The mystery surrounding middleweight Alexandre “Cacareco” Ferreira’s withdrawal from a scheduled UFC 134 bout against Rousimar Palhares has finally been solved.

Last week, news emerged that Dan Miller had stepped in to replace Ferreira against “Toquinho” in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 27, though the reason for the switch was not immediately clear. Ferreira’s manager, Josef Borges, informed Sherdog.com Tuesday that the Brazilian submission specialist was released by the UFC after refusing to sign a bout agreement to fight Palhares.

“Unfortunately, Cacareco was released by the UFC when he refused to sign the contract to fight against Toquinho,” explained Borges. “He was called to fight at ‘UFC Rio’ in March, and when he found out that the opponent was Palhares, he started to claim difficulties with making weight. Ferreira then said it was better for him not to sign the contract, and he didn’t decide what to do until, eventually, the UFC got tired of waiting and released him via letter.”

This was not the first time Ferreira refused to clash with his countryman. Ferreira and Palhares were originally slated to lock horns at March’s UFC Live 3, but Cacareco pulled out of that fight in January, citing distress over the tragedies caused by flooding in his home state of Rio de Janeiro.

Ferreira’s only fight under the UFC banner came at UFC 122 in November, when he was knocked out by fellow veteran Vladimir Matyushenko in the first round of their 205-pound contest. Borges revealed that the Brazilian had since exhibited “lazy performances” and missed numerous practices at Chute Boxe Academy, who released him from the team in January.

“When I knew he was looking for a team, I called Rudimar [Fedrigo, leader of Chute Boxe] and told him to hire Cacareco,” said Borges. “However, [Cacareco] showed no interest in training, even when he signed with the UFC after almost a year of trying to convince [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva to give him a shot. He knew I was close to making the deal for him, and he still went on a TV show to blame his unluckiness.

“The result of the fight shows everything. He was completely out of shape and was easily defeated by Matyushenko. The UFC gave him another shot, extended his contract, and the other issues happened in sequence.”


Source: ‘Cacareco’ Released by UFC; Manager Cites ‘Lazy Performance’