Jason High was defeated on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 42 against Rafael dos Anjos and he has been released from the UFC following his actions after the fight.
High pushed referee Kevin Mulhull after the fight was stopped due to strikes and the now former UFC fighter could be disciplined by the New Mexico Athletic Commission according to a report by Fox Sports.
High did apologize for his actions on Twitter on Saturday night, but UFC President Dana White announced on UFC.com on Tuesday evening that he has decided to cut High after watching footage of the incident.
“What I did find out is that I guess that Jason High kid got up and pushed a referee – he’s cut,” White said. “I’m going to cut him. I look at that the way [Paul] Daley put his hands on his opponent after a fight was over. You don’t ever, ever [expletive] touch a referee, ever. You’re done here. He’s been apologizing on Twitter, but he’s done.”
High (18-5) initially entered the UFC in 2010 and was defeated in his debut against Charlie Brenneman. After winning seven fights outside of the UFC, he returned to the organization last year and was defeated by Erick Silva. He would end up winning his next two fights and elected to move down to the lightweight division for his fight against Dos Anjos.
Following the announcement of the release of High, TheMMAReport.com reached out to Bellator if they would be interested in signing High. In a short statement, Bellator stated they have no interest in High.
“We have no interest and will not be signing him,” a Bellator spokesman told TheMMAReport.com on Thursday evening.
Since the announcement of his release, High or his manager Mike Kogan have not released any statement on the decision made by White and the UFC.