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After dropping out of his scheduled fight with Antonio Arroyo at UFC Vegas 28 with less than an hour to go, UFC middleweight Tom Breese has been released from the official ranking pool.
Breese is a talented striker from England. He made his way up to the UFC through British regional circuits Cage Warriors and BAMMA, following in the footsteps of Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy. When he was signed by the UFC he held an undefeated record of 7-0.
Breese has been a staple of the Birmingham-based MMA gym Team Renegade for some time, playing the role of both fighter and coach. He trains alongside some of the UFC's elite fighters, such as Leon Edwards and Jai Herbert.
Tom Breese's prospect status
Upon entering the UFC, Tom Breese looked nothing short of incredible. The Englishman won his first three fights, finishing Luiz Dutra Jr. and Cathal Pendred, as well as picking up a unanimous decision victory over Keita Nakamura.
Despite dropping a split decision loss to Sean Strickland, Breese continued to show his skill with a round one KO of Dan Kelly at UFC Fight Night 130. Unfortunately, Breese would not pick up another win following that success.
Tom Breese's unfortunate decline
Injuries and mental health issues saw Tom Breese drop out of several fights following the win over Kelly. His struggles with anxiety saw him forced out of a fight with Ian Heinisch, whilst damage sustained to his knee saw a fight with Cezar Ferreira canceled.
After two years out, Breese finally returned to the UFC octagon. He faced off against a rising prospect in Brendan Allen, who soundly defeated the Englishman by TKO, the first stoppage loss of Breese's career.
Breese was set to compete in fights with Roman Kopylov and KB Bhullar, both of which fell through. However, the Bhullar fight was rescheduled and the two men fought in 2020. Breese put on an incredible performance, dropping Bhullar with a power jab before finishing the fight with hammer fists.
Unfortunately, Breese was unable to replicate his success and was thoroughly defeated by Omari Akhmedov in January 2021. He looked set to make a relatively quick turnaround and was set to fight Antonio Arroyo in early June.
This, of course, did not come to fruition as Breese dropped out on extremely short notice. The reason has not yet been disclosed. However, it appears that the UFC have had Breese cancel on them one too many times, and the British fighter has been removed from the rankings pool as a result.
