By MATT MOLGAARD
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer

In what comes as quite shocking news, the UFC has elected to release The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero. Escudero, who put together three victories against two losses from the promotion has been not only a class act, but competative even in defeat. The reasoning behind Escudero’s release remains a mystery at this point, as other TUF winners have faired much worse, yet remain under contract with the UFC.

Mac Danzig for example has lost four of his last five bouts for the promotion, yet remains employed by Zuffa. Other, more recent winners James Wilks and Ross Pearson have both dropped fights for the promotion, yet both are still under contract with the UFC.

Despite the disappointing news, Escudero seems to remain in high spirits; he took to his twitter account today to announce the release, in which he also stated “speaking to strikeforce and bellator. Taking a week off and make my way back!”