Former UFC flyweight Ulysses Gomez signs deal with California-based Pandemonium

Ulysses Gomez’s release from the UFC this past month may have come as a little bit of a surprise, but he won’t waste much time getting back on the horse looking to fight his way back to the promotion.

Gomez (9-4) on Friday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) he has signed with the California-based Pandemonium promotion and expects to compete there for the first time later this year.

“I haven’t signed my contract yet, but I had a couple good offers (after the UFC release),” Gomez said. “Pandemonium in Riverside, Calif., (is where I’ll fight). They’ve got a show March 23, and then another one in May or June. I’ll be fighting for them – it’s a three-fight deal, which keeps me busy – which is what I like. If I do get offered another show and if it’s not 30 or 45 days from their show, they’ll let me do it. If it’s the UFC, I could fight for the UFC.”

Gomez fought twice in the UFC. His debut in 2012 as one of the most highly touted flyweight prospects in the United States was an upset loss to John Moraga at UFC on FOX 4. He returned this past month at UFC on FUEL TV 7 in London, but dropped a unanimous decision to England’s Phil Harris.

While the loss to Harris was a unanimous nod, many fans and media members scoring the fight gave it to Gomez. Regardless, he was part of a spate of 16 fighter cuts the UFC made the following week – cuts that included the majority of fighters who lost on that card. UFC President Dana White later said the UFC still has 100 additional fighters to purge from its roster in 2013.

Gomez’s release also came as a bit of a surprise because the UFC’s flyweight division is its least populated weight class.

But Gomez said he understands the pink slip and was accepting of it – and just hopes to fight his way back there.

“I think they tell everyone get a couple wins and come back,” he said. “But they do have to cut 100 fighters. If I had two chances in the UFC (and lost), they might want to give someone else a chance before they call me.”

Gomez fought at bantamweight as well as flyweight before he came to the UFC. He won the now-defunct Tachi Palace Fights’ flyweight title in 2010

He got a shot in Bellator’s bantamweight tournament and won his opening-round bout, but had to pull out of a semifinal fight with eventual champ Zach Makovsky with a staph infection, and that was that.

After losing Tachi’s 125-pound title in his first defense, he moved back up to bantamweight, won a fight, then won the title at 135 pounds before getting his call from the UFC.

But despite recent success at bantamweight – he’s never lost a fight at 135 pounds – Gomez said he believes he’ll concentrate on flyweight looking to get started on a win streak. But he has the option to fight in both divisions for Pandemonium.

“I prefer flyweight because that’s where I need to be,” he said. “But on the flip side, I’ve never lost at bantamweight.”

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