Norma Dumont is out of the UFC, and by her own account, she didn't have to be. The Brazilian bantamweight announced on Instagram Tuesday that she had been released from the promotion despite still having two fights remaining on her contract.

Dumont said she requested the release herself after being told the deal wasn't going to be renewed once it ran out anyway, so she asked to walk early. "I still had two fights left on my contract with the organization," Dumont said. She added that she had already fielded other offers before making the move.

The timing stings a bit for the division. Our tracker has Dumont ranked fourth at women's bantamweight, carrying an Elo rating of 1588 built from seven tracked bouts. She leaves the UFC with a 9-4 record across 13 octagon appearances over eight years, and she name-checked that stretch in thanking the promotion on social media.

Her last time out came September 26, a unanimous decision loss to Ailin Perez, the No. 3 ranked bantamweight who rates a 1618 Elo in that same seven-fight sample. That fight was close on the scorecards, and now it's the last look fans got of Dumont inside the cage, at least for the UFC.

Dumont also floated boxing as a future direction, pointing to 2027 as a potential landing spot for a switch in sports. For the UFC's women's bantamweight division, already thin at the top, losing a top five fighter who voluntarily walked away from guaranteed fights is a strange way to shed a contender. Whether she lands in another MMA promotion before any boxing move materializes is still unclear, but for now, the UFC chapter of her career is closed.