Doubtful that the UFC contract is void and he's now free to sign with another promotion. Doesn't the UFC have exclusive matching rights for 12 months after they "cut" someone? So he's earning $380,000 per fight in the UFC now when he's cut. But if another promotion offers him $200,000 in the next 12 months, the UFC has automatic rights to sign him again for $200,000. Right?
So IMO if the UFC just doesn't want to pay Yoel $380K, this is a very smart move for them. They could avoid paying him, but also not risk losing him. Very smart decision if that's how the contracts work.
I think that's how cuts/ releases work. I think that's why no one's signing Anderson Silva right now.
Any promotion can sign Silva right now, they are choosing not to. The only time UFC has matching rights is when a fighter fulfills their contract and looks at offers from other promotions, which is usually a negotiation tactic on the fighter's end, hoping to cash in on a win or possibly a streak, for leverage towards a bigger UFC deal, not so much a big deal in another promotion. Even then, the rights dont always come into play because UFC will almost always re-sign a streaking fighter, usually before their current contract is even over, and most fighters are more than willing to stay. It's also been common practice for them to sign a new deal with a fighter prior to a title shot. This is to ensure that if they win the title that it's not at the end of their contract, where they could just jump ship for a bigger paycheck on the heels of a title win.
When a fighter is cut because they lost a couple, UFC isn't concerned with matching because they've already dismissed the value of the fighter in the promotion and have no interest in keeping them. Therefore they are immediately free to sign with another promotion.
Cuts are usually are a one sided decision, and releases are more of a mutual decision. This instance is very much a cut. UFC doesn't want Yoel anymore, for multiple reasons, and yes, his large paycheck is one of them. He's reaching the end of his career, is on a 3 fight skid, and his last fight was a title fight in which he put on arguably the worst performance of his career. Why risk paying out over a million dollars over his next 3 fights that he might lose one or all of and/or look like the Izzy fight?
Also, we have no idea what Yoel is actually being paid. The commissions don't even know. Any numbers released by the commissions are intentionally flawed. Dont get me wrong, they show the disclosed figures of the contract, but other money moves around behind the scenes in UFC. This has been in practice for years when it comes to their bigger names because they don't want competing promotions to know what their stars are actually being paid. It makes it harder for another promotion to make an offer that would result in a star leaving the UFC.
This is 100% a business decision that weighed risk versus reward. The UFC does not benefit from keeping Yoel, and they know that. UFC isn't making nearly as much money without a live gate, and this is one of their ways to cut costs. It's unfortunate for Yoel, but UFC writes the contracts and the language within them is always in their favor.
The house always wins.