Ben Sosoli among three UFC fighters released from promotion

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports Ben Sosoli’s ill-advised punch outside the Octagon has assured that he won’t be back inside of one anytime soon.

Promotion officials confirmed to MMA Fighting that the heavyweight has been released, along with Australian flyweight Nadia Kassem and American middleweight Dequan Townsend.

Sosoli was sentenced to 22 months in prison for punching a man outside a bar in Melbourne. The man suffered a facial injury serious enough to require surgery. As far as his actual UFC career, Sosoli (7-3, 2 NCs) had a loss to Greg Hardy overturned to a no contest due to Hardy’s illegal in-fight inhaler use, then he lost by first-round TKO to Marcos Rogerio de Lima this past…