Why did UFC release Sam Alvey?

After remaining winless in his last nine UFC outings, Sam Alvey was let go by the UFC. Apart from a draw against Da Un Jung in 2020, Alvey lost eight fights between 2018 and 2022. 'Smile'N fought for the final time against Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Hill in August this year.

Despite losing nearly all of his final bouts in the UFC, Alvey was still making life difficult for his opponents. The 36-year-old lost via decision three times in his last nine fights, and two of those were split-decision defeats.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Jimmy Crute, Julian Marquez, Brendan Allen and Oleksiejczuk finished Alvey during his poor run of form.

Watch Sam Alvey's unfortunate nine-fight run here:

Since leaving the UFC, Alvey is yet to return to MMA. However, the American has frequently been associated with Jake Paul. 'Smile'N trained with the YouTuber's brother, Logan Paul, a few years ago and called out Jake Paul upon leaving the UFC:

"Y’all didn’t let me down couple of these had me rolling. Hey @jakepaul I’m not under contract anymore."

Alvey also posted memes about him being cut from the UFC on his Instagram handle:

---

What was Sam Alvey's overall UFC record?

Sam Alvey ended his UFC career with 10 wins, 13 losses and one draw. More than half of these defeats came during the twilight of his UFC career.

'Smile'N had a good run of form between 2016 and 2017, winning four fights in a row against Eric Spicely, Kevin Casey, Alex Nicholson and Nate Marquardt. This was the longest unbeaten streak that Alvey managed to put together in the UFC.

Alvey's last win in the organization came back in 2018 when he beat Gian Villante via split decision.

Alvey fought across three divisions in his eight year long UFC career: welterweight (TUF), middleweight and light heavyweight. Derek Brunson, Rashad Evans and Brendan Allen are some of the bigger names to have fought Alvey.