Travis Lutter Cut From the UFC

UFC middleweight and "The Ultimate Fighter 4" winner Travis Lutter, who most recently suffered a second-round TKO to Rich Franklin at UFC 83, has been released from the UFC.

Lutter confirmed the news with a recent blog post.

Lutter, who nearly submitted Franklin with a first-round armbar at the April 19 event, has been dropped from the UFC after facing arguably the division's top two fighters: Franklin and UFC middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva.

"Friday [afternoon] I was told by my manager that UFC matchmaker Joe [Silva] had left my him a message on his phone that I had been released from my UFC contract because of my two losses in a row," Lutter wrote.

After defeating Patrick Cote to win "TUF 4," Lutter earned his guaranteed title shot with Silva. However, he failed to make weight for the event -- earning the wrath of MMA fans and even UFC president Dana White -- and despite a solid first round, he ultimately suffered a second-round submission loss via strikes.

Lutter (9-5 MMA, 2-5 UFC) made his octagon debut at UFC 50 and earned a second-round knockout victory over Marvin Eastman.

This is no surprise given the dog house Dana White had put him in. Do you think he was really cut because of having 2 losses in a row against Anderson Sylva and Rich Franklin respectively? He failed to make weight and then gassed out after the first round. If fights were only one round long and only 5 minutes Lutter would be the middleweight champion. He simply dominates in the first round and then the tank runs dry.

Travis Lutter will be a pretty good force in another organization and needs to work on some serious cardio. I wouldn't be surprised if he returns to the UFC in the future when the ever boring middleweight division needs a bit of shaking up.

It just goes to show, don't get on the boss's bad side in the UFC.