Leonard Garcia's future 'not looking good' after UFC 159 loss

NEWARK, N.J. – Despite some slugfests, a handful of bonuses, and UFC executives’ obvious soft spot for him, Leonard Garcia‘s days in the organization may be numbered.

Following the free-swinging featherweight’s loss to Cody McKenzie at Saturday’s UFC 159 event, UFC President Dana White admitted the prospects look bleak for Garcia getting another fight in organization.

His unanimous-decision loss to McKenzie (14-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC), which aired as part of the Facebook-streamed prelims at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., marked his fifth straight defeat in the UFC. Additionally, despite six “Fight of the Night” bonuses during his tenure with the UFC and WEC, Garcia (15-11-1 MMA, 2-7 UFC) hasn’t won a fight via anything but split decision since November 2008.

“I don’t want to say it, but it’s not looking good,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) after the fight.

Garcia’s other recent losses have come to Chan Sung Jung, Nam Phan, Matt Grice and Max Holloway. However, unlike some of those recent performances, Garcia never really found any openings or a rhythm against the submission specialist McKenzie, who ultimately won via 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 scores, though it should have been a clean sweep.

“He got beat,” White said. “He even got beat standing up. Cody McKenzie beat him tonight, every way you can beat a guy.”

After the fight, Garcia, who unsuccessfully vied for the WEC featherweight title in 2009, could offer little beyond the obvious.

“Obviously I’m very disappointed,” he said. “The fight didn’t got the way I planned. I don’t know what else to say.”

For complete coverage of UFC 159, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.