Alexandr Romanov has been removed from the UFC roster 48 hours after securing a victory over Rodrigo Nascimento.
The Moldovan heavyweight came into the contest ranked No.13 in the world, and dominated his No. 15-rated foe with a grappling-heavy unanimous decision win at UFC Edmonton on Saturday night.
Despite getting his hand raised, Romanov left Canada without a deal after his contract expired and has subsequently been removed from the UFC’s top 15 rankings.
Most fighters in his position would be concerned for their future but Romanov remains hopeful a deal can be struck with the UFC.
“I hope (I get a new contract),” he told assembled media at the post-fight press conference.
“Because I feel that I am just in the beginning of my biggest jump to the top 10.
“For me, it doesn’t matter who will be my next opponent.”
Romanov was initially slated to face fan favourite Derrick Lewis in the co-main event of the evening.
But the UFC opted to split the two heavyweight fights on the card, meaning Romanov was re-booked to face Nascimento while Lewis was matched up with Nascimento’s original opponent Jhonata Diniz.
Lewis then pulled out of the contest 24 hours before fight night with a ‘medical issue unrelated to his weight cut’.
As a result, Diniz was added to UFC 309 on November 16 in a clash with Marcin Tybura while Romanov is hoping to get the Lewis fight again if he is re-signed to MMA’s premier promotion.
“(I still want to fight Derrick Lewis after we were rebooked) because for me, it’s a very interesting match because he’s this name,” he said in the immediate aftermath.
“He’s a massive, strong guy and for me, that’s going to be a very good test.”
Romanov is 18-3 overall in MMA and 7-3 in the UFC.
He won his first five fights in a row before falling to defeat against Tybura at UFC 278.
This was followed up by a first-round stoppage loss to Alexander Volkov before he snapped his losing streak by besting Blagoy Ivanov over the distance.
Romanov was then submitted by Jailton Almeida but rebounded again in his most recent outing.
At the time of writing, he remains a free agent.
