A stunning new release of talents from a major UFC rival has drawn the public ire of one of MMA’s most powerful managers, Ali Abdelaziz. Nobody likes it when a promotion cuts its well-established fighters from the roster. But Ali, who manages several UFC stars like Islam Makhachev, Justin Gaethje, Kamaru Usman, and Kayla Harrison, appeared to be completely livid when one of the UFC’s rival promotions let go of a new batch of fighters.

Reportedly, ONE Championship has parted ways with four of its marquee fighters. The promotion released big names like Adriano Moraes, Zebaztian Kadestam, Mauro Cerilli, and Ilya Freymanov, which came as a big surprise. Looking at the wave of releases, Abdelaziz went off on ONE FC for letting their fighters go.

“Some of the worst people on the planet work there,” the Dominance MMA CEO shared on X.

Parting ways with a promotion after a long career is a normal phenomenon in sports. However, ONE Championship releasing a multiple-time champion like Moraes does raise some questions. The Brazilian even holds a win over UFC great Demetrious Johnson, which remains one of the promotion’s most celebrated highlights and further deepens the concern. In January, too, ONE Championship let go of fighters like Denis Puric, Anissa Meksen, Dmitry Menshikov, Nicolas Vigna, and Tagir Khalilov.

Last year, a report from former Bloody Elbow reporter John S. Nash claimed that over the years, ONE Championship had faced cumulative losses of $530 million and had just $24 million in net assets in 2023. Though it received a $50 million investment later, the promotion still started cutting some of its biggest stars to reduce the financial gap. That means the released fighters would have to join other organizations now. However, on the other hand, the UFC just signed a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount+, pushing its financial growth through the roof.

This isn’t the first time Abdelaziz has clashed with ONE; he has a history of issues with the promotion. In the past, Abdelaziz had praised the promotion led by Chatri Sityodtong as one of the best in the world. However, his relationship with them soured when he accused Matt Hume, the Senior Vice President of Competition, of mishandling his client Reinier de Ridder’s career.

Before competing in the UFC, the Dutchman held titles in two divisions at ONE Championship. Even though ‘RDR’ had a celebrated run there, he eventually chose to move to the UFC, citing several differences. In an MMA Junkie interview, Abdelaziz mentioned that de Ridder had been in a “very bad situation” with his contract in ONE.

Now, as Makhachev’s manager has taken another shot at the UFC rival, the competition between the two MMA organizations appears very much alive, especially in the grappling scene. However, in an interesting turn of events, a rising Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu prodigy recently chose to sign with the Asian promotion rather than the UFC in a surprising move.

Helena Crevar refuses to sign with the UFC, chooses ONE instead

For a while, Helena Crevar ruled the BJJ and grappling scene, becoming the No. 1-ranked athlete in no-gi grappling on FloGrappling. However, the 19-year-old grappling prodigy chose to turn down the UFC in favor of ONE Championship, citing contract flexibility as the deciding factor. Unlike the UFC, whose contracts restrict athletes from competing elsewhere, ONE allows fighters to appear across multiple promotions simultaneously.

“I definitely considered all options, but currently I’m really wanting to compete as much as I can on different platforms and in different rulesets, so right now I wouldn’t do any exclusive contracts,” Crevar told Bloody Elbow. “So, that’s the reason that I went with ONE, because they allow me to compete in many different places and still be able to build my name and get as much experience as possible.”

Helena Crevar, who is trained by BJJ legends John Danaher and Gordon Ryan, previously fought Maggie Grindatti at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 10. However, she hasn’t competed under Dana White’s banner since, and her most recent match was at ONE Championship against Teshya Noelani Alo in January.