Brazilian middleweight Thales Leites, who fought Anderson Silva for the title less than four months ago at UFC 97 in Montreal, has been dropped by the UFC.
"Unfortunately it's true," Leites confirmed in an email to The Canadian Press.
The move comes after a decision loss last Saturday to Alessio Sakara at UFC 101 in Philadelphia, a fight some observers -- including UFC president Dana White -- thought Leites had won.
The judges scored it 29-28, 27-30, 29-28 for the Miami-based Italian.
"I didn't think he won but I'm not a judge," White said in the post-fight news conference.
Asked if Leites faced being axed, White said: "He's not in trouble, no. I mean we had him back after (UFC 97 on April 18) and he fought. Listen, when you have a bad fight, I'll call you on it but it doesn't mean you're done."
Leites (14-3) attempted to press the action against Sakara but didn't accomplish much. Sakara (18-7) didn't give him much to work off either and stayed away as much as he could.
Referee Marc Goddard actually stopped the fight in the third to urge more action. No luck as Sakara, a former pro boxer, danced around the cage.
Leites, 27, lost his UFC debut to Martin Kampmann but then won five straight to earn a title shot at Silva.
He was impressive in his two fights leading up to the Silva showdown at the Bell Centre.
Helped by a pair of points deducted from his opponent, the jiu-jitsu black belt won a decision in a spirited fight with Nate (The Great) Marquardt at UFC 85 and then showed off his ground skills, making short work of Drew McFedries at UFC 90.
But Silva wanted no part of a ground fight with Leites, who could not take the champion down to his world. So he spent much of the fight on his back, hoping Silva might join him on the ground. The dull fight was roundly criticized.
"I've seen more aggression from my fiancee when she hits the January sales," English middleweight Michael Bisping wrote in a weekly www.ufc.com blog.
The judges scored it 49-46, 48-47, 50-46 for Silva.
Unhappy at Silva's showing in the Leites win -- and a lacklustre victory at UFC 90 cut short by an injury to Canadian Patrick Cote -- White put former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin in front of Silva next time out to challenge him. Griffin, who came to fight, lasted some three and a half minutes before he was knocked out.
"Thales came into the fight trying to take me down, Forrest stood there and tried to exchange," Silva, speaking through an interpreter, explained after UFC 101.
Leites, meanwhile, was dropped from main event to undercard. In Sakara, he was given a boxer who should have fit into his wheelhouse but he was unable to take advantage.
