The UFC has cut former UFC middleweight title contender Thales Leites from its roster following his loss at this past weekend's UFC 101. Leites was informed of the news in a meeting with the UFC yesterday, according to MMA FanHouse.

Leites suffered a close split decision loss against Alessio Sakara at last Saturday's UFC 101. Prior to the loss, he'd earned a middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva after putting together a five-fight win streak. He would go on to lose a lackluster five-round decision against Silva at UFC 97 in April in a bout which prompted tons of criticism for his cautious and tentative approach.

The Nova Uniao fighter, Leites, exits the UFC with a 5-3 record with wins over Pete Sell, Floyd Sword, Ryan Jensen, Nate Marquardt, Drew McFedries. Beside losses to Silva and Sakara, he was defeated by Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut at TUF 4 finale in November 2006.

The six year veteran of the sport has put together a 14-3 overall MMA record, with 11 wins by stoppage, including 9 coming via submission. He holds other career wins over Jason Guida, Lucio Linhares, Gustavo Machado and Jose Landi-Jons.