(…so I can’t accept the fight right now…Hello?….Dana…Are you there?)

Ever since John Alessio was cut lose by the WEC following a DQ loss to Brock Larson at WEC 33 in 2008, the Vancouver, BC native has been vocal about his desire to get back to fighting for the promotion. Part of the 31-year-old fighter’s motivation was the fact that, besides the loss to Larson, he had only technically lost to the promotion’s champion Carlos Condit in the WEC. He wanted the opportunity to avenge the loss and also because he had won three in a row prior to his final bout and didn’t think his firing was justified.

When the WEC dropped its welterweight class in 2009, Alessio turned his sights on the organization’s big brother promotion, the UFC, where he first fought in 2006.

Racking up an impressive 8-2 (all finishes) record and current  six-fight winning streak since being dropped by the WEC, Alessio (30-13) revealed today that he finally got his wish, but had to turn down the offer by the UFC to fight on the upcoming Montreal card in December due to contractual obligations to the Dutch-based United Glory promotion. "The Natural" earned a berth in the second round of the Golden Glory-owned organization’s $150,000 welterweight tournament which will take place on January 30 by submitting Sergey Golyaev October 16 in Amsterdam. He will face Golden Glory standout Siyar Bahadurzada in round two of the competition.

Alessio is optimistic that he will get another invitation from Joe Silva after he fulfills his obligation to United Glory.

"I am extremely honored that after working so hard the last year and a
half that I finally got my call from the UFC; thats right,  I was offered a
fight, but unfortunetly with the United-Glory tournament contract in place I am unable to accept the UFC fight," Alessio posted on Facebook Tuesday morning. "The UFC will have to be put on hold until I win the tourney! Thank you everyone for your support…. all my family, friends
and fans!!!!!!!!!"

Hopefully the UFC will wait for Alessio to become a free agent.

The 12-year-veteran who has continued to evolve while fighting outside of the Octagon has a lot of interesting potential fights inside of it, including a handful of rematches that would make for exciting main card bouts, like match-ups with former opponents Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez and Condit.