losing via unanimous decision. This marked the last fight on his contract, and it wasn’t renewed. We don’t know why it wasn’t renewed as at 31, he had the chance to make a real run at lightweight. It wasn’t to be, however.

Al Iaquinta

Ragin’ Al, Al Iaquinta once had the chance to pull off the biggest upset in UFC history when he clashed with Khabib Nurmagomedov on short notice in 2018. Originally scheduled to face Paul Felder, Iaquinta stepped up and went the full 25 minutes with The Eagle.

Prior to the fight, Khabib had dominated everyone in his path with brutal, overwhelming wrestling game. Although he was taken down six times, he defended nine takedowns and put on a much better performance than many expected.

It was his impressive run to the main event that put Iaquinta on the map, notching five straight wins with four finishes. He got his UFC contract after an impressive run to the finals of TUF 15, where unfortunately for him, he lost in the final.

After his UFC 223 fight, it didn’t quite go to plan for fans of Ragin’ Al. Although he bounced back from the PPV main event loss with a Fight Night main event win, he would go on to suffer three consecutive losses.

He last competed in 2021 and at 38, we haven’t heard any rumours of his return. With that being said, he submitted four USADA tests in 2024 and one in 2025, meaning that he is staying in the pool… just in case.