Now in PFL, Julio Arce frustrated with how UFC exit unfolded
Now with the PFL, Julio Arce details his exit from the UFC and why he was left a bit frustrated by how it all played out.
Despite having an overall positive experience fighting in the biggest MMA organization in the world, Julio Arce was left with a sour taste after it all ended. Arce (21-6), a former UFC fighter who competed at bantamweight and featherweight, fought for the UFC from 2018 to 2024, going 6-4. His last bout in the octagon came at UFC on ESPN 54 in April 2024, when he defeated Herbert Burns by second-round TKO.
Yet, despite the positive record and getting a win in the last fight of his contract, Arce was not renewed. Arce, 36, thinks the decision to not give him a new deal was due to his two weight misses, with one being in his last fight. However, that didn't exactly bother him.
What didn't sit right with him is how his exit was handled. "I know that the weight issue probably caused it, but honestly, we've seen so many cases of fighters at the highest level missing weight, and they're still there," Arce told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. "What happened after is that there were like seven or eight months when we knew nothing.
I didn't know if they were going to continue with us or let us go. I just wanted to fight. "We would ask if we would get a fight or what was happening, and we would hear nothing.